When trying to make weight, run a thinner barrel profile or flutes?

[Sgt. Brumbaugh]

I am working on a new ELR light rifle build and am really crowding the 26 lbs. weight limit.

Should I run a thinner barrel profile (current plan is a 338 caliber with a 36 in barrel) about 1.1 at the muzzle / 1.45 shank. I could flute it to take about 1lb. out of the barrel and comfortably make weight- or just run a thinner profile.

Thoughts?

 

[D-4297]

One thing to consider is that a thinner barrel profile will have more harmonic movement and it may be harder to "match up" the barrel flex timing with the round exiting the barrel .
I experienced this issue when trying to get some very small barreled Mosin-Nagants to shoot more accurately . Finding the right powder and Load was the key to it all .

 

[Fast14riot]

I've always found that the node in thinner profiles is much more narrow. If you can load to your temp and atmospheric conditions, I'd go for flutes, but if you want wide nodes I'd go shorter.

 

[Mike TackleBerry]

I'd trim the barrel to 32" and run it, At the distances we shoot for ELR Light 32" is plenty of length. Then use the leftover weight capacity to balance out the rifle better. I'm running a 1.45 shank barrel on my 375 Cheytac and it's a big boy. What cartridge are you shooting?

 

[ISS]

Flutes. Dan Lilja told me about an engineering principle about fluted barrels being stiffer, and also slower to heat and quicker to cool. I want to say a something "stone bridge", but it was about forty years back.

 

[R.Morehouse]

I agree with Mike......Would love to hear about your build....

Regards
Rick

 

[Mike TackleBerry]

Flutes. Dan Lilja told me about an engineering principle about fluted barrels being stiffer, and also slower to heat and quicker to cool. I want to say a something "stone bridge", but it was about forty years back.

Fluting does not add stability. You are removing material when fluting a barrel, not manufacturing a fluted shape with an equal amount of starting material as a regular barrel. A 8 lb 24” fluted barrel is stronger than a 8 lb 24” non fluted barrel. However, starting with a 8 lb 24” barrel and removing a lb of material will not make it stronger. Fluted barrels heat up faster than non fluted barrels, Theres less metal to soak up the heat and therefore they rise in temperature faster.

 

[ShaunBrady]

I'd trim the barrel to 32" and run it, At the distances we shoot for ELR Light 32" is plenty of length. Then use the leftover weight capacity to balance out the rifle better.

This, 100%.

If the saved weight is moved to the back of the rifle, it'll track better. If it tracks better, the mental overheads come down between shots.

The bipod can also come back, increasing the downrange elevation change achievable without extra drama at the rear bag. There are practical systems for adding and removing elevation at the rear, but prone positions should be built from the rear forward to the greatest extent possible. A shift in the position of the shooter behind the rifle, and there is no way to avoid that if the recoil pad is raised or lowered 2", will produce a shift in the zero.

 

[SKWERLZ]

I’d cut the barrel shorter to lose some weight instead.

 

[Orr89rocz]

This 28” savage varmint profile barrel (.790 at muzzle i think) lost about 6-7 oz with this interrupted style fluting fwiw

 

[ELR LVR]

I am working on a new ELR light rifle build and am really crowding the 26 lbs. weight limit.

Should I run a thinner barrel profile (current plan is a 338 caliber with a 36 in barrel) about 1.1 at the muzzle / 1.45 shank. I could flute it to take about 1lb. out of the barrel and comfortably make weight- or just run a thinner profile.

Thoughts?

I would agree with the fact that running a 32" or even a 30" would be helpful
One one of my ELR rigs I started with 34" and kept cutting 1 inch at a time more for balance
It was too front heavy and I had to actually hold the butt DOWN to shoot
It made for a totally different way of holding a rifle that I did not want to go through the learning curve of
--------------
Upon cutting 1 inch at a time then checking for balance I also shot to gauge velocity drop
I only experienced 15 fps drop every inch
I held at 30"
It was a full profile barrel but still front heavy and I did not want to cut more off the length
so I tapered the last foot of barrel length down to 1.000 at the muzzle...this alone shaved a full pound of material
So----if you have a lathe, you could play with profiles, tapering the last foot down
then if you need more
taper the last 18 inches and try that etc
until you arrive at the weight you want
---------------
Fluting is definitely an option that wont hurt
Also there are some dang light Carbon fiber chassis and components
A light scope, such as NF or older Leupold benchrest scopes
--------------
A sacrifice is going to have to be made somewhere if you're limited and wish to retain that extra 50-60 fps
Sacrifice in length is better in my opinion than thinning down as others have mentioned might make for more barrel whip and more difficulty in harmonic stability and tuning
Stiffer is almost always going to be more accurate where it's better to have
"short and fat" than "thin and long"
So balance between what velocity you want, comapared to weight to arrive at a certain profile dia.
and length.
The sacrifices here whether it be in your pocket book(For Ti and Carbon Fiber) or the rifles barrel will be necessary
------------------
At a certain point some time ago, I stopped chasing velocity and opted for accuracy if I was forced to make a choice between the two.

 

[Sgt. Brumbaugh]

I am building a 338 Enabler.

I currently have a 32 in 338 LAI barrel on the rifle. It is a 1.35 shank tapers to 1.1 at the muzzle. With the rifle set up level with a bipod and rear rest- there is 8 pounds of "weight" pressure on the rear of the rifle, so in other words it is nowhere near being front heavy. It has a Manners ELR Lite stock which has an extended for end.

I am not going to chase velocity as much as I am going to utilize the extra HP.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Thinner profile 100%.

 

[Fuj]

This caught my eye some time back. It's a company called "Structured
Barrels". It's the idea that makes it curious. Would be some crazy time
on the gun drill.......Could then add a flute between holes. Possibilities ??

 

[SKWERLZ]

This caught my eye some time back. It's a company called "Structured
Barrels". It's the idea that makes it curious. Would be some crazy time
on the gun drill.......Could then add a flute between holes. Possibilities ??

Tacomhq does them.
So far it’s a lot of expense and hype from my observations.

 

[Sgt. Brumbaugh]

Tacomhq does them.
So far it’s a lot of expense and hype from my observations.

Agreed.

 

[ISS]

Would a fluted barrel not increase the surface area, which would increase the cooling area in comparision?

 

[amiabledave]

Would a fluted barrel not increase the surface area, which would increase the cooling area in comparision?

Although I would never flute a Barrel that I own. YES, a fluted barrel does increase surface area which would increase the barrel's cooling efficiency.

 

[Sgt. Brumbaugh]

Would a fluted barrel not increase the surface area, which would increase the cooling area in comparision?

Very, very minimally.