Spiral fluted 18" barrel

[LRRPF52]

I had a .223 Wylde stainless 18" SPR barrel done that way by ARP. An R&D friend of mine who does rapid prototyping for advanced medical devices, and is a gunsmith by training at 2 different gunsmith schools on top of that, feels that sprial flutes don't maintain as rigid a barrel, and contribute to erratic whip characteristics, as opposed to standard fluting.

I think most will agree that aesthetics plays a big role in the attraction to helical fluting, but it does increase the surface area and reduce more weight for same outer diameter pipes.