Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Fluted Barrels?

It was available in many shapes including round.

I hate round barrels. Can't sit anything on them.

Hear that!

Only a dummy would have a hunting rifle with a fluted barrel.

Here's pics of two of my more recent rifles...

.338 Win Mag on bottom. Since it hasn't hunted yet can it can it be considered a hunter?



My 6.5-06AI. I built it for long range play, but it has hunted and killed.

I've seen a Custom Ultimate with an octagon barrel and it was cool as can be.. Spendy little suckers though..

Remington Hunter.

John

I like spiral flutes.





On the inside of the barrel.

Wonder if they could be made deeper for faster cooling?!

John

Want vs. Need......If you want'em get'em. Getting what you want is number one priority when building your rifle.

Another way to think about this:
Standard #3 contour barrel has no flutes
Lightweight #3 contour barrel is fluted

Good luck with whatever you get.


Note:
For a new factory hunting rifle the Winchester M70 EW looks great with flutes !

Thanks Hondo. Got some meat on that fore end.

Who cares if they serve a purpose? I haven't built the last few rifles to serve a purpose. They look cool, and that's what having more guns than you can remember is all about.

As it was mentioned, they look good and they shave some weight.

tzone,

Since I don't remember if I posted on this thread or not, I will give you my experience with a fluted barrel. I had a Savage rebarreled with a .25-06 barrel from Midway. The barrel was about $135. It is the lightest 24" I could get so that the muzzle measured about .550". This barrel was the first customer's the funsmith was going to work on with his new equipment. He took fourteen ounces out of it by cutting eight flutes as deeply as he could with a 1/4" cutter.

It was rechambered with a .257 Weatherby reamer ant then coated with JoelKendrick's Nitride bath (1(704)616-6442). Since a barrel has to be finished with something I did this. It looks very good to me.

To started with some of the loaded ammo from a box I worked up for the factory Mark V I had last year; which I sold because it was too heavy. The load consisted of Weatherby brass, Federal 215 Magnum primer, IMR782872 grains, Barnes 100 TTSX. The first two three shot groups were 11/16" each. The bolt was a little sticky so pulled the bullets. I dropped to 71 grains and fired five groups at 300 yards. One was 3 15/16". The other four were between 2 1/4" and 2 3/4".

This is typical of Savage rifles whether they are heavy barrel, thin barrel or this fluted barrel. It certainly cools faster than I am used to.

And some barrel makers think stainless steel is too weak for barrels under a #4.

I have never heard of a Remington LVSF blowing up and those were like .650" at the muzzle @ 22". That would be the equivalent of what, a #2 right?

A .04 or .05" depth flute on a #2 would still have a greater diameter, at the weakest point, than a Remington mountain rifle, and 60-80% (depending on width of flute) of the barrel's diameter would still be larger than a mountain rifle.

I guess you could blow a tune with a fluted barrel if you got bored.

There's a reality check. I like the way they look and it played a part in my decision to buy a particular rifle that I really, really didn't need. Although I did find ways to justify it in my own mind, once I had it in my hands. It's funny how it's actually easier to fool yourself than anybody else. I might go on an elk hunt some day, right?? I say looking cool is reason enough and if there's any real benefit, it's icing on the cake.

Cooper M54 Excaliber's are .610" @ 22" with .04" depth flutes, for reference.

Maybe a divining rod for football picks...

I would need 6 of them. LOL

Like Steelhead mentioned, I'd hate to carve a nice stock to tight tolerances for a flutted barrel. Typical barreled-action bedding would certainly provide more avenues for pine needle, dust, dirt, and snow/ice entry into the stock/barrel voids. Maybe for a cool looking wall hanger, but not for one of my functional units.