Fluted versus non-fluted barrel
- Thread starter SCshooter
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It also makes the barrel a little stiffer and less prone to shift as it heats up , so they say. I had a Lothar Walther that was a 18" fluted stainless 1/8 twist that would shoot the nats off a flies butt at 200yds with 69gr. hand loads. Good god it is a laser. It wasn't a cheap barrel but then I have had cheap barrels that have shot very well and expensive barrles that have shot very poorly. To me it kind of seems to be a crap shoot. I have purchased multiple barrels from the same manufacturer at the same time and all of them have shot different.
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The only WC barrel I have held in my hands looked EXACTLY like an AR Stoner (midway house brand) barrel I own. The flutes, the twist, the 5R rifling. They seemed to be made in the same factory to me. After searching around I found some posts about them both being made by Wilson Barrel Co. No relation to WC, they seem to be an OEM manufacturer.
The AR Stoner is a decent barrel and was like 269$ when I bought it. They have since gone down to like 139$. I am unsure if it is same barrel though, I suspect they had a new supplier as the fluting looks a little different than the older AR Stoners.
Can't tell you with certainty that any of this is true, but I would encourage you to look around. Plenty of really nice barrels in that price range.
I've moved on from fluting. I would rather just have a slimmer barrel profile.
I think unless the fluting is FREEKING PERFECT the barrel moves all over the place as it heats up and strings shots, but my precision experience is almost nil. Just felt like my barrel did that.
The AR Stoner is a decent barrel and was like 269$ when I bought it. They have since gone down to like 139$. I am unsure if it is same barrel though, I suspect they had a new supplier as the fluting looks a little different than the older AR Stoners.
Can't tell you with certainty that any of this is true, but I would encourage you to look around. Plenty of really nice barrels in that price range.
I've moved on from fluting. I would rather just have a slimmer barrel profile.
I think unless the fluting is FREEKING PERFECT the barrel moves all over the place as it heats up and strings shots, but my precision experience is almost nil. Just felt like my barrel did that.
OP
JBoyette;n76894 said:
It's an option Wilson Combat offers on the AR-9. An extra $100 for a fluted barrel vs non-fluted. Trying to figure out if it truly is an upgrade or just more of a preference. It seems opinions are all over the place.
WC calls it their "proprietary" barrel - whatever that means.
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Given that everything else is the same, a fluted barrel will in theory give you the same stiffness as a non-fluted barrel of the same diameter at a lower weight and as has been said, should cool quicker. Other than maintaining the stiffness and cooling quicker, there is not much else it does that would affect accuracy IMHO. Let me modify that as pertaining only to straight line fluting, I could see how some funky patterns could possibly set up weird harmonics. Of course, just by the fluting lightening the barrel it's going to have different harmonics, so yes even straight line fluting could affect accuracy but I don't see it necessarily being a good or bad thing.
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Slacker
Liquor and Whores...
Wahoo95;n77420 said:
This, all day.
I've owned and used CMMG, QC10, TROS & Oly arms (RIP) 9MM AR barrels.
If I were buying again today, it would be a toss up between QC10 and CMMG. Price would decide, although I really like the salt nitride coating that QC10 uses.
they are all 1/10 twist.
I would NOT buy a PSA 9mm bbl due to their
​​​​​shallow leade chamber. Same with TROS.
​​​​​​I have not been impressed with Wilson combat barrels and I've owned two so far.
one was 5.56 and the other 300 blk.
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Flashpoint;n77414 said:
It can affect accuracy if one flute is shallower or different or something like that (as cutter dulls it can chatter and whatnot). As the barrel heats one side becomes a bigger heat sink and expands slightly differently, no? Seems critical for all flutes to be perfectly concentric.
No expert here, just thinking out loud.
OP: Have you considered the JP-13? Seems to start cheaper than the WC. And, it's a JP!
Maybe worth a look.
https://www.jprifles.com/1.2.13_GMR-15.php
Maybe worth a look.
https://www.jprifles.com/1.2.13_GMR-15.php
OP
NKD;n77659 said:
Nice rifle but it appears to be set up for glock. What sold me on the WC is that I can order it in Beretta. All my 92A1 mags will work in it.
NKD;n77658 said:
Yes that makes sense.
Why go fluted when you can go finned!
I've got a finned barrel from Green Mountain Barrel and I love it! Same heat dissipation concept as fluted although it is not quite as light.
Also should be noted I was having gassing troubles and had to drill out the gas port a little so it would throw the bolt back a little harder.
Really though minor compared to the quality barrels those guys crank out.
I've got a finned barrel from Green Mountain Barrel and I love it! Same heat dissipation concept as fluted although it is not quite as light.
Also should be noted I was having gassing troubles and had to drill out the gas port a little so it would throw the bolt back a little harder.
Really though minor compared to the quality barrels those guys crank out.
fishgutzy
Senior Member
Yup. Fluting reduces mass. A lot of stress modeling goes into determining the best trade off to maximize strength while reducing weight.
Fluting removes weight, but not much.
Glass beading dissipates heat better than flutes.
Flutes don’t stiffen the barrel compared to the same barrel non-fluted.
Flutes look cooler, if you go that route, have it stress relieved after fluting.
It won't make a difference on a 9mm barrel, these look like the lightweight way to go.
https://ballisticadvantage.com/ar15-barrels/9mm
Glass beading dissipates heat better than flutes.
Flutes don’t stiffen the barrel compared to the same barrel non-fluted.
Flutes look cooler, if you go that route, have it stress relieved after fluting.
It won't make a difference on a 9mm barrel, these look like the lightweight way to go.
https://ballisticadvantage.com/ar15-barrels/9mm
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When I saw Boyette was a recent post I knew it was a necro-thread!
@SCshooter57 care to share what you went with and how you feel about it a couple years later?
@SCshooter57 care to share what you went with and how you feel about it a couple years later?
Well as long as we’re resurrecting this thread I’ll add that this point has been bouncing around in my head for over a year. Not that it’s a difficult concept, but I’ve been thinking about related issues in a non-fluted barrel.
When you thread a barrel for a suppressor it is critical that the threading be indexed to the bore and not the outside of the barrel. I presume that this gets a lot of press because barrels are often not bored concentric to the barrel. If that’s the case, when you heat a barrel that’s not concentric to the bore does it bend because one side heats and cools slightly faster than the other? Are precision barrel profiles turned, or turned again, after boring and rifling?
Thats an interesting point. I think that YES, it has to be concentric to the bore. So yeah if it were off from the OD it would create a colder spot right at the muzzle. Seems like it would be hell on accuracy? Cans would concentrate even more heat there. I'm sure this is all well known basic stuff in the precision world!