Recoil differences?

[Bowhunter57]

I'm considering the purchase of a hunting handgun for deer. 45, 44 or 41 calibers are part of the choice.

I used to own a model 29 S&W 44 Mag. with an 8 3/8" barrel and the recoil was much more managable than the Ruger Super Blackhawk that I owned in 44 Mag. with a 7 1/2" barrel. I believe that the grips played a huge role in the "felt" recoil, between the two revolvers.

My question: Is there a difference in "felt recoil" between a ported and non-ported barrel?
An example would be a S&W model 29 with an 8 3/8" barrel and a Taurus Raging Bull with an 8 3/8" barrel...which is ported.

Your opinions and experience is appreciated.
Thank you, Bowhunter57

[RCL]

Any difference in recoil that I may have noticed between a ported and non ported barrel (in my case on the same model of revolver, a Ruger Bisley) was far out weighed by the difference in noise level. :eek:
No ported barrels for me, thank you. :-D

[hoggunner]

some may call bull $heet on this and im not really sure of it myself. the other day at the range we were all shooting 44 mag two redhawks one super red hawk and one  rb. all rugers were 7.5 in and the raging bull was 8 3/8 ported. the notice of recoil between the rugers and rb very noticable with the rb being much less. now for the b.s. part we all were using ear protection. two with ear muffs one with the roll up foam ear plugs and one with game ears. we could not really notice any differance in the noise, one guy even said he thought the rb was not as noisy. I didn't want to take my ear plugs off to see which was loader. but i also believe you should wear hearing protection even when hunting. i am saving up for the game ears now but untill then i will use the foam ear plugs. so if you use ear protection is the noise even a factor or do you just use the gun with less recoil? the great thing is in america the choice is yours and yours alone.

[Ahab]

Had my 6" Model 29 MagnaPorted. Not allot of difference in felt recoil. Did noticeably decrease muzzle rise and this allows you to get back on target more quickly. :-) Does this make a difference when hunting? You be the judge.

[ratgunner]

Hoggunner is right the R.B. is noticebly lighter on recoil.I beleive it because they are not just ported but also have an expansion chamber,this is more of a muzzlebreak than just porting alone, also the R.B. is a heavier gun. But the noise is awful.:grin:

[Grumulkin]

Grips make a huge difference.  My Redhawk in .44 Mag. made my hand bleed every time I shot it until I installed Hogue Monogrips.

Porting also makes a big difference in recoil but if the grips are good, I would much rather put up with recoil than with the extra noise.

[Bowhunter57]

Porting also makes a big difference in recoil but if the grips are good, I would much rather put up with recoil than with the extra noise.

Grumulkin,
I agree with you. I hunt waterfowl and some of the guys I hunt with have ported choke tubes and it's the same principle that has been mentioned by some of the replies to this post. They can be real "ear poppers" and are definately louder than the non-ported chokes.

Taurus' Raging Bull models have special grips that help in reducing felt recoil and give better comfort to the shooter.

Good hunting, Bowhunter57

[Old Griz]

:cb2: I have one ported gun, a .357 Colt Grizzly. You can really tell the difference when shooting heavy loads through it and some of my other 357s. However, it was one of the first handguns I ever bought, and it only came ported. Couldn't afford a Python, so I at least got the Python barrel. The ported part could have been left off. You don't really need a ported barrel in the calibers you mentioned: .45, .44, and .41. The largest I have fired have been the .475 and .454, and didn't think they needed a ported barrel either. It's not like you're gonna be double tapping deer. Unless of course, the deer is carrying a bigger gun than the one you've got!

[Bowhunter57]

You don't really need a ported barrel in the calibers you mentioned: .45, .44, and .41.  It's not like you're gonna be double tapping deer.

Old Griz,
Good point! Making the first shot count, is what it's all about. I"ll take a second shot if the opportunity presents itself, but they're usually rare.

Good hunting, Bowhunter57

[lovedogs]

There are all kinds of ways to manage recoil, and that's what we're talking about here.  There are all sorts of pluses and minuses involved.  There are trade-offs.  Personally, the noise factor mentioned when using muzzle brakes don't bother me so much because I use hearing protection even when hunting.  My .30-30 Contender using H335 will educate you in a hurry on that subject.  The thing I find objectionable with the brakes is that some of them don't like lead bullets and foul more than I like.  And I've heard talk about the ones like Mag-na-port not working well with lead bullets.  While you may not be using lead bullets at present it's something to think about.  Someday you may want to try casting your own or shooting some lead and find that you've got a problem with a brake.  So, for me, I prefer to find some other way of managing recoil.  Some light loads for practice, better fitting grips, and shooting gloves (like Past makes) can help a lot.

[corbanzo]

Porting helps a lot with muzzle rise, and a small amount on recoil, but I find that weight is a very big factor, which goes along with barrel length.  I have a taurus M444 titanium .44 magnum with a 4" barrel, and a Taurus RB in .454 with a 6.5" barrel.  My hands get fatigued much quicker with the .44, even though the .454 is putting out 800ft/lbs more energy.  In this case we are talking about a 28oz .44 and 73 oz .454.

You will feel the recoil much less with porting because the snap back on the wrists from muzzle rise is reduced.  The push straight back on the hands isn't greatly reduced, but that isn't the part which causes most of the fatigue or pain.  This is also the case with a my smith 4" steel .44mag  With a good pair of muffs or plugs, I would take the ported barrel over the non-ported.

[doncisler]

real way to tell how much difference there is between ported and non-ported is to take the removable port (expansion chamber) off of a s&w x-frame 500mag or 460mag.
even though these are heavy revolvers, with full power loads there is a big difference in percieved recoil with the brake on.
nice thing with this system is that if they do get leaded up it is easy to remove and clean them.

[Jim n Iowa]

I did not go through this whole thread. A SBH to me has small grips for my hands, as do most of their revolvers. Forget the rock in your hand BS, you need a grip that fits your hand, your hand-wrist combo will handle the recoil, and the more you practice the better it gets. Look at rubber grips from old time suppliers. I would not think porting would be necessary through 44 mag.
Jim

[Heavyhaul]

This is not the same anmal, I have shot a Taurus that was ported and didn't notice any more noise, with hearing protection, than my GP-100 and alot less muzzle jump.  I also enjoy shoot my DW 445 Supermag and almost dredded working up a load for my buddies 44 SBH.  Just like a rifle, grip or stock angle can make a tremendous difference.

[lovedogs]

Some time ago I had a friend who was one of the honchos at Dan Wesson.  He was always sending me another grip to try.  I tried them on my DW44 and reported back to him how they worked.  All were walnut or zebrawood, no rubber.  It was very enlightening what a difference there was between different grips, even ones that looked alike had small differences that made them handle and shoot differently.  I let friends shoot them, also.  And seldom did we feel the same about how they handled recoil.  The different shapes, geometry, and difference in our hands, grips, and the way we shot made it hard for a company to decide which ones were best to market.  Guess that's why there are so many companies making grips.