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Number of Ports and Size of Ports


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I just pulled my gas block and opened my ports today. I had 4 ports, but the one furthest forward was not drilled through into the bore. The whole thing came apart and went together very easily, but deburring the inside of the bore was a bit of a challenge. I opened them all up to .078" as recommended here, but after reading this thread it looks like I may need to pull the block again in the future since my plans are to include shortening the barrel and perming a long brake. Before this thread I was unaware that the holes needed to be enlarged more with a shorter barrel, so thanks for enlightening me guys! While it was apart I fully polished all friction surfaces in the gun, profiled and polished the bolt, etc. I haven't been to the range yet, but it cycles as smooth as glass now, and loading a full mag is no problem on a closed bolt, so I'm really happy with how it turned out. Still haven't converted yet, but will be collecting parts for that as my next phase. I wanted to perfect the cycling first before adding other factors like trigger group modification. I'm just pissed that I have to run a thumbhole stock here in the People's Republic of MA.wet_eyes.gif

How did you end up deburring the inside of the bore?

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Haven't run mine yet, but I'm doing 5 @ .078 with the shortened barrel.

 

Why not start at 5 @ .076 and increase if needed? The only harm is a potentially wasted trip to the range and about 20 minutes more work.

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I will be doing the same thing but, I also have my parts sent in to pauly to get work done. My barrel is stock at 19 inches. Jte reliability kit, tromix recoil spring. 6 position gas adjustment, and css gas puc. Say after I get my parts back from Pauly and i still have a light ammo cycling issue. That I should go with 4 ports at .078 yes?

 

Yes. As a rule, I would want at least 4 at .078 no matter what. Some people have guns that work with less, but that is a good starting point. I tune to be just a bit hotter than the bare minimum to function.--And for my .02, tune it to run without the reduced power spring. You can keep that in reserve if you are going to do competition with only very light ammo. Put it in for competition day, and take it out when you get home. It might then enable you to run stuff under 3 dram but will be overly violent with full power 3". The puck is OK if your gun is very close to working all the time- say it ejects properly 95% of the time with your weakest ammo. (3 dram). If your gun does not get to 100% with the puck alone, I strongly suggest you tune the gas to run 100% with the factory puck and plug. Then everything else is just an optional extra boost for the weakest crap and with normal parts you aren't compromising on the top end of power.

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Shoot I opened my 4 ports to .093" and got it eating anything using the AutoPlug, then I decided I want to cut 3" of barrel off so made a 5th port at .078" and it now shoots bulk ammo from the hip with no adverse side affects of being a little over gassed when shooting 3" or 2 3/4" high brass.

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mine was made in 2008 so i assume it has the 3 ports at .073?

 

Only way to know is to poke a bent wire of known thickness in there and check. They are not all the same even within same years. Guns after 2011 seem to be more consistent.

 

Previously, it seemed like they just grabbed a barrel off the rack of a given length. The number and size (and location) of ports were all over the place. Some would get thicker barrels like the earliest ones. I suppose there is still some of this going on, but I think they used up most of the store of old parts so the new ones are more consistent.

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Your're right. Ill wait to do all this when I get my saiga duracoated then enlarge the holes or add one if need be.

 

What concerned me is in the earlier posts someone mention that would weaken the area in between 4 holes and could possibly break off?

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After showing-off my single shot Saiga 12 sad.png and still not hearing back from what appears to be the top 2 profilers that I've seen here(still waiting),I decited I might as well check the gas ports, It' sumthin I could do myself. GOOD IDEA ! rolleyes.gif I have 4 ports and drilled them out from about 065 to 078 (5/64). I used a 51,a 49,a48 and then a 5/64. It now shoots low brass flawlessly with a 20 round drum and a 10 round mag on setting 2. After shooting over 150 rounds I took it down, checked the ports and they were hardly dirty at all and the burrs from drilling the ports that I didn't have a good way to remove have magically dissapeared. Cheap fix, not hard to do and what can it hurt? Besides you don't know what they are if you don't check them. I say check them, otherwise your just shootin in the dark.Speaking of that do they make 12 gauge tracers?

