I am niether an engineer or a gunsmith, but a gunsmith that did good barrel and trigger work for me told me many years ago that a rifle barrel acted like a tuning fork once fired. The thicker the barrel, the less it would oscilate, thus increasing accuracy. There is a fair amount of steel missing on the fluted barrels. I can see where it would help with heat dissipation, but I wonder about accuracy. The same gunsmith told me that if I really wanted a tack driver, go to a heavy weight, 20" barrel, and single shot bolt action for maximum lock up behind the cartridge. I could see where if any of those ribs are cut unbalanced, it could pull a hot barrel off your zero.

I see that Remington will be putting out a desert stock varmint 700 in 308 next year. Hmmm. For a midwest cornfed Norway descendent, I have ended up in the desert alot.

Which is where I cooked up my chili recipe.....