# Ported Barrels



## bowhunter04 (Nov 7, 2003)

A friend of mine is having problems with the comb of his gun hitting his cheek when he shoots. I was trying to think of ways to minimize this problem. I know he should probably put his cheek tighter against the comb but he doesn't like the sight picture then. Would porting his barrel help minimize this problem or wouldn't it help? Also, what would porting a barrel cost at a gunsmith's shop (roughly)? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeremy


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## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

IMO, porting would only be a bandaid. It may help the beating, but is not solving the problem. I think he'd be better served to spend that money on having the gun professionally fitted. If he were to get the comb adjusted, proper length of pull and the other "technical" terms associated with fitting.....he'd solve the problem.

If he's getting his cheek pounded, the gun doesn't fit or he's not mounting it properly....porting will not solve that problem.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

agree plus porting makes them loud as heck and miserable to be around when shot, I made that mistake once never again.

Tell him to try one of those slip on recoil pads sometimes a stock that too short will cause this, they are cheap


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## BIRDSHOOTER (Jul 18, 2005)

Sounds like the comb is too low and holding cheek slightly off comb to compensate is causing the cheek slap. Good advice here so far. I will only add to that another viable option and that would be the installation of an adjustable soft comb unit, which would solve the low drop to comb problem and help cheek slap by keeping it firm against the soft comb.


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## bowhunter04 (Nov 7, 2003)

Thanks for the replies everybody. It sounds like porting isn't the route to take. I'll pass on the advice. Thank you all.


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## fishfarmer (Dec 30, 2004)

A couple of things that you might try is 1) try taping a pice of foam to the top of the stock to see if it helps, (foam pipe wrap works) this will help I.D. the problem. 2) Try a adjustable butt plate like a Morgan plate. I had a similar problem with a Moss. 835 tried the porting just made it loader, but the Morgan plate fixed the problem.


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## rollin Oswald (Sep 1, 2007)

Jeremy;

What your friend is suffering from is commonly referred to as _cheek slap._ A number of things can cause it. The most common one is inadequate pitch. This describes the angle of the butt relative to the barrel.

The semi-pointed bottom of the butt, the toe, sticks out too far. This significantly increases the barrel-rise during recoil. The comb of the stock with the cheek resting on it is impacted by the rising comb.

Something else that can cause it is a cheek that is raised off the comb to align the eye with the rib. When the gun recoils and the barrel rises, the comb rises right along with it and impacts rather than pushes the cheek.

A third cause is an improper gun mount, usually due to poorly fitting stock dimensions. Usually, the gun is mounted too low on the shoulder. With this kind of mount, a portion of the cheek with more pain receptors makes contact with the comb.

This forward area of the cheek is more sensitive to pressure. Even with a normal amount of barrel rise during recoil, pain can result.

As can be seen, solutions to cheek slap vary, depending on the cause.

Adding a pad or foam to the comb usually doesn't work very well. It provides a cushion between the cheek and the comb but it also raises the level of the eye relative to the rib.

Unless compensation is made, the back sight on the gun, the eye, has been raised and the gun will shoot higher than it did. This may be OK for trap shooting but it will cause shooters to shoot over game.


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