ported chokes

Hi what the view on ported chokes, in particular with fibre wad cartridges, anyone done pattern plate testing of ported vs non ported to determine any real world benefit. Rather than just opinion.

I think they are a gimmick. Just my own opinion and I would like to be proved wrong.

I was hoping not to have to spend £80 to find that out

FESkent said:

Hi what the view on ported chokes, in particular with fibre wad cartridges, anyone done pattern plate testing of ported vs non ported to determine any real world benefit. Rather than just opinion.

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Many years ago I did some work on the benefits or otherwise of ported chokes focusing particularly on whether or not they reduced felt recoil and/or improved patterns. My conclusion was that there were no meaningful benefit to them on either count. Ported barrels, on the other hand, did make a difference.

I can’t comment on the use of fibre wads as they didn’t form part of the test but I’d imagine the results would be the same.

As an owner of both ported and extended chokes for my Beretta, in my opinion it is a gimmick. I can't tell any difference in recoil, but they do look nice.

thanks for the comments, given the holes are symmetrical round the choke, i would not expect them to alter the muzzle lift and as recoil, momentum is a function of the gun weight and mass of the payload i feel it unlikely to benefit recoil.

With fibre wads, where the escaping gas could influence the pellets as it overtakes the pellets when exiting the muzzle was my main interest. Was wondering if allowing some of the gas to exit sideway a fraction of a second before the shot, would have any benefit.

Surprised I have been unable to find any youtube videos of the myth busting type.

While the ports will allow gas to escape, the rear of the wad spends so little time passing through the ported area the amount of gas it will dissipate would be minuscule.

If you take a box of 25 shells and shoot at 25 different pattern plates, you will have 25 different unique  patterns that you have to average out, trying to prove that the ports are making the difference and it’s not just the inconsistencies of scatter gun shooting would be a hard ask.  Any porting of a like for like choke with the same exact choke dimensions and tolerances would be lost in the inconsistencies of shells and real world choke manufacturing tolerances .

I shot quite a lot of fibre wads through Briley ported chokes, I only chose ported because the Browning Midas chokes were so heavy and titanium wasn’t an option back then. The only benefit was they were considerably lighter, nothing was gained in terms of perceived pattern or recoil.

The faults were the unholy mess and gunk between the top and bottom barrel which means I wouldn’t rush back to ported even for a weight reduction.

Just my opinion on it for what its worth.

“If you take a box of 25 shells and shoot at 25 different pattern plates, you will have 25 different unique  patterns that you have to average out, trying to prove that the ports are making the difference and it’s not just the inconsistencies of scatter gun shooting would be a hard ask. “

Their is free software out their that allows a photo of the pattern to be imported and then gives various data about the pattern, works very well.  Certainly better than the pain of drawing 30inch circles and counting pellets etc.

I’ve got half a dozen of the original ported Rhino chokes that came with a K80 I own .  For what it’s worth the odd times I use that gun I have Krieghoff extended titanium in it . The Rhinos offer no advantage over anything  IMHO , and are actually a real sod to clean .  

If anything, I'd venture that if the porting in the chokes would make any difference in spread, it would be towards a more irregular pattern if the shot touches the porting, as opposed to just gliding along smooth barrel / choke wall. Given the length of the ported area and muzzle velocity I strongly doubt it would make much of an actual difference, but in theory it could. And even that's fibre only, as for encased pellets in a plaswad, there shouldn't even be a theoretical difference. 

Maybe muzzle flip could be reduced by porting, but it would have to be upward (and possibly angled) venting only, not the "holes on all sides" kind.  Ported barrels may make a difference, but I'd fear the holes would scrape of wadding and collect shot residue.

I haven't done any comparison testing, and wouldn't be tempted as I think selecting the cartridges that work well for you / your gun will have much greater effect on perceived recoil and patterning.

I had a Beretta  barrel set ported years back when Gunmark offered the service . It was quite trendy to do so at one time . I think it was a spark erosion job . It looked cool , it was noisy , I sold it . It made no discernible difference .  If it really was a game changer it could be standard on every gun produced , but it isn’t so that must say something . 

I’ve got one in my auto and always have had a 3/8 ported teague or rhino in my a303, I used to have some in my o/u’s but they make such a mess where the chokes meet, had to ultrasonic clean even after 50 fibre wad carts , don’t notice so much on the single barrel auto though 

I’ve just changed from ported chokes to non ported with the over & under, primarily due to the pain in the ar5e it is to clean with the amount of shot residue build up between the chokes and not noticed any difference. No such issues with the semi auto.