Dimpled barrel fluting

[effex]

G'day all,

Anyone know about dimpled barrel fluting?

Looks more interesting than the straight lines is all

Most brands do the straight cuts down the length of the barrel, does anyone know is this better for some reason?

[MeccaOz]

They do Look pretty cool, The AR guys in the states seem to be all over it

Not dimpled exactly, but I like it !

iyob9v.jpg (53.85 KiB) Viewed 7725 times

[Berper]

As long as it's consistent around the barrel you can do anything you want I think?

There is striped, waving, dimpled, honeycomb... Heaps of fluting styles.

[Tiiger]

I'm sure labour cost is the reason most use the standard straight flutes.

Milling 6 straight lines is easy and fast.

Doing 500 dimples would take a lot longer.

[Rocker]

There is striped, waving, dimpled, honeycomb... Heaps of fluting styles.

The honeycomb fluting looks awesome IMO.

[Sakoh]

Doing 500 dimples would take a lot longer.

Other than cool factor probably doesn't do the job any better either?

[Tiiger]

Maybe by some miniscule amount, but there wouldn't be any significant advantage in either weight or height IMO.

[effex]

Milling 6 straight lines is easy and fast.

Doing 500 dimples would take a lot longer.

Fair point.

[tiki]

Not dimpled exactly, but I like it !

+1

Yeeah, that looks good.

The dimpling looks cool too, the diamond cuts like that make it look a big tougher though.

I like...

[Combat_Wombat]

I could imagine that honeycomb fluting would be an absolute mutt to clean

[bigfellascott]

I could imagine that honeycomb fluting would be an absolute mutt to clean

Yep I reckon if you didn't keep on it you could end up with moisture sitting in the corners causing rusting issues, looks cool but just not practical in my opinion, same with the dimple looking one, I'd rather just plain and simple coming from a ease of maintenance point of view, a quick wipe down and in the safe type thing, I'm not into stuffing around with em, I like to wipe em down and store em.

[Spooner]

I could imagine that honeycomb fluting would be an absolute mutt to clean

You'd need to bulk buy cue tips.

[Rocker]

I could imagine that honeycomb fluting would be an absolute mutt to clean

Actually that's something I didn't think of.

I'm sure you're right. You'd have 100 rings of dirt in them in no time.

[Norton]

I'm not into stuffing around with em, I like to wipe em down and store em.

Ditto. I could live with stripes or dimples.

Not diamonds or anything fancier.

[Lorgar]

I'm not into stuffing around with em, I like to wipe em down and store em.

Ditto. I could live with stripes or dimples.

Even basic stripes add work.

Griping/wiping the barrel of my T3 Hunter Fluted isn't enough. I have a chopstick with a round base that I need to run a patch along with to clean each one properly.

[Mark TAC]

I disagree that it is pointless. There would be a LOT more surface area on the diamond pattern one, even compared to normal fluting. It would cool really fast. Essential on an AR used in a prairie dog town (two things we sadly do not have here )
I reckon the honeycomb one would have a LOT more surface area than normal flutes too but not as much as the diamonds.

And really that diamond one would not be that expensive, it is just spiral fluting, but more turns per inch / foot whatever, and then another spiral flute run the other way. So anyone set up to do that sort of fluting would piss it in.

Also, cleaning is not really an issue as they are parkerized or Cerakoted. Both very solvent resistant so squirt it with brake cleaner, crud falls off, done.


I think it looks bloody horrible though.

[Shotfox]

Can anyone tell who does this ?

[bigfellascott]

To me all that dimple and honeycomb checkering is designed for the " Look at Me" type person who feels the need to stand out and be different, as for whether it makes a diff in the cooling department who bloody knows, to me it looks like a real PITA to maintain so it wouldn't even come close to getting a start in my safe.

I'm more your functionality type firearms owner, not at all into the look at me type stuff, I just like basic rifles that function and shoot straight all the time, they don't have to be overly pretty, just reliable and not cost a small fortune cos I ain't got money to waste.

[Shotfox]

Im with you bigfella but do you know who does it

[bigfellascott]

Im with you bigfella but do you know who does it

No idea who would do it mate, ask around the gunshops I guess.

[Aster]

To me all that dimple and honeycomb checkering is designed for the " Look at Me" type person who feels the need to stand out and be different, as for whether it makes a diff in the cooling department who bloody knows, to me it looks like a real PITA to maintain so it wouldn't even come close to getting a start in my safe.

This is getting real technical and fussy now but I think it could be argued that "honeycomb" fluting is actually the best option.

A hexagon is the most efficient shape to use in a grid (as it is in down the barrel pictured here). There is the least amount of wasted space (e.g. comparing to a grid of circles) and it has great strength under pressures (e.g. compared to squares).

This is why you see it in nature in structures like (surprise?) beehives - building their honeycomb with hexagons yields maximum storage capacity and strength for minimum waste.

Obviously there are some technical/practical limitations to that for shooting though. I don't know who could do that fluting and it would obviously be a lot more difficult/expensive to have done than straight lines. TBH any practical benefit over standard fluting is probably insignificant.

Despite the technical advantages it's probably not actually worth doing. It's just a piece of trivia I found interesting.

So there you go... I present the wonder that is, the hexagon

[chacka]

Thanks David Attenborough