What are pros & cons on having a barrel fluted, I hava a rifle that needs to loose about 8 oz
have considered dishing out the side of the stock, shortening the fore end & length of pull,
narrowing the fore end,drilling out the bolt handle
All of these combined would still wold probably not get it down to weight
Shortening the barrel is not & never was an option
Having the barrel partialy recountoured or fluted would get me to or under weight

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KG0BW Jim

Have a couple of rifle barrels that are fluted. My goal was to have as long a barrel as the blank would allow, yet try to save some weight. The gunsmith assured me it would also stiffen the barrel over the original contour. I was not then, nor have I been convinced this is true. It does appear to help with keeping the barrels from heating as rapidly as those not fluted.

Depending on the thickness of the original barrel and how deeply you have it fluted, the weight reduction can be marginal to significant. Whatever is done, be aware any machining of a barrel after heat treating is going to induce stresses that must be corrected, either by further heat treating or by extreme cold treatment. Discuss these concerns with whomever you deal with for the work.

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"Firearms only have two enemies - rust and politicans" author unknown

The thing with fluted barrels is that they don't stiffen barrels- however, if you were to compare two barrels (one normal, one fluted) that weighed the same, the fluted barrel would be stiffer. However, that is in comparison to a barrel of the same weight.

It's claimed that they cool off quicker because of increased surface area, which is true in most cases, however they will heat up faster because they are lighter. I'd like to run an experiment and compare the heating up vs. cooling down rates of a normal barreled rifle vs. fluted barreled rifle.

Probably the easiest way to loose weight is with an aftermarket synthetic stock. There are some really lightweight stocks out there. I'm not a synthetic stock fan, but this is the easiest way to get rid of weight.

Having a lighter contour barrel and or a shorter barrel is also another way to reduce weight. I have a Rem 700 Mountain rifle with what some describe as a pencil barrel that shoots very accurately and this is a light rifle.

Fluting and removing metal is certainly one way to remove weight, but there are several others also.

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Bob from Idaho

Already have laminate stock,brought it to gunsmith when I went to pick up receiver that I had blueprinted , barreled & chambered,had him drill it for the pillars
then found out the stock maker inletted it for a short instead of long action .
called the stock maker the next day he said it was modified & they could do nothing for me . I told them that it cost me to have it modified & that they should have made it for the corect action.
He said he would talk to the owner & call me tomorrow.
I called them back 3 days later & was told that they could redo it But it would be about 10 weeks or more .
I told them forget it send me some laminate scrap to plug the foreward receiver hole.
It's been over 5 weeks now & still no laminate scrap
I reduced my length of pull,plugged the hole &recoil lug well with the cutoff & had my gunsmith extend the magazine well& relocate the foreward receiver screw hole & recoil well .
Too much in this now going to have to make it work.
Dont deal with Elk Ridge Stocks, can't wait for the stock for my other rifle
to arive from Richard's Micro fit they have such a can do attitude it should be fantabulous.

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KG0BW Jim

Sure sorry to hear about your experience. Nothing kills business like word of mouth advertising like your experience. I've been using Richards for a bunch of years now with good results, though they can take a while if you need custom things done on the stock.

Laminate stocks are heavy compared to most other stocks. Dishing out the buttstock and cutting some breather holes in the forend along with removing wood where possible will lower the weight. Having your smith remove as much metal from the barreled action can help.

Turning the barrel to a smaller dimension was one trick I was using to build sheep rifles, but I was using Brown Precision glue in stocks at the time. Glassbedding them in rather than using action screws. We were building Hi-tech sheep rifles that weighed less than six pounds ready to go. I didn't do any fluting at that time.

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Bob from Idaho

Thanks all
My main concern was machining induced stress,I contacted an old hockey buddy metalurgist,gee was he suprised to hear from me after 20 years & also contacted 300 B elow about cryogenic treatment $ 75 w/ return shipping $ 500 insurance included.
Finnished inllaying the stock & pillar bedding ,now have to open it up some more to freefloat & finnish the bedding . then I can take everything to an accurate scale & find out exactly where I can go from there .
If flutting is necessary then I will go with cryogenic treatment

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KG0BW Jim