Ben, Mag-na-port has always done good work for me. Another company you might look at is SSK run by JD Jones. Both do excellent work.

Hey Ben, sorry to hear about your loss. Even after 4 years, I'd still be sick every time I thought about it. I'm sure you do. I've been shooting a Taurus .44 with the 8 3/8 barrel for 2 years. Any advice/recomendations? I put a Wolf spring kit in it but other than that it's stock and has a 2x M-8 Leupold on it. I use it for NY whitetails and would some day soon like to take an elk and a mulie with it. Thanks.

Fair enough and thanks for the input on MNP action work. The biggest reason I wanted to port it is aesthetics and "something-different".

I had a taurus .44 for several years, along with a lot of other guns and pistols I'd been collecting, but about 4 years ago, someone broke into my house and stole most everything I had up until that time ... (I just couldn't justify buying a safe prior to that).

I figured putting a brake on the end would help set it apart from all the other generic SRHs out there - just in case.

I'm with the guys on this one. The .44 doesn't kick enough IMHO to warrant magna-porting -- particularly in a rather large framed revolver like the SRH. It should be a rather comfortable shoot. I have an SRH in .480 and in .454. While the .454 kicks like hell, the .480 is a very nice shoot, pushing just a bit more than the .44 Mag. Don't waste your money.

Whitworth

I had the 6" barrel on my taurus and the only thing I ever had done to it was a trigger job here at a local gunsmith to lighten the SA trigger down to around 3 lbs or so and crisp it up a bit, and I put a smooth rosewood hogue semi-fingergroove grip on, but that was mostly for aesthetics. I never had any problems with mine other than just I never seemed to have enough ammo on hand. I never put a scope on my taurus, but I did think about it on occasion. The sights and overall weight and balance on it were fine for me and I really enjoyed shooting it.

That taurus was the first pistol I'd ever bought. I bought it the day I turned 21, and from 21 to 27 I put thousands of rounds through it and it never gave me a bit of trouble.

I never shot taurus' 8 3/8 barrel .44, but one of my uncles went out and bought their raging bull in 8 3/8 .454 casull and he and I shot that one quite a bit - it really wasn't that bad to shoot, but you definately knew you were shooting something. That 8 3/8 raging bull started to feel pretty front-heavy after a few boxes of rounds though, but it was a very accurate gun. Mostly we just used it for plinking pine-cones at 50 yards and it did a fine job. After about 100 rounds or so of that .454 my wrist would get fatigued and start shaking and I'd have to back off for a while.

Every taurus I've ever owned or shot I've been very pleased with, right out of the box. Even shooting .45s for IDPA and concealed carry, what I keep in my nightstand by the bed is a little 5 shot 4" barrel taurus in 44 special... they've never let me down.

All that said, I'm not "really" sure what you're asking advice on. The only advice I can recommend is if you like how it shoots as is, and you're happy with the trigger and accuracy, and it doesn't have any functional problems, then it's probably fine, and you'll probably get more bang for your buck by investing in another gun and then having a choice of which one to use. If you just want to fine-tune that one though, an overall tune and polish job on the action, chamber and trigger can turn a nice gun into a fantastic gun, and I'd probably start there.

Every barrel's harmonics are going to be a little different, and that can impact accuracy, but without knowing how much you shoot or practice, or whether your taurus is hitting where you want it to, I'd say that in any gun the first place to work on accuracy is being consistant with how you pull the trigger and to just know your gun. Nothing can replace practice and repetition. Knowing your barrel is crowned right and true though, certainly doesn't hurt.

When I sent my SRH off, the 2 finalists for me were MagNaPort and Pinnacle, and what it boiled down to was MagNaPort said they could work on it and still it back in time for deer season this year. Mark at Pinnacle does some truly amazing work, but for the money and time, MagNaPort is certainly quality work as well, and at some point you start coming into diminishing returns for your dollar and time.

http://www.pinnacle-guns.com
http://www.magnaport.com/index.html

I know this is long, but I hope it helps you. The first question to ask yourself though, is how much or how little would you be satisfied with, and how much is too much to pay for it.

