There are a lot of variables to keep in check to make a bullet hit its mark. Trigger press/pull, sight alignment, grip, and more. One that is often overlooked is follow through. Follow through is the “control” of everything that happens after the bang!
As a handgun hunter and precision pistol shooter at distance, if I fail to have consistent follow through after the shot I will see vertical dispersement in my groups. This will general show up on your target as a vertical line of impacts/holes. When you pull the trigger and the handgun begins to recoil and climb the bullet is still in the bore. If you do not have proper follow through you will not hold tight groups.
Follow through can be trained for and corrected to a point. As cartridges become larger or the firearm becomes shorter/lighter sometimes we need help.
There are two ways to address the issue mechanically. Muzzle brakes are a very effective tool to control both recoil and muzzle climb. The down side is these will add 1.5-2 inches to your handgun and sometimes that just isn’t practical.
I know what statement you are already thinking of and getting ready to scream out in the comments…. Muzzle brakes make your gun louder and deafening…. Hold on there smart guy! Every single gunshot with or without a brake is going to cause permanent hearing damage. YES you should be using hearing protection even while hunting. You spend all that money on guns and ammo, buy some safety gear that you can use in the field.
Now let’s move forward.
Muzzle brakes are not easily added to all revolvers or other types of pistols due to barrel design such as full under lug revolvers. There are also others that you don’t want the extra length. This brings in a time proven recoil management company with decades of experience, Mag-na-port. Located in Michigan and run by Ken Kelly who is a member of the Pistol Smiths Guild. They have a rich history of reducing recoil on some of the biggest boomers and doing so for some pretty big names over the decades.
I have personally been using Mag-na-ported guns for over two decades. I have successfully taken numerous animals, qualified with them in my past law enforcement career, and competed with them.
Mag-na-porting on a revolver adds two or four ports to the sides of the barrel that point up.
These ports allow gasses from behind the fired bullet to exit slightly before your projectile and help push the muzzle back down as it climbs. This will help control upward movement of the gun thus make consistent follow through more achievable.
Social media allows us all to share opinions, but one that consistently comes up is how porting is going to blind you should you have to shoot in low light. Let’s just stop that nonsense right now. Bellow is a picture of a 38 special being shot from a 6” Spohr revolver; no ports, comps, or brakes here!
Many of these commenters probably have never done a low light shooting range event. One thing that is for certain, if you can’t see your target, you can’t hit your target; we have tools for that. In LE doing low light shooting a flashlight, patrol car lights, or even with just moon light I was able to consistently engage a target with ported handguns. Likewise in the USMC doing night fire exercises with and without night vision using rifles and machine guns we could consistently engage targets without issue. As you may have heard, our military often makes the statement that we own the night. Those big belt fed machine guns blow out a whole lot more flash and flames than a ported wheelgun or pistol!
Recently I decided to re-enter the competition shooting world and that required me to deviate a little away from my normal big bore wheelguns. I picked up a Walther PDP Match and liked it enough to grab a PDP Compact for carry.
With the compact having a little more muzzle flip than the larger match model I decided to tame it down a little. I contacted Ken Kelly and got the slide and barrel in the mail and on the way to Mag-na-port.
In short order Ken had the slide and barrel ported and on its way back. He sent me this picture just after completing the job.
Once I got the PDP Compact back in hand I was off to the range. The porting slowed the muzzle climb down and helped aid in the return to target time. Running quick doubles on a well known practice stage called accelerator it showed it’s worth immediately.
Now let’s jump back into that muzzle flash comment by the internet masses. Porting does direct some flash up and yes gasses and un burnt powder will come out of those holes. If you have to shoot from retention you may feel that hit your face but it is no different than barrel/cylinder gap blast from a revolver. In fact it is far LESS than revolver barrel cylinder gap blast since it takes place farther down the barrel.
Mag-na-port will reduce muzzle climb and improve your accuracy by aiding you in follow through; that is a fact. I have used ported handguns in the field, on the streets, and in competition for a couple decades.
If you would like to reduce muzzle rise on your handgun, contact Mag-na-port.
3 responses to “Mag-na-port and Handguns by: Chris Rhodes”
God help you if you want anything else done to your gun at Magnaport, they’re consistently scheduling out 12-18 months for anything that isn’t porting. I got a quote back for itemized work that they advertise, they then told me they won’t even bother to do their advertised revolver action job because they’re so backed up. It was like pulling teeth to get even that 12-18 month estimate, I know it’s hard for smiths to provide time frames but man I can’t bear the thought of sending off a hunting revolver for a year and a half.
Any gunsmith worth their salt in the custom gun world is backed up. If they have a fast turn around it means they don’t have work. If they don’t have work…….💩
Great read. There is a lot of good and relevant information in that article. Mag-Na-Port does excellent work. Sending them the next project shortly.