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

Great posts all, thank you very much.

Mark,

In the classic sense, you should see bead and no rib; essentially looking right down the barrels. However, I don’t know too many shooters who do their best shooting this way. Most tend to shoot best when they see a little rib and the most common “sight picture” (hate to use that analogy when talking shotguns), is the “figure 8.” The “figure 8” is when you shoulder the shotgun (assuming you have a mid bead), you see the front bead stacked right on top of the mid bead, making an “8.” This is probably as good a yardstick as any, but the real answer is: It varies from shooter to shooter, from gun to gun, and the type of shooting you do.

Now there’s a statement that doesn’t help you at all, but unfortunately that’s the way it is. Just start with something that gives you a consistent mount and see how you do at your favorite sport (hunting, trap, skeet, sporting etc.). When you see consistency forming, then you have something you can work with. If you’re consistently shooting low, then raise the comb and see more rib. If you’re shooting left (assuming you’re right handed), then add in a little cast to your stock. Eventually you’ll starting really hitting and that’s when you know you’re either there, or very close.

Just as a matter or information, the difference in plane of sights/ribs is to compensate for recoil, not the drop of the projectile.

Best, Dick

In the old classic British gun fitting check, I understand that a one pound coin was placed on the breech end of the rib on top of the barrels. Apparently everything is correct if you can just see the bead lying just on top of the coin with the gun properly mounted. So say the Anglophiles. Maybe some of our good British friends could comment on this method.

The more rib you see the better you will shoot.

Bob, yes that is a well known method of guaging the sight picture. It certainly has the desired effect, but I often wonder if people initially shoot better when they have been told that the gun fits them? They then go out and concentrate on the bird.Until the wheels fall off, then they look for another reason for bad form such as choke, too much? or too little? How many of you have had 'new gun syndrome' picked up a new gun or borrowed one, and have then shot like a god only to slump back into your old form a little while later?
Recently I had a sponsored Perazzi, custom fitted stock, factory deal, the full nine yards, laser fitting machine, trip to Italy etc., Long story, short version, 5 stocks later, I nearly got comfortable with a stock that they said didn't look right.By this time I'm thoroughly cheesed off and return to my old baby. ( Not a Perazzi)
You can't put a price on success, try the gun, shoot the gun, pattern the gun, but at the end of the day it's what works for you.
Some people like to see a lot of rib, some people like to see no rib, some people like to see a bit of rib.
Your not some people, your an individual.

Sorry. But I don't agree with any of you. How much rib you are going to see and what your sight picture looks like depends on what you are shooting at and the type of gun you have. If you are hunting your two beads should line up one behind the other and you shouldn't see any rib. If you are holding a hunting gun with your beads stacked, that means that you have probably slid the heal of the gun too far down on your shoulder to the point where the toe is no longer in the pocket of your shoulder. And if you have your beads stacked, as Joe says on a hunting gun, when you shoot at a falling bird, such as one going down over a hill, you will probably shoot over the bird. So for hunting, I would say that you want the beads to align one behind the other so that you can shoot at rising OR falling targets. And you should not see any rib.

Now with a trap gun, most guys liked to have their beads stacked because you are shooting at rising targets almost all of the time. So you will then see the entire rib, in most cases. (But the rib on a trap gun can still taper downward (as it gets toward the muzzle)on top of the barrel. You can still stack your beads because the buttstock is made so that you face is lifted up over the gun and you are looking down on the rib. This is why people have adjustable cheek pieces, so they can adjust them to fit their faces. Trap guns shoot 70/30, 65/35, etc. meaning that 70% of the shot will be above where they are aiming and 30% is below. I can't imagine hunting with a field gun with the rib in a position where you see the whole rib on a falling bird. But I think the answer to this question is: It depends on the target and what type of gun you are using and what type of sight picture you need to have.

What we are considering here in gun-fit terms is 'drop'.

Side by sides tend to shoot lower than o/u guns and the correct amount of 'drop' for a side-by-side will generally show the iris of the shooter's eye resting on the rib when you look down the barrel from the muzzles (of a proven empty gun).

The more rib the shooter sees, the higher the gun will shoot.

A trap set-up o/u will see the eye higer over the rib than a Skeet set-uo o/u, in which the pupil will be resting on the rib when viewed from the muzzle.

You can play with this to adjust a gun to shoot higher relative to the point of aim.

A common flaw is where too much 'drop' is provided and when the shooter's cheek is firmly in contact with the face of the comb, as it should be for consistent mounting, the eye is looking into the top-lever. this leads to head raising, which leads to inconsistent, poor shooting.

Shotgun bead....what is that ?