I posted about spiral flutes on www.benchrest.com forum in the gunsmithing forum. One of the fellows mentioned a Peterson Publishing article about barrel vibrations and talked about a gunsmith that spiral fluted barrels in the mid 70s. If anybody is interested you might follow the thread started on that forum.
Butch

Butch
I checked out your thread on Benchrest Central. It looks like Shaw's patent wouldn't hold up in court. I doubt that his patent lawyer, if presented with some of this apparent proof of previous spiral fluted barrels, would advise Shaw to waste more of his money on lawyer fees. Then again how many lawyers would tell a client that they are wasting money on legal fees??????????

If I were Shaw I'd be kicking my lawyer in the ass and looking for some money back. Looks like the lawyer didn't do a very through background check. Shaw would owe him time for the background check. I'd be pretty pissed about any fees after the incomplete background check. If you think about it though, the lawyer would still make money taking this to court knowing he was going to lose. Maybe that's all he's looking for. Patent lawyers allways get paid........win or lose....
gunmaker