What do you think about the idea of creating a barrel with 16 or 32 sides,apart from the extra work,do you think it is overdoing it,or will it look more refined?

I think that that many sides would be a nightmare to inlet into a stock.

Just free float most of it except the tip. I'd like to one. It might be interesting.

Over the years, I've done several non traditional octagons. I think you saw a reverse half-round posted on this board a month ago. The only thing that I advise is that if you want to inlet the barrel into a wood stock is to have the sides 90 degrees to the bore line if you want a close wood to metal fit. If you want to free float the barrel you can doing anything you want.

If your thinking of something different, and are wondering what it might look like, I do CAD (Computer Aid Design) drawings before we start cutting the barrel. This will tell you what the barrel will look like before we distroy a barrel.

Another popular non-traditional is a sepagon, 7 sided. This gives you a flat on top, a point on the bottom, and each side has a 7.5 degree sides. This gives to a 7.5 degree draft angle to inlet into the wood. For those who have never inleted an octagon (8 sided) barrel into wood, it can be a challenge.