Taking a Ribbing

Do we really need a rib on a shotgun? We must, because just about every gun has one these days. Of course, that wasn’t always the case. There were certainly plenty of older pumps and autoloaders without them. Did our fathers know something we didn’t?

In theory (my favorite fudge phrase), shotgun shooting should be like pointing your finger at something. When you point your finger, you look at the object, not at your finger. We are supposed to do that when we shoot a shotgun. Every shotgun coach in the world emphasizes focusing strictly on the bird. Some even go further, encouraging us to focus on the bird’s eye or beak or the front edge of the clay.

Unfortunately, the human eye can focus only on one thing at a time. That’s why glow-worm front beads come in for so much flak. If you focus on the bead, the target becomes a blur and you probably don’t get to eat that pheasant for dinner.

But what about a rib? You don’t really focus on the rib. We are told that it’s there to sort of guide the eye to the target. I’m not so sure about that.

On short, quick shots, it’s easy to just move your hands to the target and not reference the barrel or rib at all. But on longer shots there is definitely a tendency to want to establish “lead.” And, to many, that means referencing the barrel. And that’s where the top rib comes in.

The current fashion of the moment in trap is the exceedingly high rib. This is morphing over to sporting clays too. The theory is that the very high rib accompanied by an equally high stock allows the shooter to see the target more clearly. He can see around the thin rib better than he can around the fatter barrel of an over/under. This might make sense on a rising trap-type target, especially for a one-eyed shooter. I don’t see how it would matter on a crosser.

One thing’s for sure: For most of us a high rib would draw the eye to the rib, not the target. Not so good. And that’s the issue with ribs. Any rib. On an O/U, auto or pump, the rib is narrower than the barrel, so it might allow a little finer reference point on those long shots. This allows more precision—if you aim. If you just look at the target, a normal low rib doesn’t really matter one way or another. Yes, the barrel is seen indistinctly in peripheral vision, but when I am looking at the target properly I’m really not aware of seeing the rib at all.

Some say that a rib allows the shooter to better align and check his gun mount when he shoots premounted. I guess maybe so, but you really ought to be able to tell if the gun is properly mounted by the feel of the stock on your face, not by looking at the rib.

Clearly this is how the classic English side-by-side guns work with their low swamped ribs. The rib really just holds the barrels together and doesn’t provide a meaningful sighting plane. This is why the classic side-by-side is so instinctive. Nothing gets in the way. It forces you to look at the target.

American and Italian side-by-sides have generally come with slightly raised ribs. This gives a little encouragement to those who like to aim, but not much. The occasional Model 21 with a raised vented rib goes one step further in an attempt to make a side-by-side seem like an O/U. Again, it is the attempt to produce precision at the expense of instinct.

Perhaps the rib matters more in the gun store than in the field. When you wave the gun around indoors, you are very aware of the rib and it might help sell the gun. In the field things are different.

Having said all that, I must confess that I am sensitive to the top rib on my O/Us, autos and pumps. I don’t know if they make me shoot better, but I do notice them. I don’t have the discipline to ignore them. I have a Model 42 with a Cutts Compensator and no rib. When I shoot it, I am definitely aware of the compensator blob on the front rather than the standard-rib runways that are on my other 42s. I feel less precise with the Cutts gun. That tells me that I am aiming like a target shooter and not shooting instinctively like a close-range bird shooter.

Maybe ribs are like X-rated movies. People don’t admit to watching them, but they do.

That’s it for now. Boots off. Beer open.