A question recently came up on the ability of fluted barrels to speed barrel cooling. I asked Mr. Lilja at Lilja barrels abut this and he said that the barrels do cool more rapidly than smooth barrels of equal outside diameter. However, there are limits on fluting sporter weight barrels. Mr. Lilja says a .30 caliber barrel must be at least a #4 contour to be fluted in order to maintain sufficient strength. Smaller calibers could be fluted in the lighter contours.
