Magna-port.
Fewer holes.

I really don't know.
What are the pro's and con's of each?

Waverunner,
Before you send the barrel off to Magna-port, give Cabalas' a call.  They have set up a deal with them. You pay Cabalas and send the barrel off to Magna-port.  It will save you 1/3 of the cost.

In addition to the compensating ports, Vang Comp lengthens the forcing cone and back-bores the barrel, which reduces felt recoil, tightens patterns, and increases accuracy. He also claims the ports reduce muzzle flash.

Wave - I have a Vang but I have no experience with Magna Port - so take this for what it is.

Big Bear is correct - porting is only one thing that Vang does.

FWIW - porting helps with the recoil; however the biggest advantage to porting is that is reduces muzzle flip dramatically - great for steel courses.

The forcing cone work is the true beauty of Vang's work. (You can get both ported and unported work and models).

What I reccommend - call Hans Vang himself and speak to him about the fact that you are LE (may give you a price break) and what type of shooting you intend to do.

Wave, if you want to have your barrel ported OK but I wanted to let you know that I have a number of shotguns - all have barrels either 28" or 30", so I don't have any with short barrels. Anyway I shoot all of them and I must tell you that I can't tell any difference between the ported and non-ported barrels.

For two years I shot a Browning Gold Sporting - it came ported. Currently I'm shooting a Beretta AL390 - its not ported. I shoot both about equally well, meaning my scores are about the same with either shotgun.

I also have Browning Over/Unders some ported and some non ported. Same story. For me anyway it just makes no difference if they are ported or not.

Remember the pressure in a shotgun barrel is way lower than a rifle. (11,000 psi vs. 50,000 psi) so there is a lot less pressure working on the ports in shotguns.

Runner, I'm beginning to worry about you.  This shotgun thing is becoming a habit!


Your AR's are going to be jealous!

Quoted: Runner, I'm beginning to worry about you.  This shotgun thing is becoming a habit! Your AR's are going to be jealous!

It a good habit too

I just ordered a barrel for an 870 from Kurt, and a Knoxx folding copstock from their web site.

I know the Vang barrels are great, but for about the same price of a Vang barrel, you can get one of Kurt's barrels and a Copstock.  While the Vang barrel is backbored, Kurt's is not.  But I am hoping the copstock will give me the same recoil reduction.

My logic:  porting will help reduce muzzle flip (and it cuts recoil some too).  But by having the stock, I retain recoil reduction if I change barrels.  With the Vang, it is all in the barrel.  I can always have Kurt's barrel backbored later on if I think I need too.