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

Shotgun bead=front sight. (Some have an extra one in the middle.)

I'm not conscious of how much rib I see when I shoot birds; try not to be when I shoot targets (mostly skeet). But when I'm evaluating a potential shotgun purchase for fit, if I mount the gun like I would when hunting (don't try to "sight" down the barrels) and can't see either rib or bead, I know the stock has too much drop.

I know what it is...I also know that guys that look at them don't hit very well.

I've never figured out why I would want the target to disappear from view at or near the moment of the shot. Difficult to 'keep your eye on target' if the gun demands the target be covered with the muzzle.

Incoming shots excepted, I like to see the target when I shoot - thus the preference for a high shooting gun.

I sold off two very nice 20ga SxS guns simply because they required a technique which I don't enjoy.

Wobble trap is a good trainer for shooting targets that are not rapidly rising, and the game can be played with a standard trap gun just fine if you simply keep the bird in view. Ditto falling targets on the SC course, or decoying ducks. Just remember that if you don't see the bird, you will likely overshoot.

No big mystery to this... except the continued assertion by some that they 'never see' the sights or gun barrel. Shooting any gun without reference to some kind of front sight is impossible.

Paying attention to the beads is essential when trap shooting, Joe. You have to mount the gun, lock it onto your face and stack the beads before you call for the target. If you keep the gun locked against your face as you follow the bird, you won't have to look at the beads but they should still be stacked. The gun will then continue to follow where you look without looking at the beads. You said earlier that "the more rib you see the better you will shoot." This makes no sense. If you tip the gun upward in order to see the entire rib with a field gun, you will shoot over everything you shoot at unless you hold two or three feet under the bird. With a field grade, you should only see the back of the rib, and even though you don't actually look at the beads when you are shooting at a target, the beads should be aligned if the gun fits you. You will know this, as Larry said, when you buy the gun and mount it to see if it fits you properly.

A quick look at a number of SXS's muzzles shows the top of the rib in relation to the top of the barrels varies greatly. A LC Smith that I own has its rib much higher than the top of the barrels and a French gun that I own has its's rib below the top of it's barrels. I don't think that you can judge where the pattern center will hit by looking at the gun. You must pattern it to see. It all basicly boils down to stock fit assuming that you always hold your cheak to the stock. Case in point. I purchased a 28Ga with it's stock a full inch longer than I normally shoot wich is 14 1/4". The gun with it's long stock showed some barrel when mounted and I was able to hit with it regardless of the overly long stock for me. I removed 1" to make it 14 1/4" and now it showed what seemed to me to be an excessive amount of barrel. I thought that wow this gun is going to shoot high and was going to start to rasp the stock comb down so that I would only see a "normal" amont of rib. I took it to the pattern sheet with a rasp ready to start grinding away and wouldn't you know that that gun centers it's pattern 50/50 to the bead! Thank God I patterned it before I started rasping away wood or I would have to restock. It shows alot of barrel when mounted but hits dead on. I was actually hopeing that I could make it shoot slightly high but it shoots well like it is. I think stacking beads and what is the proper amount of rib showing is a bunch of molarky. Where the gun shoots for you is what counts. A center pattern or one that's a little high is best. I even shot trap with a field dimension stock as I don't want to spoil myself using a trap stock. That's fine if that's all you shoot but when you do it all it pays to keep the pattern center near the bead and adjust your swing for the diffrent shots that occur.

Shotgunjones, you are the only one here who is talking about covering up the bird with the muzzle. If you are covering up the bird with the muzzle you are simply not moving the gun fast enough to lead the target. And, yes, you can shoot wobble trap with a standard trap gun because only a few of the birds go out straight and drop off. And when they do, you have to be way under the bird. Not many people want to hunt with a gun that shoots 80/20 or 70/30. Especially duck, geese, etc. because most of the time the birds are dropping. THEN, you would probably end up covering up the bird with the muzzle, like you say you don't want to. Field guns are flatter shooting than trap guns. If you take a field gun and try to pattern it with about the beads stacked or a gap between the beads, you would probably shoot over the top of the board.

The height of the rib above the bore does not correlate with point of impact. It's the angle between the rib and bore, coupled with comb height. High rib trap guns allow for a more erect head position, and are thus easier on the cheek. It's the comb height that results in a high shooting gun.

Jim, you would be correct if lead in the vertical plane was all we needed. Then, a fast swing through would solve the problem of a low shooting gun. Consider a crossing target. With a low shooter, one must swing through the bird, losing sight of it while passing... either that or use a sustained lead or perhaps start the swing from a point in front of the bird, all viable techniques. Shooters do all this, some better than others.

Being an old trap shooter (and getting older), my shooting is mostly swing-through. A high shooting gun within reason is preferred.

To add a bit of dialogue, I find that a bit more drop [think seeing a bit less rib] is desireable when snap shooting, as in field shooting compared to any of the target games where the gun is typically premounted. I have the thot it is because I tend to have my head more erect in the field, bringing the gun to face & into the target so to speak rather than going through the antics of a down the line[trap] or target shooter where the mount is some sort of drill, inclusive of at least a momentary glance at the beads to check for 'just right', no cant, 'hold point', etc. before calling for the target. I am of the opinion that target & field stocks and their respective 'sight pictures' are generally not the same animal, nor should they be. Trap guns are purposely made to shoot high where the target is as Jimmy says normally rising. Some are made to extremes. OTOH, shooting birds like chucker that are almost always falling targets, blasting off some cliff's edge or rise in a downward direction would tend to be shot best by a gun that if pre-mounted might have you looking at the back of the receiver.

For flairing incomers &/or direct overhead shots the bird, for me, is never seen at the moment of firing because I will have covered it entirely with the muzzles to have successfully made the shot. If I see the bird under those circumstances I will have not only missed, but also generally 'come out of the gun', meaning raised my head or 'peeked'. That is the one time, for me, where staying in the gun to the extent of consciously pressing my face into the gun is requisite. I shoot station 8 low gun skeet that way as well.

How much rib? Perhaps the better answer is to have someone knowledgeable help you evaluate where you are shooting the gun in question and adjust from there. Rocketman's and Salopian's remarks are both poignant.

This is a good topic becasue it all boils down to proper gun mounting.
When I was younger I was told by someone to close my eyes and throw the gun up and and open my eyes and see how much of the rib was showing if any. Most of my guns fit in this range of just seeing along the barels evenly.
Now I never did any trap shooting, just skeet and sporting clays, but I do know that trap guns are built for rising targets.
Since most of the shotguns I use for both hunting and target, and I know how they fit even with heavier clothing on. I don't like recoil pads especially with heavier clothing because they don't let you get that little extra "fit" when mounted.

Reading all these posts, and then experiencing it, are two different things. I just purchased a new gun, and see a bit of rib, which I'm not used to, hence the question. However, a day at the range and the patterning board shows it shoots dead on. So, I really did answer my own question, and the posts here have served to drive the point home that the only thing that matters is how the gun shoots for you as an individual.