“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9.
A quite common behavior in men is to believe that anything that took place before the date of their birth is irrelevant and, to that end, only those things which have taken place since we started to pay attention are valid.
A few years ago when Remington introduced their Tac-14 and then Mossberg released the Shockwave, both guns using a “birdshead” grip, folks were all a-twitter and behaved as though they were seeing something new and groundbreaking. When I saw these guns, I immediately thought back to the US Marshal’s “Witness Protection” Remington 870 shotguns with birdshead grips displayed in gun magazines in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
To that end, when modern handgun makers started deliberately drilling holes in the top of pistol barrels and calling it “porting,” my immediate reaction was, “Didn’t they already do this…and then stop because they realized it was a stupid idea?”
That was rhetorical, because yes, they did that and they stopped because it was a dumb idea. However, the modern insta-tubers were in diapers back then so this is, once again, something new.
History of Porting Handguns
Gunsmiths have been putting ports and compensators on handguns for well over fifty years. The primary subjects of these custom jobs were genuine wrist-breakers; .44 Magnum, .475 Linebaugh, .454 Casull, and the modern thumpers like the X-Frame Smith & Wesson guns in .460 and .500 S&W. Such were hunting or specialty guns used for specific purposes, not including concealed carry or open carry duty guns. When folks were porting their monster wheelguns, the term “recoil” wasn’t ever used in the same sentence or conversation with “9x19mm.”
Keep in mind that a solid-framed revolver, such as the Smith & Wesson Model 29 or the Freedom Arms .454 Casull doesn’t have the benefit of a recoil-spring or delayed blowback. In such firearms, one hundred percent of the recoil impulse is driven back into the hand(s) of the shooter. Porting kept the muzzle of the big bore magnums from snapping back toward your noggin (as much) and companies like Hogue Grips and Pachmayr produced products to offer a more solid purchase with a bit of rubber cushioning.
In the 21st century, where the handgun market is 85% 9mm Luger, 5% .22 LR and the rest divided up between all the other calibers, the experience level of the average gun owner in regards to truly magnum calibers is tiny at best. Which, I suppose, is what has led to the current generation using the terms “9mm” and “recoil” in the same sentences.
The Gun World Has Changed
Prior to the Clinton “assault weapons” ban and the stupidly named Global War on Terror, the gun industry was a small, niche, but reliably predictable one. Everyone in the gun business understood the calendar. There was the late summer/early fall pre-hunting season where folks geared up, followed by Christmas where guns were purchased and given as gifts. Then there was always a late Spring/early Summer slump where folks were outside doing things like playing sports, fishing, etc. That was the time you pushed your plinking or recreational guns like .22 rifles and pistols.
If you manufactured duty guns for law enforcement or military guns, your seasons were a bit different, but you had a reliable, predictable customer base. Remember, twenty-five years ago, the concealed carry gun market was tiny and primarily focused on law enforcement.
The post-AWB boom, GWoT, and the change from almost no states allowing concealed carry to every state being either shall issue or constitutional carry blew up the gun industry. Dozens and then hundreds of new companies sprung up almost overnight. Business was good and it looked like there was no end in sight. But there was, and the bubble popped. Hard.
The gun industry went from selling every gun they could make to having way too much inventory and lagging sales. In the olden days, a company could take their time and develop new products thoughtfully without worrying that they had to pump out something “new and improved” for every SHOT Show. Today they’re in a near panic state and chasing trends. Words like “modularity” have become the rage as the consumer has been convinced that their handgun needs to be modular as though it were a Mr. Potatohead.
I’m not saying the previous generation of gun makers were perfect. There were several notable turds that floated up: the Colt All-American 2000, the HK VP70, the AMT .45 Backup, etc. However, what can be honestly said was that guns were being developed by engineers who weren’t trying to please the current crop of Instagram models and their mindless followers.
The Mission: Serious Guns for Serious Use
Alright, here’s the caveat — if you view your firearm as a shooting toy, an item that you use to play a game, IDGAF what you bolt or screw onto it. I have no thoughts or opinions on golf clubs or pickleball racquets, either.
For better than forty years now I have invested my mental and physical energy, often while in uniform, in the serious use and application of firearms. We refer to this as the martial application of arms.
