Barrel Fluting

Again, just wondering out loud, how many guys that have responded on this thread have actually had factory and "custom" barrels fluted?
I have done both, and I have never seen a change in accuracy in either.

R.
 
Gatehouse said:
Does anyone know of any barrels that have had measurable improvements in accuracy after fluting?
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I have had a significant standard deviation reduction in a barrel post flute, as compared to the exact same load prior to fluting.
Accuracy is pretty subjective, and hard to measure.

R.
 
Gatehouse said:
Does anyone know of any barrels that have had measurable improvements in accuracy after fluting?
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I do know one guy with an A7 that claims that his shot way better after....I didn't see how it shot before to confirm but it is one heck of an accurate rifle now.
 
I do know one guy with an A7 that claims that his shot way better after....I didn't see how it shot before to confirm but it is one heck of an accurate rifle now.
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Easily explained by a change in the harmonics, resulting from the fluting. The rifle would probably have been at least as accurate before the fluting, if he had been using a load that worked better with the harmonics of the unfluted barrel.
 
As Rman said.....accuracy is subjective. According to the A7 owner he tried multiple loads and found nothing that shot as well as it did after fluting.....who am I to call him a liar. I agree, it's easily explained by harmonics. In this case they appear to have worked in his favour.
 
According to the A7 owner he tried multiple loads and found nothing that shot as well as it did after fluting.....who am I to call him a liar.
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It's not about calling anyone a liar, it's just that some people either don't make a lot of effort, or simply don't have the skills and experience , to develop the optimum load for their rifle. One person could try a half dozen loads, and not find the best load for the rifle, another person might come up with a great load, on the first or second attempt. I have owned one or two stubborn rifles, that required a fair bit of load development, but I did find a load that I was happy with. In other cases, I had a great load on the first range visit.
 
I'm sure no one is as qualified to work up a load as you stubble but from my limited experience with rifles this guy seems to know his stuff...enough that I wouldn't call him a liar anyhow. He said his rifle shot better after fluting...take it for what it's worth. I believe him.
 
but from my limited experience with rifles
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Perhaps you should change that, to your limited experience with reloading . It's not very long ago that you were still using factory loads, so yes, your experience with reloading is quite limited , compared to many AO members. Not that you would ever let your limited experience on the topic effect your ability to give expert advice on the topic.
 
stubblejumper said:
Perhaps you should change that, to your limited experience with reloading . It's not very long ago that you were still using factory loads, so yes, your experience with reloading is quite limited , compared to many AO members.
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And if I was the one working up the load for the A7 you'd likely have a point....I wasn't. :)

What's AO?

Sorry I missed your insult in the edit you made.....very witty

A question was asked about if I knew anyone that saw an increase in accuracy...I do.....I suspect your mileage varies :)
 
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What's AO?
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It's short for another outdoors forum that I visit every now and then. You probably wouldn't know about it, seeing that it is a small, localized forum.

For some strange reason, I was thinking of that forum, when I posted.
 
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sheephunter said:
I'm sure no one is as qualified to work up a load as you stubble but from my limited experience with rifles this guy seems to know his stuff...enough that I wouldn't call him a liar anyhow. He said his rifle shot better after fluting...take it for what it's worth. I believe him.
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I wonder if the accuracy improvement had anything to do with the new crown..?
 
guntech said:
I wonder if the accuracy improvement had anything to do with the new crown..?
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Possibly. I honestly don't know if it was recrowned. That may indeed be a viable explanation. At the end of the day, fluting will never be a cure or even a suggested cure for inaccurate rifles. But as with all things rifles, there are no absolutes.
 
Accuracy international did significant testing that concluded that barrel fluting caused POI shifts when they warmed up. Therefor I would leave it alone.
 
swissinn said:
Accuracy international did significant testing that concluded that barrel fluting caused POI shifts when they warmed up. Therefor I would leave it alone.
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And yet their AW Magnum series has fluted barrels?

Also, I would expect any barrel, when "warmed up", would cause POI shifts...

R.
 
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I agree with never saying never. The mechanics and physics of shooting dictate that it is entirely possible. If a barrel shoots badly to begin with is very plausible that modifying its vibrational, and heat absorbing/dissipating, properties, barrel dimensions and so on may be beneficial. Sometimes the stars do align.

I'm no gunsmith but I am very well versed with the mechanical and physical theories involved.

An example of random chance resulting in a positive outcome.... Poorly balanced crank shaft for an inline 6 engine. 6 pistons of various weights, 6 connections rods of various weights. Assemble it all randomly.
You DO have a 1 in 216 chance of getting the best balance possible. To say you will NEVER is simply wrong.

I'm imagining a barrel with the bore off the concentric centre of the barrel. The thin side will heat faster, and lengthen sooner than the thin side. That's going to shift the poi as we all know commonly happens.

Now imagine the smith just happens to centre the flutes on the bore centre. More material will be taken from the thick side, less from the thin, which evens things out. Now the barrel heats a little more uniform.
Or maybe of the 10's of thousands of possible loads/tunes the shooter/loader just couldn't nail one down. After the harmonics have been altered, perhaps he gets lucky and finds the right one.

Sure in some cases a great shooting barrel may degrade after, maybe it just needs a new load after the harmonica have changed, maybe the fluting job was not done as well as it could have and screwed, off centre of what ever else can go wrong.

IMO saying never is ludicrous.
 
Lots of fuss over a small word...

Fluting changes the internal shape and dimensions of the bore... hopefully as little as possible.

If anyone flutes a barrel with the purpose of gaining accuracy - that would be ludicrous... as there are simply no facts that would support that idea... ask the barrel makers...
 
A small amount of puke showed up in my mouth after I read your post.I assume this is a common thing when reading you contributions.
 
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