Fluted Barrels / Vertical Stringing

[Wilderness_56587]

I have been convinced to leave as is

 

[Brian in Montana]

The Factory Wilderness stock is a carbon fiber hand laid stock and has an aluminum bedding block. It’s a great solid stock and not a cheap plastic stock.
Removing the pressure points and free floating the barrel is easy. Wrap some sandpaper around an undersized deep well socket of appropriate size and sand the points down. Keep working until the points are gone and there is no contact on the barrel all the way to the chamber end.

I imagine you're right about this, but the question becomes, if the Wilderness factory stock is rigid enough for an amateur free-float job, why wouldn't Weatherby just make them that way?

 

[ShadowFast1]

Straight from the horse's mouth: https://weatherby.com/faqs/why-are-some-weatherby-rifles-free-floated-and-some-are-not/

 

[VikingsGuy]

Straight from the horse's mouth: https://weatherby.com/faqs/why-are-some-weatherby-rifles-free-floated-and-some-are-not/

Some Ruger M77s are the same way, but I have free floated both and improved results, so YMMV.

 

[cahunter805]

I imagine you're right about this, but the question becomes, if the Wilderness factory stock is rigid enough for an amateur free-float job, why wouldn't Weatherby just make them that way?

Brian
It has been my experience that free floated barrels seem to shoot better. I always free float a barrel. To me the harmonic whip of a barrel being free floated is easier to tune and thus more accurate.
It is easy to remove the pressure point and test it for yourself. It’s also easy to rebed the pressure point into a barrel channel also.

 

[freebird63]

A gunsmith I know will not flute barrels. He has been in the business for at least 25 years. He did some tests on flute vs non flute. It seems that where the flutes start the inside of the barrel opens up just a tad. I would have to back and listen to his podcast about his findings.

 

[std7mag]

Some years ago i had gotten my daughter a Vangard in 243.
Would do the 3 shots in 1 MOA at 100 yards.
Following shots would open up exponentially!
Finally ended up trading rifle for a bow. Best decision ever!

I keep hearing of the evils of fluting.
Makes your barrel not as stiff, etc...
I maintain that even though the flutes are meant to aid cooling and slightly lighten the barrel, that the shape of the flutes themselves help to stiffen the barrel.
Lighter in and of itself does not mean less stiff.

 

[Fire_9]

Flutes will actually make your barrel stiffer, not the other way around...

 

[Don Fischer]

I wonder why those factory barrels with up pressure in front aren't simply bedded solid the whole way? My first bedding job years ago I bedded a Sako L61 solid all the way, great shooting rifle. Then I tried free floating but bedding solid under the chamber, they shoot great. Today I free float from the front of the chamber on, they shoot great. I have never shot a rifle with that uplift in the front that shot well.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Flutes will actually make your barrel stiffer, not the other way around...

Physics says a fluted barrel will be stiffer than an identical weight barrel that is not fluted, but taking metal off a barrel during fluting will always make that barrel less stiff than it started.

 

[ShadowFast1]

There's a great article about barrel fluting and barrel harmonics HERE.

For me if I had to choose between two QUALITY barrels of equal length and weight, one being fluted and the other not, I'd likely choose the fluted. It's larger outside diameter gives me more stiffness than the non-fluted without the weight penalty. There's also a potential greater accuracy due to the stiffer barrel.

If I had to choose between two production/factory grade barrels of equal length and weight, one being fluted and the other not, I'd most likely go with the non-fluted barrel. This is mostly because I don't know how much care was taken in fluting that barrel and what stresses it may have induced.

I'm sure Weatherby did lots of testing to determine that your profile of barrel was on average more accurate when bedded with slight upward pressure. Now any change to that pressure can change how the barrel "whips" when fired, such as loading the rifle on a bipod or taking an offhand shot with a tight sling. Also every time you fire a round the barrel builds heat which can cause the barrel to shift away from or toward the pressure pad of the stock.

For the sake of science it would be worth free floating the barrel to find out if you really have an accurate barrel.

 

[ImBillT]

It could be an issue like bedding, pressure on the barrel or a loose screw somewhere, but vertical stringing is usually from being between accuracy nodes and having mediocre to poor muzzle velocity inconsistencies. On a node, you can have mediocre SD and ES numbers and still get limited vertical and close and medium range. At very long range, you have to have single-digit SD’s to have limited vertical. Off a node you need very low single-digit SD’s. A slight increase or decrease in muzzle velocity will probably clear it up. Also, if you can shoot over a chrono and find excessive ES and SD some things that can tighten that up are to measure your powder charges better and/or improve ignition. Ignition can be improved by increasing powder charge, changing primers or changing powders altogether.

If it’s related to the fluting, then the fluting was done very poorly.