doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com And for a topic that may be safely waded into ...

A shooter must have a reference for consistant shooting. If it's a bead, a low rib or high rib, a rib with no bead, or a laser dot or whatever, it's still a reference. What reference works for one may not work for another. But believing no reference is needed is just fooling yourself. Even my snap shooting in quail hunting I may not "notice" the rib, but it's all being crunched by the brain in a split second. If you don't think so, try taping a round disk of black posterboard on the top of your gun covering the entire rib/barrel(s) and then try to "instinctively" hit anything. It'll surprise you.

Elmer had the vent ribs on his famous NIDs from Major Askins, the 5E 16-gauge and the 4E first Magnum-Ten. Nash didn't need vent ribs on Bo-Whoop or Bo-Whoop II. To each his own. Guess thats why they make guns both ways. I like a vent rib on a target gun if it is made with a high frame to match like an NID or a Model 21. Don't much care for those with a ramp like the Parker Bros. or the after-market Ithaca.

I don't personally care for a V/R on any shotgun. They have never offered me any additional help in shooting for the very few I've tried. I don't care for the looks of them nor the tendency of them to develope valleys in between the posts over time on user guns. I do like a solid rib on a repeater though. I think they look classy. Not a lot of weight difference over a V/R as most are hollow (but stronger) than the VR. Most of my shooting is done with good old plain barreled versions anyway so if there is any real advantage to either, I can claim a handicap. Afterall,,it's always the guns fault...

I like them on my target shotguns for skeet and sporting clays. However I find them so ugly on SxS shotguns I am surprised they weren't standard on the Win Model 24! I don't consciously see the barrel on any shotgun when shooting correctly so I don't see how they help except in initial alignment in skeet where guns are premounted. I guess that applies to sporting clays since the wusses at NSSA have gotten control of that sport too. Always wonder how those guys hunt upland game with the gun premounted? Has to be hard getting through the grapevines and raspberries that way.

JDW, I agree with Chuck about seeing the barrel. If you don't see the barrel(s), end of the rib or something, there is now way for your brain to determine lead. Lead is the distance in front of the bird to something, that something being the barrel(s).

Many people confuse not LOOKING AT the barrel, which should absolutely never be done during the shot, with seeing the barrel. You just cannot establish lead, be it by sustained lead, pull away, or even spot shooting, without having the barrels in your field of vision. Even when I shoot a free bird from the hip, or when Tim Bradley, the new exhibition shooter, shoots a bird with the gun over his head, the barrel is within the field of vision and is seen, providing a reference with which to establish lead.

If you really believe you are not seeing the barrel you are probably doing a great job of focusing on the bird. That is a GOOD thing, but that focus can fool us into believing we don't even see the barrel, which we must.

I'll bet I can shoot some great scores with a new 20 gauge Boss ribless over under. I just have that feeling.

Count me among those who dislike ventilated ribs on field guns. Shot trap with a VR Mod. 12 for many years and everything was fine. But that's where they belong, not on S/S doubles. Also dislike single triggers, BT forends (big ones at least as on the BSS), monte carlo combs, etc. Just my 2 C worth. Happy Thanksgiving for we live in what is still the greatest country on earth despite what the politicians are doing to change that. Chops