[Amistad]

I bumped into a guy at a gun store the other day who offered some thoughts on porting. It was his feeling that porting does a minimal job of reducing recoil and that the ports would soon fill up with debris from shooting, and be rendered virtually useless. Plus, he added, porting makes the gun sound louder to the shooter than it would without porting.

The added noise factor, I can see. But since I've never had the experience of shooting a ported gun, I have no way of knowing whether he spoke the truth, or whether he simply pulled those thoughts out of his hat. I welcome your comments on same... Thanks!

Amistad

 

[nicknitro71]

All I can tell you is that my 608 with .357 has a recoil similar to the one of .38 out of my former S&W 686.

 

[Dave85]

I have a 607 with the 4" ported barrel (remember, that's 3" of actual barrel and 1" of true .38 cal. ported chamber). It is a little tough for me to offer a comparison. While my 607 is the only ported revolver I have ever shot, it is also the heaviest .357 Magnum I have ever shot. I can tell you that the recoil and muzzle-flip on hot 158gr. Federal Hydra-Shoks is what you would expect from 125gr. +P out of a Model 82. I have only ever shot it indoors at a well-lit range, or outdoors in sunlight. Under those conditions, the flash is visible but not blinding. In low light conditions, I do think it could effect vision for follow-up shots. As far as noise is concerned, I can definitely hold my own with any 6" .44 Magnum.

 

[schoonie]

I have a 627 .357 mag. Curious about the claims of excessive noise and discharge coming from the ported barrel, I have shot a lot of 125 grain hot loads through my gun in dim light. I don't see any distracting flame, etc, the noise is not any greater (wearing ear plugs) and there is less recoil.`

 

[Taurus_9mm]

I've never had any problems with debris accumulating in the ports of my Tracker .357 or Raging Bull .500.

Admittedly, I've shot far more rounds through the former than the latter but neither have experienced the build-up that man described.

Per the additional noise from the ports, I always wear earmuffs which tames even the loudest of shots, so again, no problem for me there.

Lastly I've found that in unison, the porting, ribber grips and the weight of the revolvers go a long way towards making stout .357s feel like warm .38 Specials.

 

[MrTuffPaws]

4" 627 owner here. Louder? Not for the person shooting, but the people next to you will know that a 357 went off. Flash isn't that big of an issue. I use it for my bed side gun. I have shot it in low light conditions, and it isn't that much worse than a normal gun.

The porting does throw stuff. It is common to get burnt powder tossed at you from the ports, but there is no way that they would ever get clogged. They do get dirty though, and cleaning them is a pain in the butt, but they don't get clogged.

 

[dbsoundguy]

I also have a 627 Tracker 357...
I have shot mine alot and it does tame the .357 , plus the ribber grips are great..
The ports only get dirty and are a pain to clean..As far as loud , I think all .357s are anyways
I always have ear plugs , although the day i got it, i went and shot it without ear protection..Yikkeess ...Put 7 rounds through it and then tried to shoot 7 more and couldn't( My ears rang for 2 days)..lol
Also when you are shooting .38s they feel like .22s....lol

 

[Dave85]

dbsoundguy,
Please don't do that again, with any gun! Loud noises, quick or sustained, cause permanent damage to your hearing. If your ears stopped ringing after two days, you were probably too relieved to notice you weren't hearing as well as you did before. And you never will. Once you lose hearing, you never get it back. My father flew airplanes back in the piston engine days. He wore ear protection most of the time, and still suffered hearing loss. With earplugs and muffs, there is no reason not to protect your hearing any time you are shooting, emergency situations notwithstanding.

 

[dmanbass]

I agree with the less recoil and just a little harder to clean claims. I think some people (who maybe do not own a ported tracker) fall victim to rumor. Clogged ports? I doubt it. Unless you never change your underwear either, maybe then

 

[chewybaca]

Hmmm. Interesting. On my 357 Titanium Tracker witha' 6.5" tube I believe the porting helps. Cuz it's Ti and light mainly. 125 grain full house mags let ya' know you gots some power in yer mit, but with out the port, I think I'd likely feel it more.

 

[Amistad]

After having had the opportunity to fire a 608 this afternoon, I can echo the sentiments of some of those here on this forum. The .357 magnum rounds that I fired offered no discomfort at all when bustin' the caps on 'em. And the .38 recoil -- a piece of cake! My wife will even enjoy shooting magnum rounds in this one after I get it! It rocks! ;D

Amistad

 

[dbsoundguy]

dbsoundguy,
Please don't do that again, with any gun!

lol... ...Thanks Dave, i learned my lesson, I knew better but just had to shoot the new gun...MY Bad!!!!

 

[texastaurusguy]

If the ports are plugging up, the nimrod who owns the gun isn't cleaning it at all.......with hot loads, the ports can be a bit blinding at night, but this doesn't seem to be much of an issue to most happy owners of a ported gun......

 

[chewybaca]

The Ports are cool if ya' reload! A 158 grain HP over a near max load of 2400 or Blue Dot will light up the night!

 

[joe sixpack]

i have a 627 with 6.5in barrel, the porting helps in addition to it being a hefty gun.

38spl's are nothin feel like .22's and 357's feel like 9mm imo.

i've heard on smaller stuff porting does'nt help much, i dunno this is the only ported gun i've ever fired and i can tell a big difference from other .357's i've shot that it does indeed help.

can't say it's much louder, dont really notice any flash or smoke but again it is the longer barrel so it might not be as big a deal as the 4inch ones.

powder resedue is OMFG hard to get off this gun and it gets dirty might quick..

i actually gave up scrubbing the crap off.

the porting gets pretty cruddy pretty quickly but clogs are not going to be a problem.

 

[chewybaca]

The Porting on my Titanium 627 with a 6.5 " tube definately helps. It's lighter than my S&W 686+, and recoil is...well....357max load-ish, but that's the fun of it. Between the grip and the proting....both help tremendously with recoil considering the lightwieght.

 

[dmanbass]

A little trick I use when cleaning the porting is dip a cotton patch in cleaning solvent and drape it over the port holes. Then poke in there with a toothpick and twirl it around a bit. Works great.

 

[texastaurusguy]

I'll bet a sponge q-tip would work good too. You can buy those at Radio Shack, and they're disposable.