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Posted: 4/20/2010 8:20:50 AM EDT
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Looking to replace my heavy barrel with a Yankee Hill barrel. They recommend a fluted barrel, but I don't know much about them.
TIA |
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it can change the harmonics of the barrel.
Even thought you take metal away....you can increase it's ridigety....by having ribbibg.....much like a column. the cooling factor with more surface area is true....but are you sending that many rds down range? that....and it looks cool.... 
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In simple terms fluting a barrel reduces weight, cools faster, and is less rigid than the same barrel without flutes.
The properties of steel are well known, if you want the actual calculations a quick web search turn up a number of papers on the subject of barrel fluting. |
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Fluting a barrel does NOT increase rigidity. Yep. If I remember correctly, a fluted barrel will be more rigid than a barrel of the same weight and length. And it will weigh less and cool faster than a barrel of the same length and diameter. that is not the best comparison IMO (keeping weight and length constant) compare 2 of the same barrel, one fluted and one not. |
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Fluting a barrel does NOT increase rigidity. Yep. If I remember correctly, a fluted barrel will be more rigid than a barrel of the same weight and length. And it will weigh less and cool faster than a barrel of the same length and diameter. that is not the best comparison IMO (keeping weight and length constant) compare 2 of the same barrel, one fluted and one not. There are two comparisons there, length/weight, and length/diameter. If you take two identical barrels, and flute one of them, then you have two barrels with the same length and diameter but with different weights because of the fluting. I'll highlight the description of that scenario. |
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it can change the harmonics of the barrel. Even thought you take metal away....you can increase it's ridigety....by having ribbibg.....much like a column. the cooling factor with more surface area is true....but are you sending that many rds down range? that....and it looks cool.... Wrong. Fluting a barrel does not increase its rigidity, EVER. It will often, however, have increased rigidity over a uniformly profiled barrel of the same weight. |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm
From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. What he said. I had the same question about fluting a ways back. After all the research and conflicting opinions I found, I left as confused as ever. It seems to me the ranks are split down either it makes it more rigid or really doesn't affect rigidity. I don't recall seeing many opinions for it decreasing rigidity, which I think is the takeaway message (at least for me). |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. What he said. I had the same question about fluting a ways back. After all the research and conflicting opinions I found, I left as confused as ever. It seems to me the ranks are split down either it makes it more rigid or really doesn't affect rigidity. I don't recall seeing many opinions for it decreasing rigidity, which I think is the takeaway message (at least for me). Taking a barrel and fluting it will decrease its rigidity compared to its previous state. No exceptions. However, say you have two equal length barrels. One is a pencil barrel and the other is fluted, and they weight the same. The fluted barrel will likely be more rigid. The key here is "per weight." Fluting increases rigidity for a given weight. |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. What he said. I had the same question about fluting a ways back. After all the research and conflicting opinions I found, I left as confused as ever. It seems to me the ranks are split down either it makes it more rigid or really doesn't affect rigidity. I don't recall seeing many opinions for it decreasing rigidity, which I think is the takeaway message (at least for me). Taking a barrel and fluting it will decrease its rigidity compared to its previous state. No exceptions. However, say you have two equal length barrels. One is a pencil barrel and the other is fluted, and they weight the same. The fluted barrel will likely be more rigid. The key here is "per weight." Fluting increases rigidity for a given weight. Here's what Krieger Barrels has to say on this topic... I would tend to trust the statement of a high end manufacturer on the subject... "A fluted barrel can increase rigidity, thereby reducing barrel vibration and whip over a barrel of the same weight unfluted." |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. What he said. I had the same question about fluting a ways back. After all the research and conflicting opinions I found, I left as confused as ever. It seems to me the ranks are split down either it makes it more rigid or really doesn't affect rigidity. I don't recall seeing many opinions for it decreasing rigidity, which I think is the takeaway message (at least for me). Taking a barrel and fluting it will decrease its rigidity compared to its previous state. No exceptions. However, say you have two equal length barrels. One is a pencil barrel and the other is fluted, and they weight the same. The fluted barrel will likely be more rigid. The key here is "per weight." Fluting increases rigidity for a given weight. Here's what Krieger Barrels has to say on this topic... I would tend to trust the statement of a high end manufacturer on the subject... "A fluted barrel can increase rigidity, thereby reducing barrel vibration and whip over a barrel of the same weight unfluted." Yeah. That's what I said. |
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A good read http://varmintal.com/aflut.htm From reading around elsewhere there seems to be nothing but conflicting tests, opinions and information. Differing opinions from "experts" as well as barrel and rifle manufacturers and completely different manufacturing techniques. What he said. I had the same question about fluting a ways back. After all the research and conflicting opinions I found, I left as confused as ever. It seems to me the ranks are split down either it makes it more rigid or really doesn't affect rigidity. I don't recall seeing many opinions for it decreasing rigidity, which I think is the takeaway message (at least for me). Taking a barrel and fluting it will decrease its rigidity compared to its previous state. No exceptions. However, say you have two equal length barrels. One is a pencil barrel and the other is fluted, and they weight the same. The fluted barrel will likely be more rigid. The key here is "per weight." Fluting increases rigidity for a given weight. Here's what Krieger Barrels has to say on this topic... I would tend to trust the statement of a high end manufacturer on the subject... "A fluted barrel can increase rigidity, thereby reducing barrel vibration and whip over a barrel of the same weight unfluted." Yeah. That's what I said. Haha. That's exactly what you said almost word for word. |
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it can change the harmonics of the barrel. Even thought you take metal away....you can increase it's ridigety....by having ribbibg.....much like a column. the cooling factor with more surface area is true....but are you sending that many rds down range? that....and it looks cool.... Wrong. Fluting a barrel does not increase its rigidity, EVER. It will often, however, have increased rigidity over a uniformly profiled barrel of the same weight. I say we settle this debate once and for all, somebody buy 2 Douglas 1" diameter heavy barrels, and flute one. Ill supply a fixture to mount said barrels to and we can hang weights on the end of them to see which bends further and which breaks first. 
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Fluting a barrel will not increase it's rigidity. It will decrease the rigidity, but the decrease is likely so small and insignificant that it has ZERO effect on accuracy.
Based on what I know of metallurgy and lightweight structures, I'd say that fluting a barrel has the primary benefit of removing weight from the barrel. It won't cool that much more quickly even though the surface is area is a bit more. It does look cool, though... To match up to the weight in a non fluted barrel means that the diameter is going to be smaller all around and that could, in theory result in less rigidity. Again, I think for the demands that are put on an AR15 barrel, the difference is so insignificant as not to be a factor for accuracy that couldn't be attributed to something else. Theoretical difference vs. Measurable difference vs. Performance difference |
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it can change the harmonics of the barrel. Even thought you take metal away....you can increase it's ridigety....by having ribbibg.....much like a column. the cooling factor with more surface area is true....but are you sending that many rds down range? that....and it looks cool.... Wrong. Fluting a barrel does not increase its rigidity, EVER. It will often, however, have increased rigidity over a uniformly profiled barrel of the same weight. I say we settle this debate once and for all, somebody buy 2 Douglas 1" diameter heavy barrels, and flute one. Ill supply a fixture to mount said barrels to and we can hang weights on the end of them to see which bends further and which breaks first.
No need. Wanna-be engineers have been doing these calculations in school since there was such a thing as an engineer. Did more than my share of that myself. Before that, I'd say the Romans understood it. 
We'll let the guys who think that this test would reveal the fluted to be the stronger of the two foot the bill to prove themselves wrong. 
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