Hi,
I could not resist adding some thoughts about porting firearms. I have Mag-na-ported quite a few handguns, one rifle and have 2 Marlins with their porting. Every revolver I ever saw actually comes ported from the factory. It is a large circular port we normally call the cylinder gap. Shoot a magnum charge at night and you'll see that port at work. It's spits gasses out at the highest pressure (far higher than up near the muzzle) and accounts for lots of noise and occasionally spits powder and lead back at the shooter or bystanders. Compared to the "factory porting" I have consistanty found Mag-na-porting to make little to no difference in anything except recoil reduction. When I shoot lead bullets, there will always be some lead deposits above the Mag-na-porting on the sight base. In thousands of rounds, no lead from the ports ever hit me.... though I would not shoot a mag-na-ported gun with lead bullets from the hip. If it is louder, either in handgun or rifle (not so with the brakes... they will bust your ears) I cannot tell with the one exception of shooting under the tin roof at our gun club. If you want louder in magnum handgun the best way I know is to use lighter bullets, more powder and a shorter barrel. The reverse will make a revolver a lot quiter, ported or not. I have mag-na-ported handguns from 4 5/8" (revolvers) to 10" (single shot) and can tell no difference in accuracy or noise.
Because of the big circular "factory porting" on revolvers, bystanders will not notice what's going on in the front of the barrel. I can, however, easily tell the difference in reduction of sensed recoil (as perceived rather than scientifically) and dramatically increase my rate of fire with mag loads since it is far easier and quicker to get back on target with either single or double action handgun.
I know many do not feel as I do. All I know is what I have experienced with porting. I wrote a tech note on this topic a while back. If you would like to review it it's..
http://[email protected]/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/6 . For all the bad press I hear about porting like mag-na-port and the Marlin porting, I simply have not seen or heard the problems. For me it has been a win win for 2 decades now.
Just food for though........... Bill M