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Jimmy W Offline OP
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frown

Last edited by Jimmy W; 10/12/24 09:52 AM.
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You lost a great chance. The 470 action is one of the best non sidelock actions ever built. The swamped rib is a non issue. The Boss OU has no rib or mid sight either, but that is no reason to reject it!

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Jimmy W Offline OP
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!

Last edited by Jimmy W; 10/12/24 09:52 AM.
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[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

It is not a new idea. This Watson lightweight “Phantom” 12 bore from about 1890 shows a sunken rib and I believe that that idea was old even then.

I understand that in addition to some saving of weight the idea was to concentrate the eye on the muzzles and the bird.

Last edited by Parabola; 07/23/23 09:24 AM.
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Plus, those sunken ribs are ugly. Beretta made thousands of sxs's with level ribs. Why they went to a sunken, near-swamped rib is difficult to understand.
https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...double-shotgun.cfm?gun_id=102320735#lg-4

JR

Last edited by John Roberts; 07/23/23 10:45 AM.

Be strong, be of good courage.
God bless America, long live the Republic.
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IMO anything that draws the attention to the muzzle(s), and away from the bird, is detrimental. Looking at the bead/muzzle during the swing process is a guaranteed miss ...... behind.

I would not buy a gun with a sunken rib, or worse, no rib at all.


May God bless America and those who defend her.
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The original Boss OU had short sections of rib at the breech and muzzle. When mounted the picture is the same as that of a full rib. An English importer has some special order Perazzis with the same setup.

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I once had a Valmet waterfowler which is an O/U 12 ga. with 36" barrels. The handling of it was unreal, in that it belied the very long barrels and swung like a nice 30" barreled gun. It had the short "rib pieces", ramps actually, at the breech and muzzle. Obviously this was done to help reduce weight in the forward portion of the gun, and it worked. The barrels were also struck very thin. I tried it on sporting clays with mediocre results. I couldn't help feeling that there was a difference in what my lead looked like, as compared to shooting my 31 1/2" MX8.

Results ....... the short rib sections at front and rear worked to "fool the eyes" into not seeing the sunken space between them while shooting. However, when the gun was lowered and you viewed it from above, or from the side, it was obvious that it was lacking something. I don't care for the appearance at all. Point is, there's no reason to eliminate the top or side ribs to improve handling. Handling can be perfect with all the ribs in place. Many Italian makers have proved it.


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but then, a sunken rib serves two purposes...

a. helps to make one natually keep ones head down on the comb of the stock...

b. causes one to focus on the target, no the rib, not the bead...just the target...

ah like hit...


keep it simple and keep it safe...
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Seeing the rust accumulating in the dead space between ribs is a good cure for ribophilia.

Modern guns, including traditional "best"types are built using ultra modern machinery. Yet makers still resort to Medieval tinsmithing to stick on ribs so as to create inaccessible rust traps and add weight forward.

One of the Brown brothers, a gunmaker of undeniable skill and experience, commented favorably on the Alex Martin ribless side by side stressing the improved handling that comes from not having 150 grams of rib burdening the pointing hand. That 150 grams is there with two ribs of a SXS, in an OU we must add the weight of the top rib to get to about 200 or so grams.

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