doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Magna Porting on a hunting gun.

Does the board think that Magna Porting a field O/U would be benificial for hunting? Or is porting only helpful in competition? Thank you for your responses. -IM

Porting is helpful only to the charlatans performing this abortion. It is another "manufactured" excuse to suck newbies into some jackleg gunsmith's shop. Chopperlump

IM,
I don't find the factory porting that came with my target gun beneficial to target shooting. I have a very similar gun that isn't ported and I can't tell the difference.

For hunting purposes advantages of felt recoil and muzzle jump reduction would be attenuated by increase in blast and noise.

Porting. Went on a duck trip and the two of us had to share a tight blind with two other hunters. No problem. Them on the right side us on the left. A right to left crosser and we get a blast and noise from his ported O/U. Somehow on the next ducks his barrels got shot. Who knew HS would blow the end of his barrels off? And I don't believe that it's helpful in competition either. I could be wrong on the latter but wasn't on the former.

Porting will only reduce muzzle jump and only then if it is done as nearly vertical as possible. The porting done on many guns, Brownings in particular, are more out to the side than vertical and will do nothing but annoy people to either side of you. It won't do squat about recoil. I had one gun ported and it reduced muzzle jump. I would not do it again. It won't break a single target for you, in competition.

As handsome as a septum ring and as useful as glasspacks. Don't do it.

The least needed "improvement" that you can do to a gun. Does not reduce recoil. Minor reduction in muzzle jump is very over rated, the second shot is always on a rising bird so muzzle jump is not a big problem. Noise increase will make you less popular than a dog that rolled in ----, in a small blind. Does not improve pattern. Just a waste of time and money. Almost a sin to do on any gun IMHO and certainly is a sin to do it to a double, even a Winchester 21.

Thanks Guys. -IM

I've had two shotguns with porting, a B325 12g and my current B525 20g.

In all the shooting I've done with both guns, I could never tell any advantage. I'm not saying it doen't work, just that I'm not a 'sensitive guy'.

I ported a 870 trap barrel for a guy that just had to have it done. I advised against it, but he would have either me or some butcher with a hand drill do it. So, I did it by copying my Browning 325 pattern, using a dividing head in my Bridgeport, and used a brand new carbide endmill to reduce the burr, then lightly honed it. The customer was very happy, even after he had shot it. I couldn't figure out why a trap gun needed recoil/muzzle jump reduction.

In theory, it reduces both recoil and muzzle jump. This is theoretically due to redirecting the gas ejecta up and sideways, lowering the forward ejecta. The effect is most dramatic on high pressure handgun and rifle cartridges where gas/powder ejecta vs projectile weight is closer. The unlimited combat guns with compensators and the big rifles show pretty obvious recoil reduction benefit from porting/muzzle breaks due to this close ratio of gas ejecta vs. projectile weight. A shotgun has a much lower pressure and gas/powder ejecta weight compared to the projectile and therefore the effect is much less dramatic...so much so that I could never feel the effects.