I am interested in hearing what you have to say concerning having a barrel profiled or fluted.  The need is make the weapon lighter and more balanced.  The barrel is a Bushmaster 14.5" heavy barrel.  What are your experiences.

Also, this is a shameless request for pictures, especially fluted barrels.

Of course I will ask ADCO to do the work, and I have contacted Steve @ ADCO for his advice.  

Thanks

I would have it profiled. Have ADCO make it .625 or .750 under the handguards. That will take care of alot of weight.

Profiled.





and in before the dremel fluting pic

Fluting costs more than reprofiling and fluting cuts less weight.

Fluting is for looks as far as I'm concerned.

It really doesn't drop alot of weight.

There is a good explanation in the Industry forum under ADCO. I like the looks of fluting. I think my next one will be contoured under the handguards and fluted in front. Contouring removes more weight, I like the way the fluting looks and it removes a little weight.

Just heard back from ADCO.  Fluting is worthless for weight reduction, so I will go with a light weight profile.

Yeah, in your case it would be more of a look thing than functionality.  If you want the look, get the barrel after the FSB fluted and have the barrel under the handguards reduced to govt specs.

Or just forget fluting.

With a barrel that short, go full contouring.  Shorter barrels are naturally stiffer anyway and experience less harmonics, especially when free floating.  A heavy contour or fluted heavy contour does you almost no good on a carbine barrel.

Fluting is not worthless for weight reduction. If you remove metal, you've reduced weight. The issue is barrel rigidity. You will retain more rigidity with fluting than if you simply re-profile the barrel. The bonus for fluting is also in the area of heat dissipation –– more surface area allows for faster cooling.

This is pretty much the case.  Given an equal weight for a given barrel, the fluted barrel will be stiffer than one turned down.  It may or may not be any more accurate than a regular turned down barrel of the same weight.  As far as heat dissipation, it really isn't a lot.  Sand blasting the barrel with a large grit will most likely give more heat dissipation than the fluting with a normal polished finish.

Yeah, the skinny barrel will be lighter. Would you rather have it lighter and be more flexible and faster to heat up or heavier and more rigid and slower to heat up. That is the reason they made the M4HB. It's going to be expensive either way, so get which you think is better.
Dustin

Barrel cooling is a result of metallurgy and surface area. The flutes provide more surface area, thereby promoting more rapid cooling than would just blasting it with larger grit.

The weight of your Bushmaster14.5" heavy barrel versus its factory fluted profile:

   Barrel length          Heavy Contour         Fluted Contour

     10"___________________2.0_________________1.9
     11.5"_________________2.2_________________2.0
     11.5/5.5"_____________2.6_________________2.5
     14.5"________________2.5_________________2.2
     14.5"AK______________2.7_________________2.4
     14.5"MY______________2.7_________________2.4
     14.5"AM (Phantom)_____2.7_________________2.4
     14.5"IZ_______________2.7_________________2.4
     16"__________________2.7_________________2.3
     16" Dissipator_________3.0_________________2.6
     20"__________________3.5_________________3.0
     20" DCM______________3.7
     20" Predator_____________________________3.2
     24"__________________3.9_________________3.1
     24" Varminter____________________________3.5
     26"__________________4.0_________________3.2

The sandblasting does increase the surface area also.  I don't have the article handy, but I believe it was in Precision Shooting a number of years back that showed the sandblasted barrel dissipated heat as well as fluting the barrel. My first thought was  However fluting and sandblasting was even better and I am sure we can agree on that one.  

It's harder to profile a barrel with a Dremel than it is to flute it.



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