Barrel Fluting

The first question should be whether or not your barrel has sufficient wall thickness to for fluting to be viable and safe. Consider that the flutes approach a quarter of an inch in depth, so they ones opposite one another have removed nearly half an inch of barrel steel at the full depth of the cuts. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of good gunsmiths in Alberta, but I can't personally vouch for any of them just yet, although I'm working at changing that.
 
Had my Sako m75ss 300wm factory barrel fluted by Corlanes when bought new thru them back in 1997...still my main rifle...no issues. It is packed in the truck as I leave at 7am tomorrow for my 7 day moose hunt.
 
Can aftermarket barrel fluting negatively effect accuracy?
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It may, or may not effect accuracy, depending on how it is done, and the barrel that is fluted.
All of the rifles that I have owned with fluted barrels, had at least #4 contour barrels, and all shot very accurately. I am currently having another custom rifle built, and it will have a fluted #5 contour barrel.
 
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I used to believe so, but there have been too many aftermarket target rifles fluted that went on to win prestigious matches for that notion to hold much water. A light sporter might be another matter, but I don't have any evidence to support that. The primary consideration in my opinion, is the minimum barrel wall thickness determined by bore size and barrel contour. A visit to one of the custom barrel web sites will probably give you an idea if you look at their chart of which barrel contours they will flute with a particular bore size.
 
freddyfour said:
Can aftermarket barrel fluting negatively effect accuracy?
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The simple answer is most likely not but any time you change barrel harmonics....things can happen. It wouldn't be enough to prevent me from doing it but it's good to understand the remote chance exists.
 
freddyfour said:
Can aftermarket barrel fluting negatively effect accuracy?
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Yes but you probably won't notice the difference in a hunting rifle if it is properly done.
My favorite hunting rifle had a fluted barrel which resulted in "magical" handling and pointability.

You should probably carefully define your needs/requirements before proceeding!

Alex
 
ATRS wont flute a barrel they are of the no flute school. Various debates on both sides of the fluting trend but ATRS do not put their name on products with flutes
 
AlexF said:
Yes but you probably won't notice the difference in a hunting rifle if it is properly done.
My favorite hunting rifle had a fluted barrel which resulted in "magical" handling and pointability.

You should probably carefully define your needs/requirements before proceeding!

Alex
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I am not a competitive shooter, just a hunter/paper puncher. I have been thinking of fluting one of my rifles with a varmint contour. Love the rifle but could lose a couple pounds.
 
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