Barrel Dimpling

incorrigible

incorrigible

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I love my 11" AR but the with the full bull barrel she's a bit of a fatty up front. I want to keep the stiffness due to the piston upper but am a bit sketch on fluting. I'm getting irregular and contrary information about barrel stressing, losing temper and barrel warpage for work done after factory tempering.

So in looking at my options I've come across barrel dimpling that is indiginous to the KAC PDW. It appears to be preformed with increasing frequency stateside. It should take away more barrel but leave it more uniform and stiff due to the cones with better cooling charachteristic due to the increase surficial area.

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I believe this will be the way to go but any thoughts before I consider getting started?
 
gallen270 said:
is there anyone in country that offers dimpling as a service?
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It's a more labour and time intensive process than fluting (read: more expensive). It's also fairly new. I'd like to find a smith in Western Canada that would be willing to take one on.

I believe, without being a machinist or a smith, that the difficult part would be coming up with a jig. After that it would be repetitive drilling with a bead blasted and re-phosphated finish. I'll check with a lad I'm familiar with in Edmonton and see if he'd be willing to take on my 11" AR.
 
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Milling machine, ball mill, clocking jig. Blast and phosphate. Good to go.

Will be pricey for a one-off, but not a hard thing to do.
 
incorrigible, you were the one commenting on esthetics in your original post. Is your real reason for dimpling the barrel to shed some weight, increase radiating surfaces or make it pretty?

As ESQ states, not difficult but time consuming and therefore expensive.

As long as temperatures are kept down while the work is being performed and the dimples are uniform, there shouldn't be any "stressing" issues at all.
 
bearhunter said:
incorrigible, you were the one commenting on esthetics in your original post. Is your real reason for dimpling the barrel to shed some weight, increase radiating surfaces or make it pretty?

As ESQ states, not difficult but time consuming and therefore expensive.

As long as temperatures are kept down while the work is being performed and the dimples are uniform, there shouldn't be any "stressing" issues at all.
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My interest is in reduction of the wieght. I don't partake in sufficient sustained fire to be concerned about temp.

Esthetically we're already running M4 profiled barrels and am curious in experimenting with something 'different' with a heavier profiled barrel. The current bull barrel came with the piston upper so I'd like to maintain the barrel stiffness as much as practicable. Plus a change is as good a rest... or so they say.
 
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