Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats How much weight reduction does fluting a barrel amount to?

I have a Sako 75 Stainless in 7mm Rem Mag, the gun is extremely accurate, the stock fits me to a T, my only beef is the overall weight. I wonder how much would I take off the overall weight if I had the factory barrel fluted?
Also I have optilok mounts on it which are pretty heavy, do Talley lightweights come for a Sako 75?

Fluting will only save a couple oz's depending on barrel contour.
Paul

It lightens the barrel by about one contour. If you have a typical #4 magnum contour, you might save 6-8 oz at most, more likely 4-6.

Assume a 24" bbl. that is .650 @ the muzzle.

6 flutes @ .225w X .135 Deep X 18" long will reduce the weight by .743 lb or approx 12 oz.

I have not hefted a Sako in two coons ages so I don't know how they balance. 12 oz. out of the barrel might make the rifle a bit muzzle light but it might not. I remember the Sakos that I owned years ago and yes they really were heavy. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that it's really possible to make 'em muzzle light................ <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Of course, a nice synthetic light stock could take another 8-12 oz. out of the back half and restore the balance too.......... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

JimF

Hard to beleive you can take 12 ounces out of a barrel. I'd be more than suprised if it would be as much as 4-6 ounces. I do recall reading some numbers once and will search a bit to see if I can find them.

Checked a barrel makers site and for #6 Sporter barrel which is 0.750" at the muzzle, a plain bbl will weigh 4.5 pounds and after fluting it will weigh 4.0 pounds...a loss of 8 ounces and this is in a barrel that is a 0.010" thicker than the barrel in question.

Jim's always got his weight's correct, but bear in mind the flutes he's listed are farily wide/deep. Last time I fluted on a no.3 I lost less than 6 oz's. Another thing I learned is that I hate flutes!

My smith, Bob Hart ,has told me roughly 4 oz. for an average flute job.

Hey Brad, Curious as to why you hate flutes? I have been hesitant to use them.

Lilja has a barrel weight calculator on his site that would allow you to play "what if" games with different flute configurations to see what the weight difference would be.

An accuracy gunsmith I used told me to forget about fluting. His opinion was that barrels were consumable components, just like primers and powder. As such, he thought fluting was a poor way to spend your $$. But he shot of benchs, and there are times when I am trying to get into high country that saving some weight does not seem such a bad investment.

But I have never paid to have a barrel fluted (and figure I should just work out more.)

Tak, I think they're like ugly rain gutters that "collect leaves" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Martin,
Getting a Sako 75 to a reasonable weight would be a very expensive and frustrating experience. Your easiest, and most likely least expensive route to a lighter rifle would be to sell the Sako and buy something lighter.

Fluting a factory hammer forged barrel can potentially open up a huge can of worms and would likely turn a really good shooting rifle into a scattergun.

Jim's advice is sound about balance as well. If you took a significant amount of weight off the front end, you'd likely have an akward handling rifle. If it were my rifle, that would necessitate a stock swap as well.

If I'm not mistaken, they make the Finnlight in 7mm Rem Mag. If you want a light Sako, that would be your easiest route.

The flute recipie listed is very agressive and yes its a lot more weight than some would think. I use the Lilja calculator for a lot of barrel weight calcs, and it has proven to be extremely close. Here is a more conservative recipie for comparison's sake.

6 @ 18" long. .186 wide X .100 deep. Reduction of .44 lbs or 7.04 oz.

Keep in mind that it would be a reasonable precaution to cryo treat a factory bbl. after fluting.

JimF

Skip a meal the night before hunting. The weight you save will be far more than what you can gain by fluting.

You can also cut an inch or two off the barrel, go with lighter rings, lighter scope, shoot lighter bullets (less weight in the magazine...go ahead and laugh, but we are talking ounces here), or drill some holes in the stock under the butt pad. I personally think overly light rifles are a complete waste of time and money. Lose some weight or something. You carry more carbage in your fanny pack or in your fanny than on your rifle any day. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have some light rifles, but got them there with lighter contour barrels and good stocks. Shaving an ounce here and an ounce there makes very little sense to me, because they start to shoot poorly.

99.9% of hunters couldn't tell the difference between a rifle weighing 7 lbs. and one weighing 7.5 lbs. if both were equiped the same. Just my thoughts. Flinch

FWIW:

Talleys really do lighten the packeage. I switched from one piece Leupie standard mounts to talleys and the 4 ounces really made a difference to me.

BMT

I try hard not to flute in the presence of game animals or women. It scares the game, and it really repulses the women. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> It shows poor breeding.

Shootest, it isn't the fluting that repulses the women <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Flinch

thanks for the input guys,
I checked with rockymountain rifles, they said 5 oz's, they could custombuild me a light fibreglass stock for another 12 oz of weightr savings. The cost of the two is $750 cdn.
For less than that I could trade into a finnlight.
I decided to lug the extra weight this year and then decide.
Martin

Bill Shehane uses fluted barrels on some of his 1000 yd light class bench rest guns. Hr recently built one with a 30" straight taper barrel, fluted, with a muzzle on .950". Within the first 25 rounds through the rifle it had shot a 5" group at 1000 yds. So if flutes are done right they certainly do not hinder accuracy.

Martin bns, for whatit's worth, here is may advice.
Go with the light weight rings and stock, and leave the barrel alone.

Sporter barrels don't take well to fluting, as they are fairly lightweight to begin with.
My son's barrel was fluted when it was made, but as you know it is a heavier contour than most you will find.
It is the same weight as the original unfluted barrel that came off that little rilfe, but a lot bigger!

I really don't think it saves a bunch in a sporter barrel.
Just my .02 FWIW <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Cat