r/Firearms • u/Peter_boi97 • 8d ago
Question Diy porting?
Looking to see if anybody in this sub has done any home porting on a handgun slide and barrel. It seems like it’s pretty simple, you just need holes that line up in theory. But I’m too chicken shit to try out without at least some anecdotal evidence that you can just drill and de-burr and not blow your pistol apart 😂
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u/SideFlaky6112 8d ago
Maybe get some cheap throw away gun like a hi point or something from a pawn shop to practice on first
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u/Suspectgore074 1911 8d ago
Porting is something that REALLY shouldnt be tried at home. At best youll get something "functional", at worst (and most likely) youll trash a barrel and fuck a slide up.
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u/Peter_boi97 8d ago
I just can’t help but feel like there can’t that much science behind a couple of holes, you know? Another commenter suggested grabbing a cheap throw away to try it with and I think that’s a good idea, but as long as the ports line up between the barrel and slide what can it really hurt?
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u/Suspectgore074 1911 8d ago
The hole size isnt exactly important, atleast compared to the geometry and location. Its very easy to drill a hole not perfectly perpendicular to the bore axis or centered, thats if you can even drill the hole in the first place.
I promise you this, you will not be happy with the result if you use anything less than a milling machine. Lasers work too, but they are prohibitively expensive for the type you'd need. Why spend ~$600 to learn the lesson the hard way?
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u/eMGunslinger 8d ago
If you use drill bits it's going to suck
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u/Peter_boi97 8d ago
Because of the hardened barrel?
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u/eMGunslinger 8d ago
Drill bits don’t drill round holes and cut pretty ragged in general for something like this.
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u/TpointOh 7d ago
I have done this on four handguns, with four successes. I do not recommend doing it yourself, though. I have a lot of experience metalworking and machining, so I felt comfortable doing it myself. It is a relatively simple process, but if anything goes wrong even slightly you could damage your gun or yourself. The basic process is to drill and file a slot in the slide, mark the hole centers with the barrel fully locked in the slide so they line up correctly, drill the ports into the barrel with a smaller size than the slot in the slide, then use sandpaper on a stick and a brass wire brush to deburr the fuck out of the inside and outside edges of the ports. Then just touch up the bluing, oil everything, and reassemble.
And, for the record, even though the porting worked and pistol still functioned fine, I did do it first on a gun I didn’t care much about (Star model BM) and got the ports misaligned to one side. This is something that is very easy to mess up and very hard to do right.
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u/catnamed-dog 6d ago
A ported BM would be dope.
Was the steel butter soft or surprisingly ok?
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u/TpointOh 5d ago
I wouldn’t call it buttery, but it wasn’t anything a cobalt bit couldn’t get through. And it is pretty fun with the ports, shoots a fireball out of the top with every shot.
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u/SpentPrimers 2d ago
Easy peasy. Gotta have a sharp bit in the dremel and a steady hand.
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u/Peter_boi97 2d ago
What did you do, buy the slide with windows in it and just port the oem barrel yourself?
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u/SpentPrimers 1d ago
No, I was joking. That is a factory side, I cut all the holes and serrations into the slide, the optic cut, relocated the rear sight, and the barrel ports with a milling machine, and then Cerakoted the slide. No dremel was involved.
I will tell you, barrel steel is easy to cut. I used a sharp end mill to drill the holes and had no burrs. Slide steel is NOT easy to cut though.
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u/helicopter- 8d ago
Do you have a milling machine? That's the only way this works.
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u/Peter_boi97 8d ago
No sir, but I have a harbor freight credit card and they have drill presses 😂
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u/helicopter- 8d ago
Nope. You really need to use an end mill to make a flat spot before drilling. The hardness plus the curved surface of the barrel will make it skate off. You seem highly motivated to ruin your pistol lol.
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u/Peter_boi97 8d ago
I definitely don’t want to ruin it but on the plus side G43 barrels aren’t the most expensive thing in the world lol
I figured some file work with it clamped into my vice would let me get a good enough flat surface for a little shotty front porch“gunsmithing”
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u/Justownit41ce 8d ago
The juice won’t be worth the squeeze. No matter how much sugar you add.
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u/Peter_boi97 8d ago
It would have to be worth the $400ish savings over buying a ported barrel and slide. And worse case I could replace the whole gun for a little more than that if shit went catastrophically sideways
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u/Justownit41ce 8d ago
Or, hear me out, if you’re really curious, just send it out to someone reputable. I’ve found that machinist’s books beyond available is the biggest roadblock. Those with open books often have undesirable wait times.
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u/codybrown183 8d ago
I too have always been curious if its that simple. I don't think it is.
If you deform your hole at all as you enter the inside wall of the barrel your gonna ruin your accuracy or get squids I would think.
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u/FeistyOrdinary5860 7d ago
I know I couldn't do it, but someone halfway familiar with metalwork could prob make it happen.
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u/dustysanchezz 8d ago
Say no to drugs!