According to Varmint Al, who is an aerospace engineer and has run computer simulation tests on all this stuff, fluting makes a barrel less stiff because it removes metal. A fluted barrel is less stiff than a non-fluted barrel of the same diameter, but more stiff than a non-fluted barrel of the same weight. After that original claim of stiffer was refuted, people said a fluted barrel was better because fluting increased surface area and improved cooling. So some smart folks calculated that fluting a barrel increases surface area relative to weight about 10%, which is not much, and tapering a barrel increses its surface area relative to mass by about the same amount. So, what a lot of people want to know is does fluting a barrel make it more accurate? No, start out with an accurate barrel and it will shoot well, start out with an inaccurate barrel and fluting won't save it. Comes down to this: fluting is an attractive way to reduce weight.