Fluted barrel pros/cons

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slamman190

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Title says it all... What are the pros and cons of a fluted barrel?

I have a rem 700 CDL 30.06 which has a fluted barrel. It is my first rifle, pretty happy with it so far. I was at the range the other day, and some guy asked the calibre, and when told, kinda gave me a reaaaallllly, as if that was bad.

So just wondering now what the pros or cons may be....

Thanks in advance!

:sniper::sniper:
 
I have 5 or 6 rifles with fluted barrels.I'm sure the weight loss is minimal as has been mentioned.In a hunting rifle it's mostly the cool factor. Mur
 
Jon Sundra addresses this question in his latest issue of "The Complete Rifleman".

Yes, fluting adds surface area, which can help to cool the barrel, and obviously it lightens a barrel.

However, it in fact does not stiffen the barrel against vibrations, more specifically, deflection.

Apparently he had stated the converse in print, and several engineers and metallurgists wrote to correct him, stating that "whenever you remove material from an object, you weaken it."

Quoting the article...

"This can be demonstrated quite graphically by a by a procedure my friend and colleague, John Dustin, came up with to satisfy his own curiosity. John is a well-known accuracy gunsmith and competitive benchrest shooter as well as a writer, and he devised a simple demonstration using a lathe chuck, a weight and a dial indicator. John took a chambered un-fluted 6.5mm barrel and checked the unthreaded shank portion of it into his lather, applying a witness mark on both so in the future he could again align the two with precisely the same orientation relative to one another. He also noted the amount of torque applied when when locking the jaws of the chuck so there would be no disparity there.

At the unsupported muzzle end of the barrel, a dial indicator was placed and set at an arbitrary value. That noted, John the placed a 10-pound weight on the barrel at a point (again precisely noted with a witness mark) slightly bhind the dial indicator to measure the amount of deflection, or "bend." The same barrel was then fluted and subjected to the same procedure. The results? The un-fluted barrel deflected .030" when the weight was applied and .040" after it was fluted, which works out to approximately 25 percent more deflection for the fluted barrel."
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This surprised me, too. I had assumed the opposite to be true.

Nevertheless...

Fluted barrels still look pretty cool!
 
I think there is one or two of the 'big name' barrel manufacturers who refuse to flute their barrels as they believe it is detrimental to accuracy (or something like that).
 
slamman190 said:
I have a rem 700 CDL 30.06 which has a fluted barrel. It is my first rifle, pretty happy with it so far. I was at the range the other day, and some guy asked the calibre, and when told, kinda gave me a reaaaallllly, as if that was bad.

:sniper::sniper:
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have a nice rifle, how does it shoot?
 
The results? The un-fluted barrel deflected .030" when the weight was applied and .040" after it was fluted, which works out to approximately 25 percent more deflection for the fluted barrel."

If you think about this, the fluting is taking away material which is the furtherest from the center of the barrel, and does not add any material, so it would have to weaker when a force is applied to bend the barrel.
 
KDX said:
I think there is one or two of the 'big name' barrel manufacturers who refuse to flute their barrels as they believe it is detrimental to accuracy (or something like that).
Click to expand...

These are likely guys who don't have a milling machine or know how to run one....or maybe they are just too busy making barrels to spend time fluting them.
 
Top military marksman in the US do not recommend fluting a barrel.
Many civilian custom barrel makers in the US do not recommend fluting a barrel. Go to any barrel producer (google) and read their take on fluting.
Cheers & Tighter Groups: Eaglesnester
 
I have a Krieger that is flutted. So, I dunno about that statement.

But, I can't hit anything anyways, so what does it matter, it stll looks cool! :p




KDX said:
I think there is one or two of the 'big name' barrel manufacturers who refuse to flute their barrels as they believe it is detrimental to accuracy (or something like that).
Click to expand...
 
for two barrels of equal weight (one fluted, one not), the fluted one will be stiffer. The theory behind a fluted barrel is to get the accuracy of a heavier barrel without the weight. However, when you start with a light weight barrel and flute it, you are essentially just reducing the weight and adding some speed to the cooling rate.

Someday, when I have a few extra hours on my hands I am going to run a model of both barrels to illustrate exactly how much stiffer and how much faster the barrel will cool.
 
JustBen said:
for two barrels of equal weight (one fluted, one not), the fluted one will be stiffer. The theory behind a fluted barrel is to get the accuracy of a heavier barrel without the weight. However, when you start with a light weight barrel and flute it, you are essentially just reducing the weight and adding some speed to the cooling rate.

Someday, when I have a few extra hours on my hands I am going to run a model of both barrels to illustrate exactly how much stiffer and how much faster the barrel will cool.
Click to expand...

This is correct. Pound for pound, the fluted barrel will be stiffer than a smaller diameter unfluted barrel, but not as stiff as an unfluted barrel of the same diameter. They are a sort of compromise between weight and stiffness.

Any gain in cooling rate would be very small, given the small amount of surface area added by fluting.
 
When it is stated that a fluted barrel adds rigidity, it is supposed to be a larger diameter heavy barrel that has been fluted down to a lower weight, not a regular barrel being fluted down as that would certainly be taking away from it's strength.
 
I would suggest that the net effect of fluting on a barrel is directly proportional to the weight.

No secret or mystery that heavy varmint/bull barrels are less subject to the effects of vibration than light ones.

Thus, fluting a heavy barrel for weight savings is going to have marginal consequences, likely not even measurable.

However, fluting already thin sporter style barrels may not be nearly so inconsequential to consistent accuracy.

That said, if fluting a light barrel results in possibly opening up groups by 1/4", f'rinstance from 3/4" to 1", does this make a rifle specifically designed to be minimal weight any less reliable for hunting? Probably not.

...if that's in fact the case.

Bottom line, if one is into benchrest competition or long range varminting, fluting is not likely to be deemed an aid to the cause, improved cooling benefits being relatively marginal at best.

But for a rifle that might be taking the odd poke at a muley or elk at 400 yards, I very much doubt fluting is going to be a deal breaker.

Shilen offers up this in their FAQ section...

http://www.shilen.com/faq.html#question8

What about "fluting" a barrel?
Fluting is a service we neither offer nor recommend. If you have a Shilen barrel fluted, the warranty is void. Fluting a barrel can induce unrecoverable stresses that will encourage warping when heated and can also swell the bore dimensions, causing loose spots in the bore. A solid (un-fluted) barrel is more rigid than a fluted barrel of equal diameter. A fluted barrel is more rigid than a solid barrel of equal weight. All rifle barrels flex when fired. Accuracy requires that they simply flex the same and return the same each time they are fired, hence the requirement for a pillar bedded action and free floating barrel. The unrecoverable stresses that fluting can induce will cause the barrel to flex differently or not return from the flexing without cooling down a major amount. This is usually longer than a shooter has to wait for the next shot. The claim of the flutes helping to wick heat away faster is true, but the benefit of the flutes is not recognizable in this regard until the barrel is already too hot.
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