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To Port or Not to Port???
cityboy
Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
I have a Weatherby Mark V .300 Mag that kicks like a mule. I have only used it to hunt big game occasionally but just booked a plainsgame safari. I can't decide if I should have it ported, Magna-ported, install a muzzlebreak or just leave it alone and learn to live with the recoil. Is it better to port or install the muzzlebreak? Is either worth enduring the increased noise? What does this do the resale value of the gun?
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!
Comments
You wouldn't want to hunt with hearing protection where you'd stand a good chance of hearing damage from the increased muzzle blast.
In addition, it's a real pain in the eass to shoot next to a ported/muzzle braked (same thing)/shotgun or rifle at the range even with hearing protection.
http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_recoil_table.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm
Large numbers of folks really don't have a solid understanding of recoil and what can be used to deter it. So we get comparisons between shotguns and high power rifles since the numbers appear to correlate when in reality the physical recoil that these numbers represent bears no resemblance from one to the other.
In the first place, most PH's wouldn't recommend the .30 caliber, 150 gr. bullets as used in the example. They would depend more on the 180's an 200's for the construction and additional energy. The second is illustrated in the excerpt below dealing with recoil sharpness. Amateurs forget to take this into account.
Recoil Sharpness
"The A-Square Reloading Manual (1996) has an interesting discussion of recoil and its effect on the body. One argument they put forth is that the time of the recoil is neglected in the free recoil numbers. Imagine two rifles of the same weight, both shooting cartridges of the same momentum. If one shoots a 100 gn bullet at 3000 fps and the other a 200 gn bullet at 1500 fps, the free recoil velocity (and energy) is nearly the same. However, the faster bullet will exit the barrel in much less time (roughly half), so the acceleration (to the free recoil velocity) is much higher. Since one's shoulder is being accelerated, and since force is mass times acceleration, the faster cartridge will hurt more. One might say the recoil of the faster cartridge would be "sharper." "
The .300 Weatherby Magnum does kick like a mule when used in a configuration that is not suited to your body type and shape. Rifles with heavy recoil can be tamed by reshaping the stock to fit the shooter better and redirecting the recoil. If the stock doesn't allow for proper fitting then I suggest replacing it with one that can be fitted correctly. Additional help can be gotten by using a technologically advanced recoil pad such as the Sims Limb Saver.
The PH's and guides that I know don't appreciate muzzle brakes because of the damage it can cause them in the line of duty trying to help a client. So I doubt that your PH is going to be any different in this regard. I'd skip the muzzle brake and make your PH a happy guy. MagnaPorting will help with muzzle rise but has little if any real effect on the recoil directed back into your shoulder. If the quicker second shot is that important, you could consider this path.
Spend you money on getting this stock to fit or getting another one that can be fitted. You'll be amazed at the difference between a properly fitting stock and one from the factory that's made to fit no one in specifically. It's like night and day.
Best.
The lead being gone, the gun then recoils in direct proportion to the energy imparted as the charge travelled down the barrel. How far and how hard the gun recoils is in direct proportion to the kinetic energy imparted, and inversely proportional to gun weight.
ie, the gun doesn't know what the velocity or weight of the load was, it only knows the energy.
I do agree, however, that gun fit is the single most important factor in perceived or felt recoil, and porting does very little to reduce recoil.
Perceived recoil from a shotgun is always less because a shotgun is fired at moving targets. A shotgun fired from a rest, as in patterning, aways produces much higher perceived recoil. 100 trap targets is nothing. 100 trap loads fired at paper from a rest is very, very unpleasant.
"I'm not sure that your description of recoil is real-world correct."
First of all, you're not sure. You're missing some information which is not unusual with anecdotal explanations.
Second, and I'm not trying to be condescending, I suggest that you use a good search engine and find the detailed explanations of recoil velocity, recoil energy and recoil moment. There is some math involved by way of examples but it helps with the concepts.
This isn't stuff I make up just to post something on an Internet forum. It's backed up with real experience, lots of it.
Best.
Not to be condescending, but I am an engineer and I can do math -
Here's a simple plug-in to calculate recoil energy:
http://www.rfgc.org/reload/recoil_calc.htm
If you refer back to the original formula: E = 1/2 (Wr / 32) (Wb x MV + 4700 x Wp / 7000 x Wr)squared (Lyman Reloading handbook), you can solve for recoil velocity.
Recoil moment, of course, is dependent on the geometry of each particular gun. To what extent recoil moment is significant, and to what extent porting reduces it are subjects of debate.
I'm sorry you took my "not sure" to mean that I am unsure. I used that wording in an attempt to be polite, rather than saying something like "dead sure".
One thing of which I am dead sure is that perceived recoil is a complex issue which can be far removed from calculated recoil. Gun fit, shooter experience and technique, shooter weight, strength, build; even mental state, anticipation of recoil and the like. More than one shooter has reduced perceived recoil simply by using better hearing protection.