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After showing-off my single shot Saiga 12 :( and still not hearing back from what appears to be the top 2 profilers that I've seen here(still waiting),I decited I might as well check the gas ports, It' sumthin I could do myself. GOOD IDEA ! :rolleyes: I have 4 ports and drilled them out from about 065 to 078 (5/64). I used a 51,a 49,a48 and then a 5/64. It now shoots low brass flawlessly with a 20 round drum and a 10 round mag on setting 2. After shooting over 150 rounds I took it down, checked the ports and they were hardly dirty at all and the burrs from drilling the ports that I didn't have a good way to remove have magically dissapeared. Cheap fix, not hard to do and what can it hurt? Besides you don't know what they are if you don't check them. I say check them, otherwise your just shootin in the dark.Speaking of that do they make 12 gauge tracers?

 

 

I like your enthusiasm lol. About the tracers just get some dragons breath! It's like $15 for 3 shells plus $25 for hazmat fee...

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I just pulled my gas block and opened my ports today. I had 4 ports, but the one furthest forward was not drilled through into the bore. The whole thing came apart and went together very easily, but deburring the inside of the bore was a bit of a challenge. I opened them all up to .078" as recommended here, but after reading this thread it looks like I may need to pull the block again in the future since my plans are to include shortening the barrel and perming a long brake. Before this thread I was unaware that the holes needed to be enlarged more with a shorter barrel, so thanks for enlightening me guys! While it was apart I fully polished all friction surfaces in the gun, profiled and polished the bolt, etc. I haven't been to the range yet, but it cycles as smooth as glass now, and loading a full mag is no problem on a closed bolt, so I'm really happy with how it turned out. Still haven't converted yet, but will be collecting parts for that as my next phase. I wanted to perfect the cycling first before adding other factors like trigger group modification. I'm just pissed that I have to run a thumbhole stock here in the People's Republic of MA.wet_eyes.gif

How did you end up deburring the inside of the bore?

Sorry it took so long to reply, I must have missed this somehow. I started by taking the drill bit in my fingers and rotating it and a slight angle such that the flutes could grab the burrs and remove as much as possible. Then I took a piece of 1/2" diameter Delrin rod, which I wrapped a strip of 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to and taped it in place at the end (I had the Delrin already and it was well suited because it is strong, and won't scratch/gouge the bore, but a wooden dowel, or similar would work just as well here). I then held it to the outside of the barrel to mark the depth to get to the ports so I wouldn't sand the wrong area when it was re-inserted into the barrel to sand the remaining burrs. I ripped the first couple of strips because the burrs were so sharp, but eventually they wore away until it was polished smooth. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes because it's a pain working on something so deep in the bore, but I felt it was important to do as much as I could be firing it. I realize that the shot will knock the burrs down, but my fear was that it would pen them over and partially obstruct the new ports that I opened up, which would have been counterproductive.

 

I did get it to the range last week, and it cycled beautifully with all different types of ammo, the only FTE happening when I tried to run low brass on setting #1. Once I switched it to #2 on the factory plug, it cycled flawlessly the rest of the day. I deliberately haven't converted, or changed the gas plug, puck, or any of that stuff yet because I want to get it running as good as possible in the stock configuration first. Now that I have verified that, my next step will be conversion, and then eventually cutting the barrel down so that I can have it finish at 18" including a long brake like the Tromix Monster, or similar. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to test the gun after all of the internal polishing, before the port work to determine what made the most difference, but the synergistic effect worked flawlessly, so I guess that's all that matters. My re-profile of the bolt makes closed bolt mag changes super easy now too, so that was a huge improvement.

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  • 3 years later...

According to Chaos and my findings my issues appear to be related to a miss alignment of the gas block... its off several degrees.

 

I know this is a old thread but it may help someone else who's having cycling issues. 

I tired everything before contacting chaos.  Opened up the gas ports and the whole of the gas block.  Puck Recoil spring.  Polishing profiling of bolt and carrier.

 

Saiga 12 modifications
Folding Stock
AR-15 Buffer tube
Converted Grip 
AR-15 Rubber Grip
 
Chaos Full Rail 
H&K Sights
FLX Cree Light
Vortex Strike Fire 2
 
Trigger job
- Polished Surface
- Re profiled hammer
 
Bolt 
- Polished 
- Re Profiled
 
Bolt Carrier
- Polished 
- Re Profiled
- JT Guid Rod
- Teflon Sleve
 
Gas Blocked Ported
Gas ports drilled to .078 (5/64)
3 Grove Gas Puck
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