Fluteing an AR barrel to lighten

**Shawn.L** · November 17th, 2008, 10:14 AM

I am thinking of (if I can find the damn parts ! Damn panic buyers !!!) building a 20 inch A2 for CMP and turning my present AR into more of a CQB carbine.

Just thinking out loud here, no solid plans.

I have a 16inch SS barrel. How much could some flutes lighten it ?

How much $$$ would that run?

Downsides ?

**knight0334** · November 17th, 2008, 10:21 AM

A couple ounces or so. Not much really.. It really isn't worth the money to do after you own the barrel. You could also suffer accuracy issues from uneven barrel heating warping it.

If you want to save weight, lop off a hair under 4 inches of your barrel and recrown it.

**Shawn.L** · November 17th, 2008, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by knight0334

A couple ounces or so. Not much really.. It really isn't worth the money to do after you own the barrel. You could also suffer accuracy issues from uneven barrel heating warping it.

If you want to save weight, lop off a hair under 4 inches of your barrel and recrown it.

I dont want to SBR it.

But I figured as much about the flutes.

Thanks.

just thinking out loud and asking questions.

**knight0334** · November 17th, 2008, 11:35 AM

ahhh sorry. I read it as if you had a 20" barrel. My apologies.

If you have the 16" H-Bar, heavy target, or varmint barrel - you're looking at even less weight reduction from fluting. Its not even registering on this online calculator for weight. Figuring (4) .20" to .25" flutes at about 4-5" long - it cant be much weight.

If you need to cut weight, you're pretty much gonna have to drop the toys/accessories or use a thinner profile barrel. Not many ways to cut weight on them things.