I recently received an question from a reader regarding why there hasn’t been more acceptance of ported or compensated handguns while comps and brakes have been enjoying increasingly wide spread acceptance on long guns. I thought it was a pretty interesting question that was worth responding to on JTT rather than just via email.
Who can forget these images that Glock used to market their compensated models? (credit: Glock)
I think the single biggest reason that you don’t see more porting and comps on handguns has to do with the fairly vast differences in how they are utilized. In order for compensation to do the most good, it must be placed relatively close to the muzzle. That means that the ports are usually at least 16 inches or more away from most of your body (not counting the support hand and arm) when a long gun is being used. However, with a handgun, those ports may be just inches from your body if you are shooting from a retention position.
There may be other factors (size, weight, holster considerations) but I suspect that the potential necessity of using a handgun close to your own body is the main reason.
What do you think? Did I miss something obvious? Do you expect to see more compensated handguns in the future?
