BrutalAttack

Barrel fluting is not a fractional increase in surface area. How much surface area does a golf ball have compared to a ping pong ball?

A significant amount.

Flutes work on the same principle as that of your standard air-cooled engine with aluminum fins cast or machined into the engine. The higher the surface area the more efficiently heat is radiated.

Get two identical rifles, one with a fluted barrel and one with a standard heavy barrel. They may heat up at different rates but the fluted barrel will definetly cool faster. A higher density/heavier barrel will have more thermal inertia, meaning that, it will be more resistant to changing states. So while it may heat up slower it will also cool much slower.

Probably thereason fluted barrels aren't used on many machine guns is due to the fact that the barrell rifling will be toast soon anyway and the gunner will be hotswapping barrels pretty regularly so why add extra cost in machining the barrels which will be shot out? You will however see most machine guns with some sort of cooling mechanism on the barrel be it a shroud or whatever.

As far as fluted barrels being more rigid, I don't know. But overall, the shorter and more rigidyour barrel is, the less radical the harmonics will be which will lead to more consistent point of impact (increased accuracy).

BrutalAttack

I just found this over at a site I visit regularly.

Good stuff we should all know:

http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/RealBenefitsBarrelFluting.asp

I would post it but it's too long.

ShatoDavis

This is from Shilen Barrels(one of the finest custom barrel manufactures)website:

What about "fluting" a barrel?
Fluting is a service we neither offer nor recommend. If you have a Shilen barrel fluted, the warranty is void. Fluting a barrel can induce unrecoverable stresses that will encourage warping when heated and can also swell the bore dimensions, causing loose spots in the bore. A solid (un-fluted) barrel is more rigid than a fluted barrel of equal diameter. A fluted barrel is more rigid than a solid barrel of equal weight. All rifle barrels flex when fired. Accuracy requires that they simply flex the same and return the same each time they are fired, hence the requirement for a pillar bedded action and free floating barrel. The unrecoverable stresses that fluting can induce will cause the barrel to flex differently or not return from the flexing without cooling down a major amount. This is usually longer than a shooter has to wait for the next shot. The claim of the flutes helping to wick heat away faster is true, but the benefit of the flutes is not recognizable in this regard until the barrel is already too hot.

Pawildman

Well, now, there you have it.......right from a major player.

BrutalAttack

....that wants you to buy as many barrels as possible.

Not saying they are lying but consider the source.

kdvollmer

very true brutal, consider the source. but think of it this way too. if it was a great thing to do, wouldn't a company like Shilen be making their barrels like that to to sell to another part of the market
The jury is still out here on this topic, but if a copany with their reputation makes that statement, and thus does not make their barrels like that it just might be enough to make you think

ShatoDavis

Shilen's reputation stands on its own merits. I need not defend them.

That being said I think that flutes are very appealling esthetically. I considered buying one once for a Mountain rifle. I thought that it would be nice to have a heavier tapered barrel that didn't weight a lot. When I talked to an engineer with Douglas barrells, I was adviced to just buy a sporter weight barrel and save money.I would realize no benefits from the heavier/fluted barrel. He went on to say that if I was building a varmint rifle that barrel heating was a concern then a heavier contour would be wise, but once again the flutes would be unwarranted. IfI want a fluted barrel for the "looks" then by all means get one. Just don't justifymy choice with any logic other than esthetics. (paraphrased)

Take all that advice with a grain of salt of course, but douglas does offer fluting and that was an employee talking me out of giving them more money.

Brutal,
I read the article and it is interesting. I cannot argue the math or the physics. It is obvious that a fluted barrel would be stiffer than an unfluted barrel of thesame weight.NO ARGUMENT there. Myquestion is this:What does that stiffness equate to in real world accuracy and dependability? I don't know.

I can see shillen's pointthat the fluting process could reduce the over quality of the bore thus reducing accuracy.Then again I really never understood how Kreiger's Cryo freezing barrels would have any benefit either, but it does. Its obvious to me that this is too tough of a question for a simple man like myself. I'll leaveit to engineers to figure out.

kdvollmer

I don't think that you need to defend shilen in here. No doubt, we all agree that they make a great barrel. All I was trying to say, that Shilen says dont get it done, for the reasons that they stated. I agree with them. If it IS SUCH A GREAT IDEA, and makesyourgun so much more accurate, or cools it sooo much faster, then I am sure that they would be doing it too. I just don't believe they don't recommend it to sell more barrels. That would just be aother market for them.

Pawildman

You know, after really sitting down and thinking about it, and I am not a metallurgical engineer. it just seems to make good common sense that the fluted barrel will cool more unevenly than a straight tapered barrel due to the flutes themselves. I totally agree that this may cause uneven cooling inthe barrel, and establish hot spots vs. cooler spots along the bore. This MAY provide a launch tube for your bullet that now has to deal with harmonics as well as open-shut areas of the bore at the shot.
A good friend of mine said to me once, "Yer either for or agin it". I guess right now I'm agin it.

backyardreloader

they do cool quicker, but also heat up faster