doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purpose of mid-rib bead

The purpose of the mid rib bead is to assure the proper alignment of the barrel both in the vertical and horizontal. When the gun is mounted, the mid bead should line up UNDER the front bead assuring proper rise of the barrel and assuring the the barrel is not canted. In actual use neither bead is really seen by the shooter. -Dick

If I may I will add to Dick's statement that the two beads may also be used to tell a shooter that the gun must be held off balance if it does not fit you correctly. Perhaps requiring more or less cast of or on, a higher or lower comb. Some guns don't shoot to where those two beads align to. I don't think thats their original purpose, but they help in this way. Trap guns with adjustable stocks can especially benefit from twin beads in this way.

Geno,
I switched to be a left handed shooter, it took a while but what an improvement. That is until I tried to buy accessories, etc. I went pleasure duck shooting with a guide recently and he kept the boat set for a right handed shooter so I switched back to shoot right handed.. I just missed several of the ducks but later we swing around and I did a lot better. Does this make sence? it does to a lefty. jas

Nice comment rabbit! I loved it. I have a Citori that I tend to shoot high and left. I position my head too far forward. Maybe a mid bead will help. Thanks guys. -IM

Yes, I think rabbit got it! Twice!

As far as I'm concerned, the more I see the beads the less I hit the birds. To each his own.

JC(AL)

Twice the minimal wit because posted twice? I'd bet Chuck is on to something; one per gun ain't enuf. I've always seen them associated with target guns and all the talk of "figure 8" picture and "superposed" picture would lead one to believe that they are intended as a telltale of where the gun might be expected to shoot in terms of elevation given what one sees after an eyes-closed mount check or check mount or whatever. Being more or less adept at actually thinking in two dimensions at once, I've also used them to check lateral alignment of the eye over the rib after what for me passes as a reasonably competent but stiff "Susan B. Anthonys still on the rib" practise mount. Then there are all these swamped rib or no rib guns where you got to pick out the centerline as a depression between the barrel balls or as the rib extension or a centralized swale or notch in one sort of abbreviated rib or another. All this changes when something flies: swing gun, sense daylight between object of your desire and that other combination of things you're not looking at or your pointing finger or thumb; pull trigger. Most of the time the butt hits my shoulder sometime in there; I'm never quite sure when. Wherever I'm looking, I always hit what the gun's looking at even if it's only thin air.

jack

Most everything in life remains about half-apprehended by me but one of those crazy things I have the most trouble with is why 90% of "opening day" hunters shoot pre-mount skeet as practise. What are they practising--getting out of bed on a frosty Sunday morning? I think making the move from port arms to mounted second nature matters a lot more to me as getting the gun to bear on a cock bird flushing wild about ten feet in front of me hasn't come naturally.

jack

Must confess they come in handy when shooting slugs.

JC(AL)