THE TECHNOID BARRELS ALONG... Few things are closer to the heart of the
Technoid than projects which have the potential to really mess up a good
gun. To be truly worthwhile, a gun project has to have risk. Anyone can
alter their gun when there is a guaranteed outcome, but where is the
thrill, where is the rush, that comes with dancing right on the razor's
edge? (Sorry, Somerset.) Having said that, you will notice that the
Technoid always manages to inflict his projects on the Editor's guns.
The Technoid feels that the thrill of courting risk is not diminished in
the slightest by having that risk assumed by someone else. In that vein,
the Technoid will now address potential barrel modifications to your
gun, not his.

There are four basic barrel modifications: 1) chokes, 2) porting, 3)
forcing cones and 4) backboring. Since you asked, here is what the
Technoid thinks of all four- Yes, No, Yes, Maybe.

1) Chokes: You should have screw chokes. You can probably survive with
fixed chokes of IC (.010") and Mod (.020"), but there is no need to.
Most modern guns come with screw chokes. Every machine shop with a
thread cutter makes after market chokes, so there are plenty of
different lengths, weights, colors and constrictions to choose from if
you do not like the factory versions. If your gun does not have screw
chokes, consider having Briley install a set. Briley's thin wall choke
tube sets are excellent and are now installed as an original equipment
option on Holland and Hollands. The job costs about $350 and includes
five chokes. Installing chokes is a low risk modification and very much
worth while.

Most factory screw chokes added muzzle weight. This is because the
factories did it, shall we say, inexpensively. They simply bulged the
barrel at the muzzle, threaded it and popped in a big, fat, heavy choke.
In addition to saving production costs, this method was strong.
Unfortunately, it was also heavy because the weight of the screw chokes
was added to the original weight of the barrel. Recently Beretta,
Perazzi and some Rugers have gone to lighter chokes in non-bulged
barrels. A set of standard after market extended chokes for the popular
Citori weighs about two ounces- a tremendous amount of weight to add
right on the end of the barrel. To get around added muzzle weight many
of the best British shooters buy fixed choke guns (Mirokou 3800s and 38s
currently) and then get them screw choked. Aftermarket choke
installations only replace metal which has been removed and keep the
muzzle weight on those 32" barrels manageable. If you have a gun with
factory screw chokes, take them out and test the balance of your gun.
This is the way that your gun was originally designed to feel.

2) Porting: A few new guns, notably a large part of the Japanese
Browning Citori series and many of the Berettas, now come with barrel
porting standard. There are also a dozen aftermarket companies that
perform this modification. Does it actually work? Probably a little, but
equally probably, not enough to matter. It definitely does not work as
well as it does in the high gas pressure environments of rifle and
pistol. Stroboscopic photography seems to show that porting does indeed
slightly reduce muzzle jump when the gun is unrestrained. The heavier
the shell, the better it works. Whether the reduction in muzzle jump
will be noticeable to the shooter is another question, especially if the
shooter uses light loads.

In the 1970s the Technoid conducted a blind comparison (some say that
all of the Technoid's comparisons are blind) of Magnaported barrels vs
standard barrels on a Remington 1100 and could detect absolutely no
difference. Then again, it is hard to tell with gas guns. His later
tests on two identical Browning Citori GTI O/Us, one factory ported and
one not, also showed no discernable difference. We are talking about
muzzle jump here. No one has ever substantiated any claim that porting
has reduced rearward recoil, although several of the machine shops claim
it. Be aware that many types of porting increase muzzle blast to
obnoxious levels, but other port hole shapes do not seem to.