For me, I wanted one "good" gun for my collection. I wanted a perfect gun, and I ended up going all the way to Steve Romans in Montana to build it for me by hand. It was a .300 WinMag and Steve built it exactly to my measurements and my specifications. Everything is polished, tuned, and hand-lapped, and that rifle is a true work of art ... and best of all, it kicks like a .223. I'm not afraid to let my 4 year old son shoot it (supervised). That gun will put 3 rounds into one hole at 200 yards. But you get what you pay for.

Thanks Ben for that post. I had no real specific ideas in mind, just wondered what you liked and didn't like, and what you changed. My RB is the first and only revolver I own and all you see in here is what to do to S&W or Ruger wheelies.

I shoot in quite a bit training for military matches and also some at the club level with both rifle and pistol, and I shoot my RB enough to be very confident and comfortable enough to hit what I want off hand out to 50 yards and with the best of rests out to 100. I never in my life shot at a deer outside 49 yards so past that is not an issue. I do love shooting it and hope to reload for it in the near future. I've been saving up quite a file on bullets and recipes and have enough info to keep be busy for quite a while.

I have plans to make my own scope mount. the factory mount clamps down saddle style to the top of the rib with straps running through the vent slots. I have enough tool making shills and a father with a well equipped shop so all I lack is time! Thanks again for your post, good luck to you and every one this season and for tomorrow good luck to us all! Four more!

ALL I will say about Magna Porting is ..
I was standing next to a guy who was shooting his just returned from Magna Port .45winmag in a LAR grizzly.
On the 3rd shot, the bbl split from the back of both of the EDM cuts straight back into the chamber of the gun, locking the whole thing up like a bank vault.
this is the 3rd magna ported bbl I have seen split from the EDM cuts all the way back to the chamber.
All were on superboomers that generate high pressure.
the others were a 338/378 and a .378wby. The 338./378 belonged to a police detective friend of mine. The other one was turned into a friends shop for bbl replacement.

I had a 8 3/8ths .44 mag magnaported many years ago and I never had a single problem with it before I sold it.. Who knows...

FWIIW.

Lawcop

Do I know you?

You just described my LAR Mark I 45 WM Mag-Na-Ported barrel perfectly, you did it as if you were with me that day hunting!

It split and locked the action so tight I had to beat it open when I got home with a mallet, the gun was completely un-harmed with the exception of needing a new barrel. The split was all the way back to the chamber area, with the largest area being right at the Port itself.

I have seen Mag-Na-Porting on rifles that never had any problems all the way upto 300 Ultramag.

And I have a Delta Elite that has Mag-Na-Porting with no problems what so ever.

Zero

Hrmm, that's scary about the EDM cuts from Magnaport ...

I'm only having the barrel threaded and a muzzle brake installed. That should be ok - don't you think? They're only cutting some threads on the barrel, and then screwing on more steel over it, so I would think the additional steel threads from the brake would help to stabilize any pressure expansion or weakness on the threads?

If it splits though, and for those who have had problems - does MagNaPort offer any good support for making it right or have a warranty?

At this point, I've already sent the pistol off for work - and them a check along with it, so it's past the point of no return.

I expect it back in about 8 weeks, so I'll be sure to put a few boxes through it (very carefully) and let you know the results.

Reguardless of my experience with the split barrel, MNP is top quality work, you should have no fear on them doing the threading and it being 100%.

Also a side note to my split barrel, the 45WM is a high pressure round in a thin barrel, I would not totally blame MNP for the problem, I think it was just more of a contibuting cause, not bad workmanship in any way.

Also I would guess that your turn around time will be more like 2 week then 8, MNP is one of the fastest in the industry at getting work done.

Zero

Good enough then. They told me to expect 10 - 12 weeks for any action work, but that's probably just a CYA from their end. If they say 10 - 12 and it comes back in 2 - 3, I doubt anyone complains.

Have a 629 classic in 44 mag that I had mnp'd and a complete action job, done about ten years ago. This revolver has fired many thousands of rounds and has had ZERO problems - the action is smoother than a babies butt, single action is fantastic while double is incredibly smooth and clean.
Also have a modified enfield in 450 ackley that has been magnaported, seemed to calm the muzzle jump but did increase the felt recoil to straight back into the shoulder.
I give MNP two thumbs up for quality work and customer service and I plan to send them more work in the future.
............. my two cents on this topic.... KMule