There was another thread recently on this subject. Many think fluting induces more stress to a barrel. I know Shillen will not flute. I don't own any fluted rifles, just worked out that way so I can't compare. I'm 67 and pack around a 13 lb 30/378 which doesn't bother me since I'm usually too pumped being on a hunt. OP, the choice is yours and I think you should have whatever barrel you want. Good luck
Talk me out of barrel fluting
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Georgiashooter
Well-Known Member
If you decide to flute, talk with the company doing the fluting and make sure they aren't going deeper than bartlein recommends. I've bought some fluted barrels from one place that flutes them deeper than recommended and wasn't real happy with the accuracy, or the fact that the shop manager told me he might set the machine to flute .065" deep, but can't control if it goes up to .080" deep sometimes. I get my barrels fluted elsewhere now.
To answer your question though, fluting a heavy barrel makes a significant difference, not so much on a #3 bartlein tho. Call LRI, they flute tons of barrels, have a set minimum for wall thickness that they strictly adhere to, and i like the looks of their fluting types more than most I've dealt with.
To answer your question though, fluting a heavy barrel makes a significant difference, not so much on a #3 bartlein tho. Call LRI, they flute tons of barrels, have a set minimum for wall thickness that they strictly adhere to, and i like the looks of their fluting types more than most I've dealt with.
B23
Well-Known Member
Only being 25 inches long and a #3 contour then you consider it's a .30cal bore, I don't imagine those flutes will be very deep and the weight savings would likely be pretty minimal.
Curious, will this have a muzzle brake and what weight bullets do you think you'll likely shoot when it's all done? You get it down there really light and shoot the heavies, this could become a rather unpleasant gun to shoot in a hurry.
Curious, will this have a muzzle brake and what weight bullets do you think you'll likely shoot when it's all done? You get it down there really light and shoot the heavies, this could become a rather unpleasant gun to shoot in a hurry.
Capt RB
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Shillen is a button barrel. If your removing material your removing stress. In a button barrel there is some residual stress from the rifling. If your fluting and hit an rea with stress it can change the dimensions in the bore. Once that happens the bore will never deliver the consistency or top accuracy it would before the fluting. Other barrel makers flute like Pac nor. Idk if they do it before they rifle or not however the same things can happen
I probably wouldn't bother to flute a thin barrel on a light sporter or the barrel on a heavy long range rig designed exclusively for prone or bench shooting. For a LRH rifle that you want as heavy a barrel as possible for long range stability, while still being able to carry all day and shoot from a variety of positions, fluting can make a material difference. My favorite LRH hunting rifle for the last several years a Cooper 520 in 6.5x284 fully loaded, comes in at 10.5#. This rifle can shoot with my 15 pound bench rifles at long range and still handle and balance like a sporter. The fluted 26" bull sporter(.78"OD at the muzzle) takes over 1/2 pound off the weight. Doesn't sound like much, but when it's hanging off the barrel it can make the difference in feel between a nicely balanced hunting rifle and a crowbar. Also, just like race cars, attention to individual weights do add up. Scope, mounts, stock, action, etc,.... it would not have taken long for my rifle to land at 12+ pounds.....unacceptable for my hunting methods. As to the cost to benefit, like everything else we buy, it depends on what's important to us.
JD222
Active Member
That's 100% correct.
If your barrel is not fluted before being stress relieved, you most likely won't get the maximum accuracy.
You possibly could even have accuracy issues depending on how uniform & deep the flutes are cut.
Jim D
If your barrel is not fluted before being stress relieved, you most likely won't get the maximum accuracy.
You possibly could even have accuracy issues depending on how uniform & deep the flutes are cut.
Jim D
Did a similar build a few years ago. 300 Win Mag #3 Brux at 26", holland brake, Borden action, jewel trigger, McMillan Game Scout, topped with a NF SHV. Finished at 10 lb 2 oz. I was worried about the thin barrel but it has been one of my most accurate guns. Personally I wouldn't bother fluting a #3. I just a #3 fluted Benchmark but only because it was in stock and I didn't have to pay for the fluting. Going on a light weight 6.5X47.
Agreed. As with all the other aspects of rifle building, the builder requires the knowledge and skills deliver an accurate rifle. Given that, my fluted rifles have delivered accuracy equivalent to my non-fluted rifles....on occasion, better.
Chopperguy
Well-Known Member
AI did extensive research on fluting barrels. They used high power precision lasers on fluted and non fluted rifles.
