Magnaport?

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have 4 Mag-Na-Ported guns, 2 handguns and 2 rifles.

The first handgun is a 28-2 4" I bought used in 1982, It is a dream to shoot. The second is a T/C Contender Super 14 in 44 Mag. I had it mag-na-ported to reduce the brutal recoil of my 300 grain loads. With factory 240's it is a purring kitten, with my 300's it is still pretty nasty!

I had (and still have ) A 300 Win Mag Weatherby Vanguard VGX sent to Mag-Na-Port, while still on lay away in early 1985, I had it ported and had them install iron sights. When I was younger and had better eyes I could rapid shoot 3 rounds of 200 grain Federal Premium in a offhand group of 5/8" group at 100 yards! Great gun and system.

Around 1988 I had a 264 Win Mag ported too. From the prone position the bipod would jump 8 to 10" depending on the load. After porting the gun stayed flat on target but you did feel a small amount of additional recoil, being able to get second shots was well worth the price (both prices!)

The model 28 has 2 ports. The Contender, 300 and 264 Win Mags all have 4 ports. There is powder fouling but never had any jacket material in the ports.

I have a 12" Hunter Contender in 375 Winchester. I think they called their break a "Muzzle Tamer"! It was a system with a chamber and round holes on the top half. Factory 200 and reload 220 grain ammo had the mildest recoil, on par with 38 wadcutters in a ported 357 N-Frame! But I like to shoot it at dusk (when I can still see the backstop), The fireball looks to be 36 to 40 inches across. It also makes a big noise, the neighbors told me about it!

Ivan

 

[Cotis]

I have a 642-1 that was factory Magna-Ported when I bought it in the late 90s. The plastic blue box has the "Magna Port" sticker on the top and the label says "ported" on it. If I remember correctly it cost $20 more than a regular one back then.

 

[squawberryman]

The words resale and Smith & Wesson don't belong in the same sentence.

 

[tygar]

MAGNAPORT

I've had a couple. I had a 29-2 8 3/8 I got new, ported it & had it for a long time. I had other 29s without & didn't find it made much difference in recoil in long barreled 29s. Around 90s I got a 3" 629-5 Trail Boss that was ported. It did have lots of flash & I ultimately bought a replacement barrel without port & put it on. I don't have recoil problems & can shoot the titanium guns rapid fire, so the lack of a port didn't matter & it was bad with flash. FWIW

 

[Delta V]

I once had identical 657-2s, unfluted cylinders, 6.5" barrels, one ported, one not. I tried firing them simultaneously single-action. The only way I could detect a difference was with the ported one in the left hand (I'm right-handed). My conclusion was "not very much difference".

 

[saemetric]

This RSR Special run of 629’s came this way

 

[SuperMan]

Thinking about it, I found a friend a 649-3 (pre-lock) .357 Magnum that was Mag-Na-Ported. It's listed as a 1997 Lew Horton Special...

We shot the gun right after it arrived and it shot great. Has been in a lock box in his car since....

 

[reccpd101]

I won't port my 38/44 Heavy Duty, Hand Ejectors, my father's Navy Victory model, my Model 3s or my grandfather's H&R Sportsman but they are not guns that I carry but love to shoot them once in a while.

I have 4 Mountain Guns, a 4013, a 642, a 342 and a Glock 23C with 9mm and 357 Sig conversion barrels that are ported. At the time I bought them, they were to carry and they all saw a lot of holster wear in their day. The reduction in muzzle flip is why I like porting. The ports are harder to scrub the carbon out of but I have never found bullet casing or lead in any of them. In rapid fire qualification, I get better scores. Magnaport has done other work for me. Their revolver trigger jobs are nice. I also like the recessed barrel crowns they do. To each their own, personally, I have always found their work was money well spent.

 

[Dirtman]

S & W 686 PP Barrel

I had a 686PP no lock 6" barrel that I really loved! I gave it to my son to make sure it stayed in the family. The PP stands for Power Ported.
There was some muzzle blast/flash out the top where the port is but I thought it was kind of cool. In the dark it is a very bright flash. The gun was easy to shoot with very little recoil since it was a pretty heavy ported gun.
I hope my son enjoys it for many years.

 

[Well Armed]

We have pre locks and if S&W ever does away with the locks, do you all really think the current dime a dozen S&Ws with a lock will be a collectible? Would I port a pre lock, hell no, but I do not see porting by a well known and reapected company hurting resale value AT ALL! You aren't going to recoup the money you spent for porting, and the number of interested buyers might decrease because they are anti porting, but you'll get used price market value still.

 

[sandog]

a hard pass on porting. I value velocity too much to waste precious gas.

