If he only does the slide and not the barrel, it would be purely cosmetic. If your looking for recoil reduction or less muzzle climb, the barrel also needs ported.
That's what I was thinking as well and wanted to understand why the OP was looking to do this.
OP, are you going to have Allen cerakote it after as well?
Yes, he would do the Cerakote as well after the porting.
The theory as I understand it is that it *reduces* muzzle flip due to the lighter weight being slammed back. I would have to change the springs as well.
This would be a competition gun. USPSA mainly.
Same concept as the STI Limited DVC:
View attachment 59774
Allen would definitely be the go to guy to do it. I'd honestly ask his opinion on the whole reducing muzzle flip/rise. He's done a lot of slide porting, cuts, etc and shot a lot of them before and after.
Yes, he would do the Cerakote as well after the porting.
The theory as I understand it is that it *reduces* muzzle flip due to the lighter weight being slammed back. I would have to change the springs as well.
This would be a competition gun. USPSA mainly.
Same concept as the STI Limited DVC:
View attachment 59774
Just curious...which USPSA division would such slide cuts be legal for..in which the sub-par ammo capacity of the .40 226 wouldn't also put you at a disadvantage on long field courses?
Put differently, right now, you have a pretty decent Production gun. Make those slide cuts, and you now have, with extended basepads, maybe a 16-ish shot limited major gun?
On a 32 shot field course...shooting against guys who only need to reload 1x...better not miss...
As I understand it, slide cuts are fine for Limited, and I can certainly shoot Major with .40, so my hope is to create a Limited Major gun. My understanding is that barrel porting or compensators are what push you in Open Class. I am glad you brought this up, and I need to verify 100% that this correct.
The STI gun I linked to above is their Limited gun, and the barrel is ported. I will see if I can find out definitively.
One of the big problems I have not is my gun is *NOT* Production. It is a P226 SAO, and all SAO guns fall into the Limited Class no matter what. So currently, I am shooting what is basically a Production gun in a Limited class, and then to add insult to injury, it is a 9mm gun so I am now shooting Limited Minor with a "Production" firearm (IMHO).
My plan then is to covert the P226 to .40,
get an extended 5" barrel, and then port the barrel. I am also adding an extended magwell with longer mags.
Ok, understood. Just triple check what capacity you can get to with the extended mags, while staying within the "140" length limit for mag length in Limited Division. You don't want to invest all that money, only to find yourself having to make an extra reload on a field course, when simply selling the gun and going with a different platform in the first place would have alleviated it.
I think this is a big part of the reason the Sig single action XFIVE versions haven't caught on in USPSA, even though they're very nice and obviously oriented toward that. Nobody wants to spend three grand on a limited major gun with significantly lower capacity than other competitive platforms. (And it sounds like you may be getting ready to create the do-it-yourself version of that concept).
100% correct.
The SLIDE is milled out, the barrel isn't ported. I assume a typo, but wanted to be clear...
With you so far, however....
porting the barrel will make it an OPEN gun! You may mill the SLIDE.
-rvb
an extra reload is far from a show stopper. I wouldn't sweat it too much. being new into the sport, there are a lot of things that will affect his time a lot more than replacing an extra mag when moving between positions... how many can you fit in a .40 226 mag w/ a legal extension?
It looks like 15+1 for the .40 S&W at 140mm, which really sucks, especially since the STI mags can hold 18+1. Having at *least* 16+1 would be much better (8 standard targets, with one left in the chamber for the reload).
But that is with the ported barrel!!! JUST KIDDING!!! LOL!!!
yea, 15+1 isn't ideal. eg on stage designs w/ multiple 8 round arrays, you'll end up reloading like a production gun, just w/ extra make-up shots available.
some guys really plan their stages around reloading at that 16-18 round point. I guess shooting production so long, I worry more about moving through the stage most efficiently, and quite often (but not always) I was planning a reload more than other guys (eg maybe 8, 12, 12, or some other breakdown). I shot a bone stock G35 for most of a season which was 15+1 (finally got some extensions before going to a section match).
If you want to shoot what you have and like, and don't want to switch (or pony up the $) to a new gun, I wouldn't sweat your setup, personally...
But... if you're looking for every advantage, getting 18-20 in the gun can help sometimes.
-rvb
Thanks Ryan. Your advice has been really helpful!
I really do love this gun (SIG P226 LEGION SAO), the trigger is to die for!
My ultimate plan (sometime next year) is to have Allen M. build me a 2011 for Limited Shooting. He has shown me some examples of his work and I got to shoot them, and we have already discussed a plan to get there. I am trying to bridge the gap for the next 6-12 months...