Ports

In addition to compensators, holes can be cut in the barrel to create ports venting the gas upward to reduce muzzle rise. The GLOCK 19C is an example. It has two ports cut into the barrel, side by side. Corresponding slots are cut in the slide. GLOCK refers to these guns as compensated models, but technically they are not compensators since they lack the expansion chamber and baffle.

Simply porting the barrel does reduce muzzle rise. The GLOCK 19C’s two small ports reduce muzzle rise almost as well as a single port compensator. Mag-na-port is famous for developing a process using EDM machining techniques to cut holes in barrels for this purpose.

Ports don’t reduce felt recoil as well as a compensator because there are no baffles for the gas to hit to slow down barrel and slide movement. Also, ports reduce the bullet’s velocity because they vent off gas pressure while the bullet is still accelerating down the barrel. But in most cases this reduction of velocity is very small.