I'm not so sure this is a valid point.
The bullet is well on its way by the time the gas exits the ports, and at the same time it is spewing much more gas out the muzzle.
By your reasoning the vast majority of the gas escaping from the muzzle is a waste as well ?
The bullet has already achieved full velocity and is well downrange when the gases exit.

Oh, wait, you were just being sarcastic ? Sometimes I am slow, especially this early in the morning.

 

[Tom S.]

I'm not so sure this is a valid point.
The bullet is well on its way by the time the gas exits the ports, and at the same time it is spewing much more gas out the muzzle.
By your reasoning the vast majority of the gas escaping from the muzzle is a waste as well ?
The bullet has already achieved full velocity and is well downrange when the gases exit.

Oh, wait, you were just being sarcastic ? Sometimes I am slow, especially this early in the morning.

The person you quoting was last here 12-26-2021 12:27 AM.

 

[biku324]

You're saying the precious gas may have dissipated over the past few years?

 

[justicetyme]

I've owned and shot a number of ported guns through the years.
At one time I traveled to Detroit on business fairly regularly and would take revolvers to Larry at his Mt. Clemens (I believe) facility and leave them to be picked up later.
I had the opportunity to chat with Larry on a few occasions, a very interesting individual.
At the time I was doing all my own bullet casting and shooting very few jacketed bullets.
I certainly can't speak for anyone else but I've never had an issue with cleaning up a ported gun using cast bullets.
I've made it a practice to wear hearing protection when shooting for the last 40+ years (and still have bilateral CIs) so if there was any increased muzzle blast I wouldn't have noticed it anyway.
Years ago I actually took this 629 CH down to our range one night just to see if it lit up the night.
Maybe it was my max AA#9 loads but there was nothing like I had read others experienced.
My winter carry pistol is a S&W M&P40 PC Ported with a Trijicon RMR RM07 and full Apex internals.
Years ago when I first set it up one of the "combat masters" that used to frequent this forum came unglued at the idea of a ported gun being used for SD and chanted the "firing from retention" mantra.
I try to be very situation-aware and can't imagine letting a possible threat get that close to me anyway.
But just to see I donned some good goggles and was off to our ranges for a test.
Ha!
Another expert that talked about something they had never actually done!
I only have one left that Larry did for me though I do have S&W M&P PC Ported pistols, a PC9 & a PC40.

 

[Paul105]

From an article by Paco Kelly Special Handguns



"My main carry gun was of course, my famous and somewhat infamous, S&W mod.29 44 magnum...cut to three inch barrel, and Mag-N-Ported, with the grip cut to the Mod. 19 round butt. I carried it in an upside down shoulder holster...it was fast to get into action, extremely powerful...and for me put the stories I hear about muzzle flash blinding you at night, and recoil making the second shot take too long, and a lot of other stuff I read...just that for me B.S. and untried magazine material.

I never had any of those problems....I fired it in several night time situations without the dreaded "blindness" from muzzle flash....it saved my life in a car one terrible night when I fired it twice...with no recoil slowness problems or blindness. The two individuals that could testify to that directly, unfortunately for them, are too busy reaping their reward for misspent lives in another world, to answer any questions.

Not that the baby beast didn’t give off a horrible roar and a good deal of muzzle flash. It did! But the flash was always too short in time, to blind. And the muzzle blast I found, was great because it scared the hell out of my adversaries. My ammo was Winchester’s famous commercial loading that had a gilded lead Keith type 240 grain bullet doing about 1100 fps from the short barrel. Like a big fist with a 640 lb punch!"

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

BIL had a 357 mdl 19 ported..........It would dirty up the front ramp and sight in short order from blast residue. Not for me.

 

[bdGreen]

This Model 586 was gifted to me by my dept.
Yes, 'twas a gift.

I did some IT work in my wife's company office.
Spent the money with Wilson's in Berryville, AR.

Had a complete action workover, polished the trigger, recut the forcing cone and then had the trapezoidal surgery, a la Magnaport.

Glad I did it. Gun was brand new when I had it modified.

Wouldn't do it again. Didn't observe much of a noticeable difference in handling. So, again, glad I did it. Gotta try somethings at least once.

bdGreen

 

[Hairtrigger]

I have a RSH that had the 10” barrel. Sent to Magnaport for one of their packages that included action job, porting, three ring scope mount and shorting the barrel to 8 3/4”.
They did very good work! The action is very smooth
The barrel is still longer than I prefer but with the porting the recoil is back rather than the handgun rolling up. Definitely a different feel. It is quicker to get back on target. I would not hesitate to do business with them again

 

[Hairtrigger]

Here is a pic of the Ruger