In a nutshell, their research showed that the unequal heating and cooling caused by fluting was detrimental to accuracy. Especially where there is barrel area covered by stock surface, even if properly beaded and free floated.
I don't recall the total amount of POI change from uneven heating, however it was enough that AI quit and no longer produces fluted barrels because of their concern for accuracy.
Their conclusions were use non fluted barrels.
I can say from personal experience the Proof barrels do work as advertised, especially at extreme ranges. Buy once, cry once.
Bartlein barrels put out a blog citing the AI research (I can't find my old link to the full AI procedure, testing and results).
From Bartlein publication -
One design change that resulted from AI's exhaustive accuracy testing and development of the PSR [Precision Sniper Rifle] is the removal of flutes from the barrels. Engineers at AI decided to isolate the barrel flutes to see what impact they had on accuracy. The engineers attached a laser to the rifle's receiver, another to the barrel, and a third to the scope. All three dots were zeroed at the same point, then they started shooting the rifle. They discovered that, no matter which fluted barrel they used, the dots would diverge as the barrel heated. The dots from the devices mounted to the scope and the receiver would stay in place, but the barrel's device would manifest a point-of-impact (POI) shift. The POI shift from the warming barrel greatly diminished when they used barrels without flutes.
Engineers determined that the flutes never heated evenly, causing the POI shift. I hope the results of this test gain wide circulation through the sniper and long-range shooting communities to help eliminate some of the ignorance that surrounds the perceived advantages of barrel flutes. Flutes are great for shaving weight, but this is the first test I've heard that provided empirical data detailing what happens when the barrel is fluted. This should be the death of the "they cool a barrel faster, so they're more accurate" argument, listed among flutes' virtues. Our goal is and should always be to mitigate the effects of heat; fluting exacerbates it.
In a nutshell, their research showed that the unequal heating and cooling caused by fluting was detrimental to accuracy. Especially where there is barrel area covered by stock surface, even if properly beaded and free floated.
I don't recall the total amount of POI change from uneven heating, however it was enough that AI quit and no longer produces fluted barrels because of their concern for accuracy.
Their conclusions were use non fluted barrels.
I can say from personal experience the Proof barrels do work as advertised, especially at extreme ranges. Buy once, cry once.
Bartlein barrels put out a blog citing the AI research (I can't find my old link to the full AI procedure, testing and results).
From Bartlein publication -
One design change that resulted from AI's exhaustive accuracy testing and development of the PSR [Precision Sniper Rifle] is the removal of flutes from the barrels. Engineers at AI decided to isolate the barrel flutes to see what impact they had on accuracy. The engineers attached a laser to the rifle's receiver, another to the barrel, and a third to the scope. All three dots were zeroed at the same point, then they started shooting the rifle. They discovered that, no matter which fluted barrel they used, the dots would diverge as the barrel heated. The dots from the devices mounted to the scope and the receiver would stay in place, but the barrel's device would manifest a point-of-impact (POI) shift. The POI shift from the warming barrel greatly diminished when they used barrels without flutes.
Engineers determined that the flutes never heated evenly, causing the POI shift. I hope the results of this test gain wide circulation through the sniper and long-range shooting communities to help eliminate some of the ignorance that surrounds the perceived advantages of barrel flutes. Flutes are great for shaving weight, but this is the first test I've heard that provided empirical data detailing what happens when the barrel is fluted. This should be the death of the "they cool a barrel faster, so they're more accurate" argument, listed among flutes' virtues. Our goal is and should always be to mitigate the effects of heat; fluting exacerbates it.
I have shot my sub .5MOA fluted hunting rifles consecutively on countless iccasions and have not e perienced a degradation in precision or change in POI. They are rarely, if ever run hot.
Wedgy
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The study did not say fluting degraded accuracy, it said the lasers attached to the barrels had a point of aim(lasers don't really impact)shift.
The question is whether or not a laser on the exterior of a barrel can duplicate what is going on inside the barrel effecting the bullet.
The question is whether or not a laser on the exterior of a barrel can duplicate what is going on inside the barrel effecting the bullet.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
I have 8 custom rifles and 7 of them are fluted. From #3 contour to light palma. My 6.5x284 Brux is not fluted. But when the barrel needs replaced, it to will be fluted. I plan on 3 more custom builds and they will have fluted barrels. Just what I like.
