AR Sponsor
Posted: 10/24/2006 12:20:28 AM EDT
|
I'm trying to decide between a fluted barrel or a non-fluted barrel. I don't really know the pros and cons of either. Can anyone set me straight please? If it matters, it'll be from POF. |
|
The rigidity of a fluted barrel is tricky - A fluted barrel is more rigid than an unfluted barrel of equivalent weight. A fluted barrel is less rigid than an unfluted barrel of equivalent outside diameter. Unless you're going to be doing some serious bench shooting, I'd say just go with the one you prefer the looks and weight of. |
|
I considered the same options. I have an unfluted 20" bull that when it gets warm, tends to stay warm for a long time (all that metal absorbs a lot of heat.) On the plus side however, it is very stiff and very stable with no change in point of impact and only minimal increase in group size as it heats up. (50 shots loaded 5 rounds at a time in the mag and shot as soon as a precise sight picture could be obtained resulted in groups in the .4 to .5 MOA range from 1 to 20 shots and then opened up slowly to around 1.0 MOA at 50 shots.) As indicated above, a fluted barrel cools slightly faster, but is not as stiff in a given diameter as a full bull barrel. My thoughts were that a 20" bull AR weighs in around 13 pounds with a largish varmint scope on it, and that another 4" of barrel would add another pound and a half. I decided that if I went with a 24" barrel, I would have it fluted to save weight. However, at the same time the fluting and extra lenght would have both made the barrel less stiff, so I stayed with a 20" unfluted barrel as I valued the accuracy and stability more than the slight weight reduction of fluting and/or the minor velocity increase with 4" more barrel. |
|
Frankly, it doesn't really matter. I have competition rifles and tac rifles. Some are fluted, other are not. It really doesn't matter that much. The big gain on fluting is to just dissipate heat faster. Go with what feels good and more importantly prints better. Ask yourself what's the rifle for and then go from there. In the end, if you're looking for style points, fluted will do the trick, but again...does it really matter? My latest rifle is a 16" Cav Arms/DPMS/Triangle Shooting Sports rifle that flat out shoots. It holds 1 MOA all day long with crappy ammo and goes bang every time I pull the trigger. After that, I don't care what it looks like. My next strictly for competition rifle, will probably be a SUPER light 18" barrel w/ rifle length gas system. Titanium bolt carrier as icing. The reason. Light, fast and accurate out to 600 easy. Rich |
I really like my fluted chrome-lined DPMS 20" upper. That being said, I'd really like it better if it was government profile (light under the handguards). Even fluted, it's too heavy. Plus, forget looking all milspec commando space shuttle door gunner with it. You can spot the fluting from a mile away.  If I had it to do over again, I'd get a chrome-lined 20" government profile barrel instead of the fluted. My gov't profiled M4 barrel is so much easier to carry and shoot (hold on target longer) than my HBAR CAR barrel, it's not even funny. The fluted one has never done me wrong, however, and it's very precise. Get what you need - fluting takes some of the weight off, but gov't profile takes off even more. |
AR Sponsor