Why the flare on a lowered and flared ejection port?
What does the flare do?
Just a guess but ejection should start by going backwards with the case.
Extractor pulls it back and ejector kicks it forward.
And in slow motion they tumble...
Like I said a guess but it would aid in not hitting the slide.
My Sig port was large, but not flared and the cases dinged.
It's there so that the case mouth doesn't hit the slide edge and gets dinged.
My guess is that if a non-flared gun is going to eject a case so it contacts the aft edge of the port on its way out, flaring it won't eliminate contact with the slide. The flare changes the contour of the contact area from the somewhat pointy meeting of the slab side with the curved top "∩" to a non- pointy concave edge ")", reducing the thickness of the edge too. So I think the flare either reduces the depth of the dent in the case (if the case continues to hit there) or (because the case is spinning) it allows the case to spin a little farther so the case makes first contact when its mouth hits in the aft part of the flare.
I've a hunch that if a case does not hit a slide with a flared port, it still wouldn't hit the slide if the flared-out area was filled back in.
And all this malarkey from a guy who doesn't even have a 1911 with a flared port!
Its technical name is "Rollout Notch" and it got its start in Bullseye competition.
Its intent is to allow the case to roll backward and out at an angle that doesn't throw it across the visual path of the shooter immediately to your right... or bounce off his head. Instead... with proper extractor/ejector shaping and tuning... the empties eject at about 15 degrees to the slide axis and land behind and between you and your neighbor.
In order to get the desired results, the case must roll out at 3 O'Clock instead of 2, and thus the reason behind the lowered port wall that always accompanies it.
Essentially, it's all about being a good neighbor, but it caught on with the "If it ain't custom it ain't squat" crowd, and it's now seen on custom guns everywhere unless specifically omitted.
It tends to weaken the slide in the critical recoil area, and while not a grave concern with light wadcutter loads that amble out at 700 fps, it can become an expensive repair for guns that see several thousand rounds of full- power ammunition on a monthly basis.
It started, as Tuner stated with the bullseye crowd. Then the IPSC guys discovered it had the added benefit of not dinging their cases, which made reloading easier. And as already stated that eventually made it an "official cool guy custom mod", and the rest is history.
Wonder if anybody was ever dumb enough to make their 1911 look super cool by extending the ejection port over to the left side of the slide - so the gun could have two flares. If so, wonder how long it took before the back half of the slide broke off and...
Yeah, I think his name was Pietro Beretta and you know what happened when the military got his 9mm pistols.