Fluted vs. Unfluted Cylinders?

D

dairycreek

New member
Is there any functional difference between fluted and unfluted cylinders? Or is the difference only cosmetic? Good shooting:)
 
Unless you're really going to try and push your loads, their's no noticable difference in strength,
a small reduction of weight will be more noticable, but not enough to override which you think looks better. That's the real question.

Ruger does keep their 22 mag cylinders unfluted, in order to make sure that the extra powerful round doesn't KB the cylinder walls.
 
I am seriously considering buying a nice, used S&W .44 Magnum with 3" barrel and non-fluted cylinder. (I'm going out of town for a couple weeks, so I might put it on lay-away tomorrow and pick it up when I get back.)

I was also wondering if there was any real difference in fluted and non-fluted cylinders. Is there a difference in value? Is non-fluted more rare or sought after in this model? (IIRC it's a 629)

The shop didn't have a fluted version, so I couldn't compare any weight difference.

Any reason to avoid a non-fluted cylinder?
 
Back in the old days, the fluting aided in cooling, but modern metallurgy has completley nullified that benefit, as far as I know.

I think fluted cylinders look good on some models, but usually I think that unflued looks better.
 
>>Fluted vs. Unfluted Cylinders

If the gun is double action, unfluted, then shooting the gun in single action makes little difference in regards to the cylinder. When going to double-action, however, it does.

I have always wondered why S&W has not FLUTED the M610 in 10 mm. The gun is an N-frame, and since the 10 mm is not anymore powerful than the 41 or 44 mag, I think it is safe to say the unfluted cylinder is not there for strength. BUT, that is an awful lot of mass to be turning when firing double action. How do these puppies stay in time? Any 410 shooters out there to enlighten us?

justinr1
 
Regarding the non fluted cylinders added weight being felt while d/a cycling. I really doubt it makes a difference. The extra weight would have to be alot to be felt with all of the other mechanical things going on.....plus weight turning on a cental axis, like a cylinder, is going to be equally distributed. This hides the weight even more.

But they look really bitchin :D

Shoot well
 
If you think about it, the amount of metal between chambers is less than that where the fluting normally is. That is the part that will blow first if it blows. The only instances where this is not the case is with 5 shot heavy load recolvers.
 
Added weight on cylinder does make an appreciable difference on the loading of the hand, hand pin, star, cylinder stop etc.

More mass to accelerate and decelerate. Makes a big difference when doing very fast double action work.

Sam.
 
On a S&W the unfluted cylinder will mean nothing in added strength as the weakest part of the S&W design is the cut for the bolt stop which S&W foolishly puts directly over the chamber walls. On a K frame .357 and the .44 N frame the amount of metal between the bottom of the cut and the chamber can be shockingly thin. Colt offsets this cut to leave more metal. If a Smith blows, it will rupture through the cut for the bolt stop.
 
I would think an unlfluted cylinder would be a little easier to clean. I have noticed that my revolvers tend to get really dirty in the flutes.
 
The Flutes on a cylinder were designed to help rotate the cylinder for unloading and reloading of Colt SAA revolvers and double action revolvers before speed loaders were invented. The difference now is cosmetic.

I own a 610 with the unfluted cylinder. The extra weight of the unfluted cylinder makes no difference in the double action feel of this "N" frame revolver.

I prefer the unfluted cylinders for cosmetic reasons.
 
One difference

The one difference it makes is in recoil. I have a four inch 629 and a three inch 629. The three inch is like the one you mention >>I am seriously considering buying a nice, used S&W .44 Magnum with 3" barrel and non-fluted cylinder. (I'm going out of town for a couple weeks, so I might put it on lay-away tomorrow and pick it up when I get back.)

>>
The three inch doesnt kick as badly as you would think because it has a full underlug barrell and the extra weight from the cylinder dampens the recoil. If you ahve ever fired a three inch 29 with a fluted cylinder and standard barrell you will be amazed at the difference.
Buy it. You can thank me later.
Other than weight the reason they do it is cosmetic. For some reason an unfluted cylinder and full lug barrel on an N-frame looks very good. Compare the classic hunter series to the Magnum Classic series and you will notice what I mean.
 
I suspect that some makers went to unfluted cylinders simply because it is different and they thought it looked "cool". Apparently enough people agree that the guns sell.

Jim
 
Weight and cosmetics.

I prefer different looks on different guns, but the ones I carry for long periods of time are all fluted...
 
FLUTED VS UNFLUTED CYLINDERS

THERE IS NO PRACTICAL DIFFERANCE IN THE TWO OTHER THAN LOOKS. A LOAD THAT'LL BREAK A FLUTED CYLINDER WILL DO THE SAME TO AN UNFLUTED CYLINDER.
EVERY TIME I SEE AN UNFLUTED CYLINDER IT LOOKS UNFINISHED TO ME, BUT THAT'S JUST ME AFTER 51 YEARS OF LOOKIN' AT 'EM.
WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE TO GET A SUPER BLACKHAWK WITH A FLUTED CYLINDER I JUMPED ON IT LIKE A BASS ON A JUNEBUG.
 
does anyone remember the writings of skeeter skelton in shooting times? he once wrote that he felt that added weight in the cylinder helped in rapid "DA work" due to the additional inertia.

granted he was comparing the weight difference between the m-19 and the m-27...he always felt that he could fire faster with the m-27.
 
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