Magnaporting

[stubshaft]

A friend of mine had a new Freedom Arms pistol built for him in 50 Wyoning. He also had it Magnaported with 4 ports 2 along the sight and two at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock about 2" before reaching the front sight.

I personally am not partial to putting holes in perfectly good barrels and my question is this.

Has anyone who shoots PB boolits noticed a dramatic LOSS of accuracy in this type of barrel?

We were shooting some PB boolits (400gr Lyman with carnauba red loob) at 25 yds. The pattern was about 2' byt 2' and the boolits were showing signs of tumbling at this range. I have shot this same boolit and have never had this type of problem. He was loading Titegroup but wasn't able to get his loading data although I am certain that it was not a hot load.

My best guess is that the porting is damaging the boolit but wanted to get the general consensus of the group.

[runfiverun]

if he looks in the ports and has lead droplets he's hurting the bases.
i shoot g/c in my ported bbls.
and push em along pretty quick.

[AZ-Stew]

I have a .41 Magnum Taurus Tracker Titanium that's ported. I've shot it using lead and have had quite a bit of lead deposited on the milled-out groove where the ports are located. Now, I didn't shoot it at long range, but accuracy and velocity (I chronographed them) were within the expected values. The only gripe I have is the difficulty removing the lead. Maybe next time I'll try Kroil.

Regards,

Stew

[crabo]

I have a PC 629 and after I firelapped it, I do not have a problem with lead deposits in the magnaports. I have other guns that ae ported and some of them have a tendancy to load up, but not the maganaport.

[stubshaft]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was thinking that the porting was distorting the bases because I can't figure out how/why the boolits are tumbling at only 25yds.

[crabo]

Here's a thread on shooting plain based in my 44. Start at post 24 to get my conclusions on my gun. I think it has got to be a boolit size or velocity problem. It also may need to have the barrel slicked up some before it starts shooting well. Some boolits just won't shoot well at lower velocities.

[Echo]

Did we slug the barrel, and measure the cylinder throats? And did we measure the boolits AFTER sizing?

[looseprojectile]

I have a #1 Ruger in 375H&H magnum with Mag Na Port and it shoots boolits better than bullets. Plain base boolits is all I have ever shot in it. NO lead in the ports. You may need to put more spin on the boolits [velocity]. Or try lighter boolits. Or larger boolits. You need to know what the load is that you are shooting.

Life is good

[44man]

I would not blame the porting. My guess is a total mismatch of the boolit.
They could also be so soft or small they are skidding the rifling.
Maybe the throats are too small and sizing the boolits.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I`ve been shooting my version of "Dirty Harry`s piece" for longer than the movie was made. I was one of the first jobs done by Larry Kelly at Magna-Port. I stay with straight WW for my alloy in what gets shot out of it. I can safely say that after many thousands fired there has been no leading nor boolets tumbling.Robert

[runfiverun]

it could just be a velocity issue also.
400 gr boolits at 800 fps probably [most likely] are not stabilized.
he might need to realize a magnum belted cased gun is designed around belted magnum case velocities and pressures.

and shoot it that way.

[44man]

it could just be a velocity issue also.
400 gr boolits at 800 fps probably [most likely] are not stabilized.
he might need to realize a magnum belted cased gun is designed around belted magnum case velocities and pressures.

and shoot it that way.
Good call. I wish we knew the velocity and load.

[bobthenailer]

i have 3 FA pistols 2 magnaported and one with a ssk muzzel brake no problem shooting plane base bullets accrracy is excellent, ive also had 2 S&W revolvers and a high standard target pistol magnaported , these also shoot excellent with plane base bullets. in my opininon the only drawback is the sides of the front sight base gets lead build up above the ports but it comes right off useing a real copper penny and doesent mark the sight base.
for cleaning the lead out of comps use a max load of slow burning powder aka 296/h110 / 820 ect and in a few shots you will see the lead being blasted out i have 4 pistols with comps and thats how i clean them out . it sure is a chore digging it out and i have a arrendo comp cleaning tool

[runfiverun]

once i picked up on the titegroup part i knew that velocities were medium at best.
it does fine in that area much like 231 but not enough oomph certainly to stabilize a 400 gr boolit in 7 inches.

[stubshaft]

You all could be right. It maybe just that the boolit is not going fast enough to stabilize it. I just haven't had any experiences/problems with a boolit stabilizing at such short range. But then again I don't usually download the cartridges I shoot.

The only reason I had asked about the porting was that I had bought a used 44 barrel for a Tender that had been ported. The ports were stripping one third of the boolit off. Not only were the ports full of lead but if you looked in the barrel you could see a chunk of lead leading from the ports to the muzzle.

[lylejb]

I had a Smith 629 6" sent in to magnaport about 1990. It shoots better, with more accuracy, with both bullets and boolits since being ported. I have no leading in the barrel, I do get a trace of lead out the ports. As in a little "chip" of lead on each side of the front site base after 200 - 400 rounds. It's no big deal.

I think the improvment is mostly from reduced muzzle jump. I can better control the pistol without the jump. I don't think the porting actually changed the accuracy of the barrel.

If I remember right, back in the mid 90's or so, porting was all the rage. Seemed like everyone and their dog had an ad in shotgun news to drill, mill, zap, or otherwise put holes in your barrel. With that many out there, I have to wonder if quality wasn't all over the map. A bad porting job might do just about anything, none of it good.

My 629 was sent in to the real mag-na-port company, and I'm very happy with it.