I've always heard that fluting a barrel induces stress into the barrel and makes it less accurate. I know there is a right and wrong way to do anything but if done properly does fluting stress a barrel?

Are button rifled barrels more prone to fluting stress than cut rifled barrels?



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Well, Skip Otto shot this 5 shot group at the Cactus shoot in Phoenix several years ago with a fluted barrel. It was and stll may be a 200yd record 5 shot group. I believe it measured at .099.

I have personally tested this and found no difference in accuracy. I worked up a load in my 6.5SAUM then pulled the barrel and had Kampfeld flute it. Reinstalled and it shot just as good if not better with the same load.

BS...

Butch, I'm not denying that fluted barrels can be very accurate. Heck, I own several myself. The question was, can fluting induce stress into a barrel thereby making it less inherently accurate.

I'm following up with you because this is the gunsmithing forum and as far as I know, you are the only gunsmith that has replied so far..



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I answered and, in fact, wrote a fairly long winded discourse on the subject but it seems to have ended up in the twilight zone so, the short answer; not if the barrel is stress relieved and the cutter is sharp and not pushed. GD

Listen to GD. He has been around a long time and I find his advice to always be spot on. I've personally only fluted one BR barrel to prove a point only. I wanted to make a LV "10.5 lbs" with legal weight using a Nightforce 12X42 NXS scope. Rifle shot fine. I think if it is the only way you can drop weight, go for it. I personally don't care for the look.

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I saw a guy try to flute a barrel once with the cutter spinning backwards. Put up one heck of a racket. He was a know it all assshole so me and a buddy just drank coffee and enjoyed the show. He kept feeding in more and more and holding his hands over his ears because of the noise.

By the time he figured it out it was bent like a banana and had a hell of a set of pecker tracks on that one “flute”. I bet that one had some stress induced from that operation!