Bolt fluting

[sonofeugene]

Flutes on barrels may hurt accuracy, but flutes on bolts won't.

[Quinc]

Interesting! do you have a link to this? be interesting to see.

[Discogodfather]

Interesting! do you have a link to this? be interesting to see.

Scroll down half way to the *barrel* fluting section.

Link PRS Blog

[killshot44]

Boltfluting started with short range Benchrest, their "light" class max is around 10.5lbs so every ounce saved somewhere can be utilized by barrel and scope choices.

This guy does some serious fluting work; $65 for most makes and $75 for Tikkas and Savages.

http://proprecisionrifles.com/#pricelist

I like his "Diamond" treatment.

[FourT6and2]

Scroll down half way to the bolt fluting section.

Link PRS Blog

I think you mean barrel fluting. Seems like a few people in this thread are talking about barrels. But the OP asked about bolts.

[ar15barrels]

Longriflesinc. has a special going on right now. It's called the Sniper's Hide bolt fluting group buy.
I think it's $45 for just the bolt fluting.

Add $42.80 for ceracoat and around $6 shipping to get it there and you are at $93.80 which is close to the $100-$150 price range I quoted.
If you want a special color, it's an extra $45 which gets you closer to the $150.

[JMP]

I really do not like bolt fluting/spiraling/jeweling or whatever takes chunks of metal of the nice smooth cycling surface. In the best case it'll end up as good as the original bolt body. I will never again get a spiral fluted bolt.

And, after the novelty wears off, you will realize that it is actually ugly.

[firebert]

I sent mines to PPR. Doing it mainly for the aesthetics

[FourT6and2]

I really do not like bolt fluting/spiraling/jeweling or whatever takes chunks of metal of the nice smooth cycling surface. In the best case it'll end up as good as the original bolt body. I will never again get a spiral fluted bolt.

And, after the novelty wears off, you will realize that it is actually ugly.

Considering the vast majority of "boutique" custom actions come with the bolts fluted, I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon. Defiance, Stiller, BAT, Surgeon, Bighorn, etc. They all spiral flute their bolts. I think it looks nice, personally. I guess you can order them without fluting too. You speak as though spiral flutes on the bolt somehow negatively affect how the action functions. Is that the case?

[Discogodfather]

700 actions already have very low surface contact area of bolt to action compared to more modern designs. Theoretically it does effect it negatively, but probably by such a small amount its negligible. I remember seeing a video years ago that had an AI engineer talking about the fluting process on their rifles. Their scheme revolved around meeting the AW requirements of the Brit Military and they kept failing in cold weather with dirt. If you look at the fluting pattern on their bolts it's obvious it was not an aesthetic reason but a more engineered approach at actually getting the bolt to cycle in horrible conditions.

I have an old Israeli FAL I built from a kit and if you read about the 1967 war they had huge problems with sand, so they ended up cutting flutes into the bolt carrier to allow the sand to at least find somewhere to go.

So unless you engineered for some hellish dirt situation or you want to meet some very stringent weight requirements then what's the point?

I respect BR guys a lot but when I see flame paint jobs and neon orange..........

[JMP]

Considering the vast majority of "boutique" custom actions come with the bolts fluted, I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon. Defiance, Stiller, BAT, Surgeon, Bighorn, etc. They all spiral flute their bolts. I think it looks nice, personally. I guess you can order them without fluting too. You speak as though spiral flutes on the bolt somehow negatively affect how the action functions. Is that the case?

You can get them all without fluting. If you are buying one already in stock from a retailer, it isn't really "custom" by the way I look at it.

[ar15barrels]

Considering the vast majority of "boutique" custom actions come with the bolts fluted, I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon. Defiance, Stiller, BAT, Surgeon, Bighorn, etc. They all spiral flute their bolts.

You speak as though spiral flutes on the bolt somehow negatively affect how the action functions. Is that the case?

Surgeon's flutes are super narrow and shallow as to not cause the problems that bigger flutes do.
A surgeon bolt is BARELY fluted and they run smoother because they have so much more of the full circle left.
The problems come from the deep and wide fluting, especially if the edges are left sharp.

[Flouncer]

If it worked it would have been done in 1895.

LOLZ

The 32-inch barrel that needed to make weight, chop the Focker an inch

This crap will go away along with the styrofoam cup. Heh Heh Heh.

[kendog4570]

Bolt fluting has all the earmarks of a solution to a non-existent problem. It is good for the bolt fluters wallet, though.

[ar15barrels]

If it worked it would have been done in 1895.

LOLZ.
They didn't have computers or the internet in 1895.