To Port or Not to Port Your Revolver’s Barrel?

       While there are several reasons why a shooter might want an extra powerful revolver ranging from self defense to hunting, the fact is that many shooters find the recoil generated by such high powered revolvers as the the .44 Magnum, the .454 Casull, the .480 Ruger, and the .500 Smith & Wesson to be more than they can handle. Therefore, one popular solution is to fit the revolver with shock absorbing grips such as those made by Hogue and Pachmayr which are made from a proprietary rubber compound that does an excellent job of absorbing recoil.

     However, while shock absorbing grips do indeed make powerful handguns more controllable by absorbing some of the felt recoil they generate, they do nothing to control muzzle flip which is actually the main cause of discomfort when shooting extra powerful revolves.

     Consequently, many years ago now, someone came up with the idea of cutting ports into the top of a revolver’s barrel near the front sight in order to make use of the muzzle pressure that would normally escape out of the bore when the bullet exits the muzzle to help control muzzle rise.  However, many shooters feel that porting their beloved revolver is too drastic a measure while, others feel that it is too expensive a process with unproven results. Therefore, this has given rise to considerable controversy over whether or not porting your revolver is worthwhile.

     In fact, the main point of contention seems to be whether or not porting a revolver actually lessens felt recoil. However, felt recoil is a very different matter from muzzle rise and thus, they should be considered to be entirely separate issues. For instance, felt recoil is defined as the amount of force a shooter feels when firing a handgun, shotgun, or rifle and is measured in foot/pounds (ft./lbs.) while, muzzle rise is defined as the distance which the muzzle rises above the line of sight when shooting a firearm and is usually measured in inches.

     Thus, while felt recoil is the main issue when firing a heavy recoiling shotgun or rifle since the muzzle rise for this type of firearm is usually negligible, both felt recoil and muzzle rise are significant issues when firing a revolver and, especially so when firing an extra powerful revolver. Therefore, while shock absorbing grips such as those made by Pachmayr or Hogue are specifically designed to absorb felt recoil, porting is specifically designed to address the issue of muzzle rise.

     But, does porting actually work? Well, the answer to that question is a resounding YES, it definitely does work!!! In fact, prior to writing this article, we tested three .44 Magnum revolvers side by side with the same ammunition and the results were nothing less than astounding!

     For instance, the three revolvers tested were a Smith & Wesson model 29-2 with a 6 inch, non-ported barrel, a Smith & Wesson model 629 with a 4 inch, ported, barrel, and a Ruger Redhawk with a 7 ½ inch, ported, barrel; all firing 240 gain jacketed hollow point bullets with a muzzle velocity of approximately 1350 fps.

     Thus, because the Smith & Wesson model 29-2 has non-ported barrel, we tested it first in order to establish a control for the experiment and, as expected, it generated a significant amount of muzzle rise. In fact, after repeated firings, the muzzle rise was so apparent that it became somewhat painful to continue shooting it.

     Next, the Ruger Redhawk with its 7 ½ inch ported barrel was tested and, as expected, the longer, barrel combined with the ports as well as the extra weight of the Ruger’s frame definitely kept muzzle rise to a minimum. However, some people may claim this apparent reduction in muzzle rise can be entirely attributed to the Ruger’s heavier frame and longer barrel which is at least partly true because physics tells us that handguns with greater mass will generate less recoil.

     So, we then tested the Smith & Wesson model 629 with its 4 inch, ported, barrel and surprisingly, it too displayed significantly less muzzle rise than the S & W model 29-2 with the 6 inch, non-ported, barrel! In fact, the felt recoil from the non-ported revolver can best be described as a violent, upward, wrenching of the shooter’s hand and wrist whereas, the felt recoil from the two ported revolves can best described as a swift backwards push.

      Thus, while the non-ported revolver generated a significant amount of vertical force in addition to a significant amount of horizontal force, the force generated by the two ported revolvers was almost entirely horizontal which made the ported revolvers much more comfortable to shoot than the non-ported revolver.

     But, does porting actually reduce felt recoil? Well, there again, we need to turn to physics to definitively answer that question.

     So, first imagine a test barrel of a given length with a breech block to seal the chamber. Then, imagine that we attached a steel lug to the bottom of the breech block, then drilled a hole in the lug, and the inserted a round steel rod through the hole in order to create a pivot point. Then, imagine that we secured the test barrel in such a way that it was able to pivot around the steel rod and then fired a round from it and observed the barrel’s reaction in slow motion. First, we would see that the barrel starts to recoil horizontally but, due to the fact that the pivot point is located well below the bore axis, we would see the muzzle pivot upward almost immediately.

     Then, imagine that we performed the same experiment with a similar test barrel but, rather than placing the pivot point below the bore axis, we instead mounted it such that the bore axis is directly in line with the breech block. Thus, if we were to fire a round from this test barrel with the bore axis directly in line with the breech block, we would then see that the recoil force is entirely horizontal with no muzzle rise because all of the inertia generated by the bullet traveling down the bore is directly in line with the bore axis.

     Consequently, because the bore axis of a revolver is positioned above a shooter’s hand as in the simulation mentioned above, the shooter’s hand acts like a pivot point which causes the muzzle to rise when firing a round. But, because the gas expelled from the ports located on the top of the muzzle only directs the escaping gas upward and not backward, we can safely state that porting a revolver’s barrel will not result in a reduction of felt recoil unless the force of the escaping gas is directed back horizontally toward the shooter instead of down so that it creates a force that directly opposes the inertia generated by the bullet.

     So, does porting a revolver’s barrel actually reduce felt recoil? No, it does not. However, it does significantly reduce muzzle rise and, because of this, it can feel to many shooters as if porting a revolver’s barrel does indeed reduce felt recoil.

     So, is porting your revolver’s barrel worthwhile? While some shooters would answer that question with a resounding yes, others would say no, it is not worth either the time or the expense. However, regardless of which side of this argument you are on, the fact is that porting your revolver’s barrel does indeed make a noticeable difference in the way that its recoil is experienced! Therefore, if you are one of those shooters who owns a magnum powered revolver, then you might want to consider having the barrel ported.

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