So, do you port? If you are a pigeon shooter, shoot max loads, are
already deaf and are not concerned with the resale value of your gun,
you might give it a try. For sporting, if you habitually have a weak
forehand grip or choose to shoot a zero pitch stock to reduce face slap,
there might be some slight benefit. Other than that, skip it. If the gun
comes ported from the factory, it probably does not hurt anything, so
there is no point in filling the holes back up. (To be continued-
forcing cones and backboring next month.) #Return to Shotgun Report Home
Page #THE TECHNOID BARRELS ALONG... Few things are closer to the heart
of the Technoid than projects which have the potential to really mess up
a good gun. To be truly worthwhile, a gun project has to have risk.
Anyone can alter their gun when there is a guaranteed outcome, but where
is the thrill, where is the rush, that comes with dancing right on the
razor's edge? (Sorry, Somerset.) Having said that, you will notice that
the Technoid always manages to inflict his projects on the Editor's
guns. The Technoid feels that the thrill of courting risk is not
diminished in the slightest by having that risk assumed by someone else.
In that vein, the Technoid will now address potential barrel
modifications to your gun, not his.

There are four basic barrel modifications: 1) chokes, 2) porting, 3)
forcing cones and 4) backboring. Since you asked, here is what the
Technoid thinks of all four- Yes, No, Yes, Maybe.

1) Chokes: You should have screw chokes. You can probably survive with
fixed chokes of IC (.010") and Mod (.020"), but there is no need to.
Most modern guns come with screw chokes. Every machine shop with a
thread cutter makes after market chokes, so there are plenty of
different lengths, weights, colors and constrictions to choose from if
you do not like the factory versions. If your gun does not have screw
chokes, consider having Briley install a set. Briley's thin wall choke
tube sets are excellent and are now installed as an original equipment
option on Holland and Hollands. The job costs about $350 and includes
five chokes. Installing chokes is a low risk modification and very much
worth while.

Most factory screw chokes added muzzle weight. This is because the
factories did it, shall we say, inexpensively. They simply bulged the
barrel at the muzzle, threaded it and popped in a big, fat, heavy choke.
In addition to saving production costs, this method was strong.
Unfortunately, it was also heavy because the weight of the screw chokes
was added to the original weight of the barrel. Recently Beretta,
Perazzi and some Rugers have gone to lighter chokes in non-bulged
barrels. A set of standard after market extended chokes for the popular
Citori weighs about two ounces- a tremendous amount of weight to add
right on the end of the barrel. To get around added muzzle weight many
of the best British shooters buy fixed choke guns (Mirokou 3800s and 38s
currently) and then get them screw choked. Aftermarket choke
installations only replace metal which has been removed and keep the
muzzle weight on those 32" barrels manageable. If you have a gun with
factory screw chokes, take them out and test the balance of your gun.
This is the way that your gun was originally designed to feel.

2) Porting: A few new guns, notably a large part of the Japanese
Browning Citori series and many of the Berettas, now come with barrel
porting standard. There are also a dozen aftermarket companies that
perform this modification. Does it actually work? Probably a little, but
equally probably, not enough to matter. It definitely does not work as
well as it does in the high gas pressure environments of rifle and
pistol. Stroboscopic photography seems to show that porting does indeed
slightly reduce muzzle jump when the gun is unrestrained. The heavier
the shell, the better it works. Whether the reduction in muzzle jump
will be noticeable to the shooter is another question, especially if the
shooter uses light loads.

In the 1970s the Technoid conducted a blind comparison (some say that
all of the Technoid's comparisons are blind) of Magnaported barrels vs
standard barrels on a Remington 1100 and could detect absolutely no
difference. Then again, it is hard to tell with gas guns. His later
tests on two identical Browning Citori GTI O/Us, one factory ported and
one not, also showed no discernable difference. We are talking about
muzzle jump here. No one has ever substantiated any claim that porting
has reduced rearward recoil, although several of the machine shops claim
it. Be aware that many types of porting increase muzzle blast to
obnoxious levels, but other port hole shapes do not seem to.

So, do you port? If you are a pigeon shooter, shoot max loads, are
already deaf and are not concerned with the resale value of your gun,
you might give it a try. For sporting, if you habitually have a weak
forehand grip or choose to shoot a zero pitch stock to reduce face slap,
there might be some slight benefit. Other than that, skip it. If the gun
comes ported from the factory, it probably does not hurt anything, so
there is no point in filling the holes back up. (To be continued-
forcing cones and backboring next month.)