Interestingly, a fellow BBS member who has a great affection for the HJ Hussey guns and I had this same discussion a few days ago regarding this particular gun. After much consternation we came to the conclusion that the rib on this gun is most likely original to the gun as opposed to being a later add on. We also discussed the possible purposes of the pigeon rib. The jury is still out there. It seems to me, however, that the pigeon ribs are somewhat elevated at the breech and less so at the muzzle.....making me wonder if their purpose was possibly to aid in placing the shot charge higher than that of a typical SxS shotgun, most of which tend to shoot a bit low (I know John said this particular gun has a flat, level rib but I can't tell that's the case for sure from the Steve Barnett photos). This is only conjecture on my part. Having said that, I possess a heavy proof 20 bore with a pigeon rib situated as I described above. I can't really tell much difference in terms of point of impact from shooting the gun, but I have not formally patterned the gun either. Sometimes I wonder if a pigeon rib just doesn't add wanted/or unwanted weight to the gun as a whole. One thing I know for sure, a shotgunner does not want a rib that draws the eye away from the target....we only want to keep our eyes on the target. Does a pigeon rib tend to draw one's eye from the target, or rather does it facilitate keeping an eye on the target? So, is a pigeon rib useful (e.g., if it were to raise the point of impact) or is it superfluous, or even worse, does it draw the shooter's eye off the target and lend to 'barrel checking', the kiss of death for the shooter? As an example of a rib configuration that may draw one's eye from a target, let me suggest you try a gun with a very tapered rib. I personally own a 32" trap gun with a very tapered rib and I believe at times I barrel check this gun and more frequently so than other guns with differently configured ribs, that I shoot. It could just be me, but I wonder?? Interesting question for sure; what do you think?
