I Seen Local Gunsmith Other Days Drilling 4 Holes On Top Of A Barrel About 1/2" From The End. He Said He Does A Quite A Few Rifles To Keep Barrel Kick Down. If I Have These 4 Holes Drilled At The Top, Can It Hurt The Accuracy, Or Anything At All???? Any Opinions??? Once Again, He Drills 4 Holes, Approx 3/4" From The End, And Approx, 1/8" Spaced Apart On Top In A Row.

I Seen Local Gunsmith Other Days Drilling 4 Holes On Top Of A Barrel About 1/2" From The End. He Said He Does A Quite A Few Rifles To Keep Barrel Kick Down. If I Have These 4 Holes Drilled At The Top, Can It Hurt The Accuracy, Or Anything At All???? Any Opinions??? Once Again, He Drills 4 Holes, Approx 3/4" From The End, And Approx, 1/8" Spaced Apart On Top In A Row.

Take any piece of srcap metal...drill a hole though it...then look at the hole's exit under magnification. Think you'll find your answer.

How About A Better Explanation Than To Have Me Drill Old Metal, And Examine It. Your Opinion This Gunsmith Drilling Process???

If the gunsmith counterbores the muzzle end of the barrel back to a bit past the last penetration and then goes in and cleans up the excess metal pushed through to the interior by the drill bit, then the answer would be yes - the holes on the upper portion of the barrel will help reduce muzzle climb upon firing.

What ribbonstone is saying is that if the smith merely drills the holes into the bore without enlarging that portion, then the excess metal will be interfering with the lands and grooves inside the bore. This would be difficult indeed to try and clean up so as not to have an obstructed bore or damaged rifling/grooves. Due to the sprial nature of the rifling, what happens when one of the penetrations happens to be half on a land and half in the groove - how do you effectively clean this up without damage or pitting?

There are processes to use laser cutting to make neat penetrations to assist with muzzle jump without damage to the bore. Simply using a drill press without counter boring will be tricky to assure the bore is undamaged.

Thanks Kdup. Sounds Like Its Ok, As Long As The Gunsmith Does It Properly.

Most folks that do the drilling thing do it to a piece of metal that is then reamed on the inside just enough to allow the bullet to pass thru.

These are called muzzle brakes and attached to the end of a barrel.

The other system used is one called EDM and is an electronic discharge procedure that does not cause any damage to the rifling inside the bore. I've had several rifles and revolvers done this way by Magna-port. This works very effectively and does not degrade accuracy.

If your gunsmith does not counterbore the barrel past the ports he drills then there can be some real problems.

Keep in mind that counterboring a barrel effectively shortens the barrel length where magna-porting or installing a muzzle brake keeps they same effective barrel length.

The way to do this properly is with a EDM (Electro Discharge Machine) which burns the steel away without leaving a bur inside the barrell. No counter bore is nessesary done this way.

If the holes are drilled only on the center line of the barrell it will lessen the muzzle jump but may cause recoil to be greater. Some guns need muzzle climb to help control recoil.

Any thing done to the riflings or muzzle will have some effect on the point of impact of the bullet.

I would not recommend doing this with a drill or end mill. Do it right and send to a shop with an EDM unit. Goodluck, Alan.

I don't think I would let someone drill into the end of my barrels, Duststorm is right look for a shop with an EDM. Mag-na-port is a good place to start