The whole reason I asked is in reference to what I will eventually order from Gemini. I'm not worried about the "tactics" of others.

I'm not arguing against it by ANY means. I have a deep love for 1911s as many here do and am considering a revovler platform as backup or summer carry. I said I'm considering it and was in between on the porting as in....I'm not sure. I would love to have the practicality of this porting so long as it doesn't compromise certain aspects of my safety. Which is why I asked the questions I have asked. Now you may think that what I'm saying is "very extreme" but you need to realize that real world situations don't involve "hollywood" type shootouts and perfect scenarios of someone standing perfectly still directly in fron to you, so forgive me if consider some logic and reality in my carry choice. I merely asked questions about retention to which you seemed to know little about as proven by your comment about your face being just close, etc etc.

hey brother - you dont know me, I dont know you. But, keep assumptions to yourself.

Unlike you, I have shot this pistol from retention positions, prone, sideways, weak/strong hand, close to my face, ports facing me, ports facing away, muzzle close to me, muzzle very far away. Name it and I have done it, and done it safely.

Unlike yourself, I own this type of this firearm, I have done this, without ANY concerns or problems.

YMMV. How about you just get on the waiting list for Marc, get the revolver done, and if you dont like it, dont carry it. Instead of playing out situations in your head, man up, buy the revolver, and experiment. Until then, you cannot speak intelligently about the porting of this particular revolver until you shoot it extensively.

In the interest of the thread and the board, that is my last opinion on this revolver from a person who actually owns the firearm in question.

I'm always amused by people who volunteer opinions on guns they don't own and haven't shot extensively, offering opinions on matters they have little direct experience of.

Everyone is entitled to express his opinion, of course, and on the internet everyone certainly does, but some opinions are obviously more informed and therefore hold more weight than others.

To reiterate; The Hybra-porting done by Marc Morganti on my two Ruger SP101s is, in my direct personal experience as an owner and user, quite effective in limiting felt recoil and muzzle flip, and does NOT produce any blast or debris from the porting holes that I can feel, even when shooting one handed from "retention" and from a two-handed close to the face hold.
I was initially reluctant to order the porting along with the other work I was having done, but I am quite pleasantly surprised by the result.
The Hybra-porting is NOT the same in terms of port shape or location, as Larry Kelly's Magna-porting.
I am quite impressed with Marc's work, to the extent that I'm sending him a Ruger GP100 next.

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"Humani nihil alienum"

26 posts back the orignator of this thread indicated he made his decision. Why is there still a debate?

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

No debate here.
What the original poster decided upon is fine.

I simply feel that owner-supplied information about gun function and use deserves to supercede arguments posted by non-owners, non-users on topics that tend toward defaming or denigrating the features of the product in question.

In this case, the argument has to do with the "tactical inadmissability" of handgun barrel porting, which has been brought up as a theoretical problem in general, and applied to Marc Morganti's work on the Ruger SP101 in particular.

For the sake of those others who frequent this board and who might be considering having this work done, I have wished to make it as clear as possible that the porting poses no problem at all.
'Nuff said.

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"Humani nihil alienum"

Chrome has got a good point regarding flash and muzzle blast, but so far the discussion hasn't mentioned how much the ammo has to do with both. Some ammo is far less abusive than others in this situation. A little experimentation will pay big dividends in mitigating the effects.

I have a SP101 in .327 Fed mag. does the porting affect the ballistics very much or at all? I'd like to have it customized for carry, but don't want to give up too much on the .327 round?

Porting or not, Gemini does some super nice work.

I am sure you will give up a little bit of velocity just as you would if you cut the barrel length down. However how much will depend on the load you choose and the ballistics of the 327 of which I have no personal experience with. You port to help control "muzzle flip" but you must ask yourself how much control speed you will gain in such a modification. That depends a lot on your skill with the revolver to begin with. I would suggest good visable sights, egonomic grips, a trigger job, and all the ammo you can put through it. If you really want ports then go for it, shot placement counts much more than a few feet per second anyway.

As stated Marc does some really exceptional work on SP-101's but he also works on other guns as well. I bought a re-patriated stainless 3" GP-100 a couple of years ago. It came from the Canadian Police Force and must have been carried very limitedly as the gun looked factory new. It was also a special DAO gun from the factory. I fell in love with it, I do truly like the Ruger revolvers, but never had a GP-100. After putting a couple of hundred rounds through it I contacted Marc and sent him the gun. When I got it back it exceeded my every expectation. I traded out the grips for a new set of Butler Creek Grips found for me by another poster on another forum. This gun is scary accurate and we wont even talk about the buttery trigger pull. Here are a few of the pictures.






And the Tucker Gunleather Texas Heritage I carry it IWB in.

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"In Texas, if you kill someone, were gonna kill ya right back"

Ron White-Blue Collar Comedy Tour

I had Marc do an SP101 in 9mm with a 3 inch barrel for me last year. I sprang for the porting and hardchrome. It shoots amazing and have had no issues with the porting. Cant go wrong.

Here is my hard chromed 3 inch 9mm SP101.... I'm now thinking of sending Marc my 8 year old son's 2 inch .22LR SP101 for a dao conversion and trigger job...

I had Marc do one in 32 mag, i carry while hiking minus the porting.



ML

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This Advice Is Worth Exactly What You Paid For It.

I know these Rugers are tough, but can the small SP101 handle the heavy loads from Buffalo Bore or Double Tap with hard cast bullets? Or is this frame still a bit small for those?

I picked this one up this week. Should have it in my hands soon. SP101 .357 Magnum with Occidental IWB holster.