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What is the purpose of Fluting?

E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
Does fluting a rifle barrel serve a purpose like aid in accuracy or is just for looks and to save weight?

Eric S. Williams
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Comments

  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Helps in the cooling of a barrel...
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  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Damn I didnt even think of that.Thanks Rembrandt.

    Eric S. Williams
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  • Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The main purpose is sales. IE: getting you to spend your hard earned sheckels on somthing that has no practacl purpose or effect. Can it do what they claim? Yes, but only to a very limited point (weight savings, about 1oz. stiffer for the same weight, in theory maybe. cooling, not enough to notice unless your in a lab situation)
    Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.
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  • varmit huntervarmit hunter Member Posts: 1,674 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Makes about as much since, As hupcaps on a 4 wheeler.

    The most important things, Are not things.
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It also theoretically weakens the fluted area, if you can go by the fact that big guns like .454 Casull and even the Lew Horton 629 are designed with an unfluted cylinder.

    But I've always heard the primary reason was weight savings, when it's critical for balance or to reduce overall weight.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would say cooling first. It increases surface area, which will cool the barrel more quickly. ( same theory as all of those cooling fins on your car radiator). I would say weight has the least to do with it, anyone who buys a bull barreled rifle, obviously is not concerned with the rifle being light, or they could have purchased the same caliber with a sporter barrel. I have them because that's the only way Sendero's and VSSF's are made with stainless barrels.

    A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.
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  • leeblackmanleeblackman Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd say primary reason is sales.... Just another bell and whistle...

    If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.

    The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
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  • TheguncounterkidTheguncounterkid Member Posts: 224 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It adds about 70% surface area to aid cooling, and also makes the barrel more rigid which is supposed to increase accuracy.
    -Kid
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    guncounterkid win the cigar. Makes perfect sense. The arch, inverted, is for strenth, and if it adds as much as 70% surface area then cooling is also a prime advantage. Thanks guys. I learn from you. Now I know why I'd buy a fluted barrel, sometimes.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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  • LowriderLowrider Member Posts: 6,587
    edited November -1
    Fluting adds a very necessary sound to the orchestra, and in my opinion is just as important as trumpeting, tromboning and clarineting.

    Now Sousaphoning...that's an all-together different story.

    Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
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  • redcedarsredcedars Member Posts: 919 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ok, just had to spout.

    A fluted barrel of bull barrel dimensions will be stiffer than an unfluted barrel of a smaller diameter. It will not be as stiff as a solid barrel of the same diameter, but it obviously doesn't weigh as much as a bull barrel either. One advantage of the bull/fluted barrels is more stiffness means less barrel whip. Fluted would be better for applications where both accuracy and weight are important.

    The fluted barrel does not have the thermal inertia of a bull barrel, that is, the bull barrel can absorb more heat before distortion sets in. On the other hand, the greater surface area of the fluted barrel permits faster radiant cooling, partially offsetting the difference.

    So it seems the fluted barrel of bull barrel diameter represents a kind of middle ground between standard and full bull barrels.

    One question: How does fluting affect barrel vibrations and therefore accuracy? For example, old Mauser barrels were "stepped" to prevent harmonic reinforcement of vibrations from affecting accuracy. What affect fluting may have on this factor, or if it is even an issue with modern steels and designs, I don't know.

    redcedars

    Edited by - redcedars on 08/27/2002 12:59:11
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