quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
... Spiraled fluting is not as stiff as straight fluting.

If helical fluting was as still as straight fluting, someone would have done it with I beams. Engineering 101.

According to the guys that have a patent on the process helical fluting is 30% stiffer than straight fluting.

https://www.shawcustombarrels....ls/barrel-fluting/51

quote:

Originally posted by tanks:

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
... Spiraled fluting is not as stiff as straight fluting.

If helical fluting was as still as straight fluting, someone would have done it with I beams. Engineering 101.

According to the guys that have a patent on the process helical fluting is 30% stiffer than straight fluting.

https://www.shawcustombarrels....ls/barrel-fluting/51

I just read the patent filed by Behling (Shaw): "It is believed that the spiral or helical grooves 28 and the spiral flutes or grooves 30 as described previously herein, will result in a gun barrel 10 that is lighter than a gun barrel not having flutes 30, while emulating the stiffness and the harmonic response of a heavier gun barrel. Further, the spiral flutes 30 permit the gun barrel 10 to cool quicker than gun barrels with straight flutes or no flutes. For example, if the gun barrel 10 has spiral flutes that are twenty percent longer than straight flutes for the same length of a gun barrel then it is believed that the spiral fluted gun barrel will cool twenty percent faster than the straight fluted gun barrel. Further, it is believed that the stiffness characteristics will improve with the spiral fluted gun barrel over a straight fluted gun barrel. Also, although the present invention is preferably used with shotguns and rifles, it may also be used with other guns such as handguns."

There is no mathematical proof, just a belief.

Think about an I beam: if you spiraled that, it would not resist deflection nearly as well as a standard I beam.

VarmintAl is a really respected source; here is what he has to say about the subject:

FLUTING FOLLY.... Fluting a barrel by cutting circular grooves around the barrel, at intervals along its length, is like putting flexible hinges in the barrel. The stiffness will be greatly reduced. During the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, Margaret Thatcher allegedly chided the first President Bush 'don't go wobbly, George'. This method of fluting is definitely "wobbly".

But hey, it is your money. I have barrels with straight flutes and no flutes, but will never own one with spiral flutes. I think it is purely cosmetic (and wouldn't argue with anyone who said the same of straight flutes).

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
...
But hey, it is your money. I have barrels with straight flutes and no flutes, but will never own one with spiral flutes. I think it is purely cosmetic (and wouldn't argue with anyone who said the same of straight flutes).

Well, seeing that the barrel of .30 RUM lasts between 800-1000 rounds. If I notice something amiss I will go to straight fluting for the next one.

Well, I won't argue your cartridge choice; I love the 300 RUM.

One needs to be careful not to deprive himself of the nostalgia that goes with African hunting, and for those that do, I feel sorry for you..A plastic stocked stainless steel with chunks of metal missing all over the barrel is not Africa, its the eleventh commandment, Thou shalt not disgrace the land with trivial components!

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
One needs to be careful not to deprive himself of the nostalgia that goes with African hunting, and for those that do, I feel sorry for you..A plastic stocked stainless steel with chunks of metal missing all over the barrel is not Africa, its the eleventh commandment, Thou shalt not disgrace the land with trivial components!

My DG gun is a .458 B&M with an 18" barrel and wood stock, so I think I have nostalgia covered.