For some time I have considered muzzle porting to release barrel pressure so that uneven forces on the base of the projectile at the muzzle can be minimized. I have an extensive firearms background and this is not a strategy pursued by mainstream firearms manufacturers. I think this is because mainstream manufacturers use rifling to provide a lot of gyroscopic stability and also high density projectiles (lead core) of high precision combined with precision crowning (balanced forces as the projectile exits)
For us, shooting usually lower density, lower precision projectiles, out of smoothbores with lower precision crowns, dropping barrel pressure just before the muzzle might help our projectiles exit our barrels pointing the way we want, whether that means more range because a spud slug isn't tumbling wildly, or more accuracy because the slug isn't tumbling wildly.
I'll be shooting patched round ball tomorrow, my hope being a patch better obturates the compressed air in the barrel (for power) as well as reducing random spins (for accuracy)
In future I would like to shoot longer heavier slugs (cylindrical) to improve efficiency at launch as well as sectional density, but I feel these would be more vulnerable than roundball to muzzle blast effects. Also arrows are a strong possibility but I think these are even more vulnerable to muzzle blast effects as the light base is easily pushed around.
I am considering a rifled-choke-style addition to my Bullshark launcher... this could be compared to a ported barrel extension...
Please speculate...
