got this rifle and this $1 bill

[Evan03]

no flames , not even anything of the sort.

you are exackly right. in the real world fluting wont make that much difrence.

but i would be curious to see how much extra surface area a fluted 920 barrel had over a reg tube in the same diamter.

id measuer the surface area of both and i bet the fluted has a quite noticably larger surface to dissapate heat. say you flute 920 barrel in 20cal with deep flutes. then you might have noticably cooler barrel, but it might not be the case in the real world we live in.

also flutes reduce barrel weight. wich is a plus for me. ive only got one fluted barrel and its on my 10/22. got it for mostly looks but its also noticably lighter than unfluted barrels.

[rem 700]

Fluting isn't really for changing the whole weight of the gun. It's for evening out your balance with the muzzle, and butt of the gun, and it makes a good change in barrel heat. Think of it as this: a heavy bull barrel might be difficult to balance without a steady rest. A lighter muzzle keeps you from slumping down slowly. A bad rest with bull barrels might make a harder shot than a fluted barrel that's easy to keep in place, making them ideal for field use.

[Gil Martin]

My point is merely that with a free-floated barrel I am able to shoot a slow-fire 5-shot group with my rifle, walk down range and paste the target and return to the bench and resume firing. My gun club has 4,000 members and we have lots of shooters. I spend just about every weekend going to the range. I see chaps shoot two or three rounds from a centerfire rifle and then go to great lengths to let the barrel cool down (put it in the shade, apply wet towels or whatever). If that is what they other shooters want to do, so be it. I do not participate in those types of activities. Yes, the barrel gets warm on my rifle, but groups do not suffer and I can shoot unencumbered. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

model 70,

I have many rifles that shoot just fine with barrels stocked tight in the forends; they kill deer and ring my gongs here on the farm and many are "as-issued" military rifles.

My accurate scoped sporter bolt guns are all glass bedded and have free floating barrels and the gap between barrel and forend is about 4 or 5 dollars all slid down the barrel channel at once. Since wood forends can warp in humid conditions, small one dollar bill gaps are soon overridden by humidity and that floating barrel is now bedded-you gotta have a gap.

I have shot a rifle or two that liked to be bedded tight, but most like to be free floated and they will group all day long. Fold that dollar bill over three or four times if you want to float a barrel right.

Adam