Gunsmithing What does bolt fluteing do?
- Thread starter Jscb1b
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That's an interesting fact about the utility of bolt flutes when it comes to ice. With AI rifles I don't really question whether there's a reason for a feature. I just assume they design every detail a certain way for a specific reason.
That’s a very dangerous mindset when it comes to engineering...
A good 90% of engineering is done the way it is because “ that’s how we did it last time”...
I’ve seen iterations of a design go back 60+ years through several design revisions like this.
That means you could be working with designs that are potentially decades old, done for reasons that might not be what we think, and honestly done by engineers who could have been idiots for all we know.
Not every detail is 100% designed by engineers every time something is made...
True but it does help that AI is always innovating as they compete for military contracts around the world.
Be nice if AI could figure out how to not make a primer looked like a smashed asshole and it'd be nice if PWS could understand that you do not have to face an action every time you hang a new barrel on it. -Then act completely surprised (and start bitching at the stock maker) when you eventually trim enough off of it that the lug pulls the guard screw holes so far out of location that it can no longer go in the stock....
Worlds finest. Noted.....
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Shooters at the range think I’m poor, and treat me like a medieval serf because my bolts aren’t fluted. If you don’t have fluted bolts man you just aren’t cool and most people won’t like you or your guns. It’s just a part of life ?
Same, my Mark 4’s are highly frowned upon because my turrets are M1’s, and don’t have a zero stop. Not having a zero stop or matching turrets/reticle subjects one to serfdom as well, I will never escape this peasant status.
Definitely not trying to defend the function of fluting a bolt, but every one of those bolts has flutes milled into them
While I won't argue that it isn't a requirement for about 99% of practical long range shooting, I would say that it does nothing is a strong statement. I am sure it reduces friction, reduces weight, and like mentioned earlier provides less surface area to become stuck or frozen. Now is any of that appreciable or necessary? I guess we could have the same discussion about the necessity of about everything that goes into a custom build... A lot of this sport is about marketing and getting people to buy more to shoot better, when the only real necessity is range time. I watched Tony win a match with a rifle that was shipped to the match, he had never shot it before... I guess that was a magic rifle
I'll bet that company sold some rifles just due to that!Well, I'm gonna chalk this one up on my list of unsolvable mysteries. Right next to: Best caliber, "do you even rear tripod bro?", mil V MOA, best scope, best rifle, free recoil, and annealing. I'm sure there's more., I'm just too drunk to remember them right now.
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I’ve had a couple 700s fluted. The first one was for looks. Matches the fluting done on the barrel. The barrel was done as an experiment. Wanted to see if it make any appreciable difference in accuracy of an extremely accurate barrel. An unforeseen benefit, at least to this type of fluting is drastically smoother bolt throw. I had another done and saw the same benefit. I’ve never had ice build up or enough mud and/or dirt built up in the action to see if it does anything for those situations.
Chill. LRI does bolt fluting for 25 bucks. No one is going broke or going without because they want a fluted bolt.
While I won't argue that it isn't a requirement for about 99% of practical long range shooting, I would say that it does nothing is a strong statement. I am sure it reduces friction, reduces weight, and like mentioned earlier provides less surface area to become stuck or frozen. Now is any of that appreciable or necessary? I guess we could have the same discussion about the necessity of about everything that goes into a custom build... A lot of this sport is about marketing and getting people to buy more to shoot better, when the only real necessity is range time. I watched Tony win a match with a rifle that was shipped to the match, he had never shot it before... I guess that was a magic rifle
Summer of 2002 while at Camp Perry I watch Shawn McKenna grab a black gun (NM version) off of Rock River's rack on Commercial Row and go out and shoot a 790 something. He cleaned the 600 with well over a 50% X count.
As you stated, it can be done with alarming frequency.
I thought I had seen somewhere that AI uses flutes some bolts so that the surface area that could possibly freeze together is minimal and is easier to break free when needed. Ive never had a gun freeze on me but Ive broken all sorts of tools and equipement due to cold weather so I could see that.
