Dual Port Panda

[KEITH MYERS]

I am referring to dual full size ports. Anyone had good or bad experience with one? My concern is a reduction in action stiffness to affect accuracy. I heard Dwight Scott shoots them?

 

[JerrySharrett]

Kelblys make dual port Pandas two ways. On the spring eject, sometimes called a miniport, the port is toward the front relative to the loading port. The mechanical eject model, I call the Tommy Kicker for its inventor Tommy Griffin, the ejection port is toward the rear.

I have a TK that kind of has both locations. I wanted that action mainly for 600 yard and would be using 6BR barrels and 6/284 barrels and sometimes a PPC. They took the TK port model and extended it toward the front.

There are pluses and minuses on spring-ejects and mechanical . On a spring eject you are stuck with the eject distance unless you modify the spring and you can't do that during a shoot. On the mechanical-eject you control how far the case is thrown or just rolled out by how fast you work the bolt. This years Shamrock part of the time I shot the TK (mechanical) but unless I was very conscious of the bolt speed the cases would get thrown off those narrow T-shaped benches.

A full size port would not cause any noticeable stiffness reduction, IMO.

 

[Vern]

The first BR rifle I had was one of these. However it had the eject port closed off with a piece of plex.
I worked with the ejection but never got it to work right. AS I later found out neither did the original owner.
That does not mean they will not work. There are many on the market that do.
But my personal preference is the drop port.
Best thing since sliced bread.

 

[Fergus Bailey]

Stuart & Annie Elliott have shot Teddy actions in this configuration for years. I have been beaten by them in matches often enough to know they sure will shoot.

 

[Pete Wass]

When all is said and done, it's more about the quality of the barrel than anything else. There certainly are enough winning dual port rifles around to prove that the "Stiffness Issue" is another of those Benchrest Myths that seem to never go away.

 

[Don]

A full size port would not cause any noticeable stiffness reduction, IMO.

My dual port Kelbly in a sporter rifle was so flexible that the crosshair image at 100 yards on the scope would move 3/8" downward when closing the bolt on a tight case...........meant I had 2 problems, couldnt reliably shoot tight cases and probably had uneven locking lugs.

Solution...........install the action on a barrel blocked rail gun.........problem solved................Don

 

[longrange223]

i run a dual port kodiak with the mechanical eject & love it,no problems at all except when i get a little too fast it does throw the brass off the bench sometimes,works way better than my shooting partners black widow....

 

[JerrySharrett]

My dual port Kelbly in a sporter rifle was so flexible that the crosshair image at 100 yards on the scope would move 3/8" downward when closing the bolt on a tight case...........meant I had 2 problems, couldn't reliably shoot tight cases and probably had uneven locking lugs.

Solution...........install the action on a barrel blocked rail gun.........problem solved................Don

Don, knowing that closing the bolt on a tight case on a bag gun much of the movement could be caused by bag deflection, how much did your dual port deflect when closing the bolt while it was mounted on a rail?

 

[mks]

A full size port would not cause any noticeable stiffness reduction, IMO.

I agree. Furthermore, the ejection port makes the action stiffness more symmetrical side-to-side, so it tends to reduce deflection in the horizontal plane that leads to horizontal muzzle vibration. The more symmetrical the ports, the more symmetrical the stiffness will be. However, given the success of the drop port, which is extremely asymmetrical (flexible lower left, stiff upper right on a left port action), the difference would be hard to measure with all the other factors contributing to shot dispersion at the same time. Still, I prefer the dual port, even if it is only reducing dispersion a few thousandths.

Cheers,
Keith

 

[Dick Grosbier]

I am referring to dual full size ports. Anyone had good or bad experience with one? My concern is a reduction in action stiffness to affect accuracy. I heard Dwight Scott shoots them?

I own a Teddy with dual full size ports, it is one of the winningest rifles I have ever owned. It has won a lot of smaller matches and gave me my only top 10 finish ever at the Supershoot. This is a no ejector model. Frankly at various times I have had concerns about the two large ports but after 20 years of use I feel it is a non issue.

 

[Don]

Don, knowing that closing the bolt on a tight case on a bag gun much of the movement could be caused by bag deflection, how much did your dual port deflect when closing the bolt while it was mounted on a rail?

Hi Jerry, the scope image deflection was the same 3/8" at a 100 yards for both the sporter stocked rifle and rail gun when the scope was mounted on top of the Panda dove tail action feature. The deflection was removed when I mounted the scope to its preferred position away from the action top and onto the barrel block dove tail mount for the rail gun and seemed to shoot competively................Don

 

[JerrySharrett]

Hi Jerry, the scope image deflection was the same 3/8" at a 100 yards for both the sporter stocked rifle and rail gun when the scope was mounted on top of the Panda dove tail action feature. The deflection was removed when I mounted the scope to its preferred position away from the action top and onto the barrel block dove tail mount for the rail gun and seemed to shoot competively................Don

Don, when I drag my railout, I'll try to remember to check this since my rail action is dual ported. But right now my Panda action is bolted to a 3/4" shim and is being shot as a cantilever. I can put the block back on and see??