doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How much rib should you see, if any?

Gun fit question: when touching cheek to stock, how much, if any, rib should you see, or should the bead be resting on top of the receiver?

I see the rib- but I'm looking right down it. If there was a middle bead it would be in the bottom of the front one. Paul

Thanks Paul, but I'm not sure what that means. Do you mean you see a fraction of rib, i.e, 1/16" or so?

My old guns when I put them up to shoot, I really don't see anything except the target. I shoot with both eyes and to tell the truth I don't pay attention to the barrels.
Now on a few new (old guns) ones, I have not shot yet, I will take them and "aim" them looking down the barrels and just seeing the bead at the end and see how they shoot. Most have between 13 3/4"-14 1/4" LOP, drop between 2 3/4"-3" at the heel. As far as castoff I have no idea what that means.
In your question you had asked about how much rib you should see, I think that the more you see of the rib the higher you will shoot. They say that guns with two beads that you are supposed to "stack" them on top of one another for rising shots.
I used to do a reasonable amount of skeet shooting, was good for mid 40's out of 50, more fun than anything, just practice.
Taking a gun and putting it up to your shoulder in your house or at a gun shop, we do look down the barrels, but in hunting, I don't see the barrels at all, almost like the International way of shooting.

Is there is no pat answer. It depends on where you want the point of pattern impact relative to the point of aim and how the rib is set up. There is no law that ribs are parallel to the bore nor is there a standard as to how high above the bore axis the rib actually is. Further, nobody but you actually knows what you see when shooting.

Spend some time actually patterning for POA vs POI, take rib measurements, and then pay attention to what works for you when shooting targets.

Thanks JDW, that's been my experience too - see the bird, hit the bird. Just curious if there was a general rule about seeing a bit of rib or not.

On most of my guns, I see some rib between the middle and front bead. That's just me, not a "rule". Many trapshooters say they like to see the beads stacked, like an "8", middle bead touching the bottom of the front bead. On older guns with a lot of drop, I still like to see the rib but I must place my cheek a bit above the comb to do this. Rocketman's answer was excellent, IMO.

Dude, you shouldn't see any rib. If your rib's stickin out you should see a doctor.

Ribs are not parallel to the bore, just as rifle sights are not parallel to a rifle bore. All projectiles fall with gravity. There is 'rise' built in to even a field shotgun. Trap guns have much rise, since they are designed to shoot a rising target.

The advantage of a rib is primarily in repeatable gun mount. How much rib you see depends on how the gun is stocked, and to a certain extent how you mount it because we have the ability to adjust ourselves to the gun (some more than others).

Your shooting style will determine how much rib you need to see. Personally, I like a high shooting gun, so I never have to 'cover' the bird except on incomers. Not important how much rib you see, but that it's consistant shot to shot.

My notion is that every time I miss a duck I think I saw too much rib. Those times my head was down I hit the duck. Doesn't apply for grouse. Snap shots, there's probably a lot of rib which is good.