Whether on the streets of the America or in foreign lands, we’re not concerned with points and the readout of an electronic shot timer. We’re concerned with lives saved by the proper application of ballistics. Phrases such as “split times”, “practiscore”, and “Bill Drill” have no place in the serious use of arms. Ports and compensators on handguns are for games, not for fighting tools.
Contact Shooting
For about 500 years, man has understood that the rapidly burning and expanding gases of a firearm can be hazardous. Efforts have been undertaken to keep exhaust out of the face and eyes of the person holding the gun. Regarding handguns for fighting, we had taken care of that issue by venting all the gas out the muzzle. Then some misguided person said, “Why don’t we vent the gas up and out of the top of the gun?”
Genuine fights for your life are hyper-violent and unpredictable. Many times, they require the gun to be fired not from a strong, two-handed marksmanship stance, but from one hand or while the defender’s gun is held close to their body.
This is reality, not hyperbole. Venting the burning gases up toward the face/eyes of the defender is a tremendously bad idea. Venting gas onto the support hand during contact shooting is another bad idea.
Low or Poor Light
For decades, ammo makers have been producing duty ammunition with reduced flash capability because they understand that at least fifty percent of all self-defense shootings take place in low light, poor light, or reduced visibility. Blinding yourself with your first shot is generally frowned upon and leads to poor outcomes.
With vents and ports, directing the burning gases of the cartridge not out the front, but directly up and into the field of view of that shooter is becoming all the rage. Temporarily blinding yourself or reducing your night vision with the flash of the first shot of your self-defense pistol fits comfortably in the “bad idea” category.
Mindset: The Real Problem
The A-number one problem with the idea of comps and ports on firearms that are described as “self-defense” or “duty” guns is the promotion of the dangerous idea of shooting faster. The idea that the person who shoots fastest is somehow the best has crept over from the competition world into the martial world.
Adding ports and comps to duty pistols always comes back to the same argument…that they allow the shooter to shoot their gun faster. We have an insidious cult that has developed around the shot timer where people have attached their self-worth to the read out of the timer. This has led to the excruciating dangerous desire to build the trigger press into the weapon presentation process.
There’s a dangerous trend being promoted in some training classes and all over the internet that’s programming men to shoot, to press the trigger without thinking, without engaging the prefrontal cortex.
In an effort to be “faster” or to get a “better time,” we’re witnessing gun owners building the trigger pressing part into their weapon presentation routine. What’s effectively being done is that, in order to shoot faster, the trigger press is programmed into the overall draw and presentation process, thereby training the trigger finger to compress reflexively, as controlled by the basal ganglia.
These people who are trained to shoot for speed engage in hundreds and thousands of repetitions where the trigger press is built into the drawstroke, not as a separate, deliberate decision. The prefrontal cortex is removed from the overall equation.
“Through intense training we have been taught and conditioned to shoot faster than we think. This is a dangerous practice.” – Paul Howe
Remember, the deliberate decision-making by the prefrontal cortex isn’t just for giving you the “go code.” It’s there to stop you from pressing the trigger when an unexpected stimulus has occurred and altered the situation.
When the prefrontal cortex has been removed from the shooting routine and replaced by the reflexive actions of the basal ganglia, it’s not just that it’s less likely for the shooter to stop themselves from pressing the trigger when they shouldn’t, it’s not possible. When the stimulus to draw the gun has been activated, these people will present the gun and fire all without conscious thought.
Don’t believe me? A Pasadena, California police officer shot a fellow officer when he drew his gun in a “joking” manner. The wounded officer fortunately didn’t die. What the offending officer had done was to program the trigger press into his draw process.
No, we don’t believe the offending officer deliberately intended to shoot his fellow officer. What was missing from this equation? If you said “the prefrontal cortex decision to press the trigger” give yourself a gold star.
We shouldn’t have to explain the extreme levels of recklessness and negligence involved here. In actual encounters between defenders and potential attackers, guns are drawn and not fired far more than they’re needed to be fired. Those who have been voluntarily inducted into the cult of the shot timer — and ports and comps are a symptom of that — think they’re “getting better” or shooting faster by building the trigger press, reflexively and unconsciously, into their draw routine.
If you have built a trigger press into your drawstroke as a reflexive action rather than a deliberate, thoughtful decision, if your primary concern is going faster, you have created the perfect scenario for a negligent killing. The good news is that you will be able to impress your future cellmates with tales of your split times and your Bill Drill.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student of the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.