Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Value of a vented rib?

Not surprising to hear most of the guys here shoot a shotgun like a rifle, its clearly a rifle forum. That said the correct way to shoot moving targets with a
shotgun is to look at the target and ONLY THE TARGET, the rib will be seen in our field of view but you do not AIM a shotgun, unless missing is the goal, the brain will adjust the correct lead and it will "feel" correct when the shot is made.

This is based on correct shotgun fit and staying in the gun after the shot has been executed.

I know we have all heard Uncle Jim fits the duck on the tip of the bead and aims bullchit but its wrong, all of it. Shotgun shooting is a very different skill set than rifle shooting.

Try looking HARD at the target with your head on the gun and look ONLY at the target with good follow through, you will be surprised at how hard you hit em.

The extreme example of doing it right, is when you see the feathers ruffle when the shot hits. When you see the body take the hit or the head flop. You are into pure tunnel vision to the target.

You will never see it looking at the rib or someplace between the Bird and the rib or bead.

The big boys will tell you it is the hardest part of shooting a shotgun well.

Couldn't even tell you if my shotguns have beads....

There are a few clay target examples when you can use the bead. They are rare with live Birds on the wing.

Exactly..

If you think you don't use the barrel to shoot, and are an exceptional shot (as in uses full choke for everything exceptional,) consider this. Targets painted luminescent or glued with glow sticks slung out into a pitch black night. No lighting so you can't see the barrel. How well do you do?

I'm not good enough for my results to count but I think I'll try it anyway. Could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure everyone aims with the barrel even though it's best to not focus on it.

I totally agree with you....if you're focusing on anything other than the target you ain't hitting chit with a shotgun.

The vent rib is just a runway to your target....it's easier to check gun fit with a vent rib than a plain barrel.

Exceptional shots don't usually use full choke for most shotgunning, and who shoots at anything thrown into the air on a pitch black night?

Anyway, many successful shots can be made with the barrel out of focus in the peripheral, Especially clays....However, "consider this", the Dove that comes in from from behind unexpected. The Ruffed Grouse that you hear the flush and then see the Bird in your peripheral....your peripheral picks it up and you instinctively bring the gun up and fire..The Bird is centered and you never saw the barrel.. Makes no difference if you had a bead, rib or none of them the Bird is centered. And distance pretty much goes out the window also....Our personal computer instantly makes the calculations. All you did was look at the target...The more you can do that the better you will shoot. Clays or game...Barrels and sights are a necessary evil of shotgunning..Without them we would rarely miss...

Using your peripheral vision correctly is a key to good shotgunning that many don't understand..Without peripheral vision we wouldn't last long...

Great post. And what I meant by "I don't even know if they have beads" is with this.

Shoot a lot and IME - you don't notice the barrel/bead at all. It's there, you know it's there but like breathing, you don't see/think about it. You just do. Stacking the snowman was an exercise in building repetitive and repeatable mounting of the shotgun for me. Actually shooting - not so much. I used to practice the mount a lot as part of Move, Mount, Shoot.

Our brains are pretty awesome computers in that regard.

Move, Mount, Shoot is perhaps the best way to shoot live Birds..When it clicks it is magic....

move mount shoot is fine if the gun is pointing where you are looking.

I picked it up when I was shooting clays a lot - late 90's

Back then I was somewhere around 16 to 19,000 rounds of shotgun ammo a summer. Worked well for me then. I suspect like most "systems" - you aren't super faithful to it in execution and you steal what does/doesn't work or you're doing things that you don't realize have a term for.

MMS, swing thru, pull away, maintained lead.

Different methods for different games.Which is why I mentioned live Birds. Doesn’t work all that well with the mounted games.

Since we are into pointing a shotgun....

Do you point better with one barrel, an O/U or a SxS????

Good one.




There's no way I'm buying that you and your dog can use the same length of pull.

most low gunners i know have issues getting the gun into the pocket of the arm pit the same every time. yet, they pull the trigger anyway. that would be an example of what i mean by gun not pointing where they are looking.
ribs in my opinion were meant to guide the eye to the front bead so everything else could be used as a reference as to what is lined up right. the addition of the center bead aided in that too. but unlike rifle or pistol, where focus is on the front site, once everything is lined up the focus must change to the target. as gun owners shoot the same gun over and over, the actual need for the rib or sites does diminish, as the gun becomes one with its shooter. thus why many including me, can shoot a game of skeet or trap w/o realizing my front bead flew off. i just bring it up and it fits into my known pockets and stance. and for that reason, rib or no rib makes no difference. time will allow a gun to point for the owner w/o external aids.
hope this helps.

It does...and why a gun fit is mostly wasted money until one has a consistent and repeatable mount....

I likes my ribs bObski...

When I shoot, I couldn't tell you if I use a rib or not! I'm more of an instinct shooter. Point and bang. It's worked for me for 50+ years.
I love the looks of a ventilated rib on shotguns. All shotguns, except I do not like a vent rib on a Double Barrel/SXS shotgun or on a Winchester Model 42. To me, those need a solid rib.
I'm all about the looks of a classy shotgun!

The exceptional shots I know use full choke for everything. Clearly I am not omnipresent, but when I see the best shots in the dove club using 20ga, choked full, I notice. I need 12ga, SK2 and most of a box of shells to hang in there.

Nobody i know shoots at anything thrown into the air on a pitch black night, but I am suggesting that if you do you will see that you needed the barrel in your peripheral to aim by. This is the point of contention here. Rather than saying to aim or not aim I am saying they're all ways of aiming. Another test is shooting from the off shoulder with both eyes open. With the non-dominant eye behind the gun your dominant eye will present a competing image. You'll aim with the wrong peripherally viewed barrel, and be too far in front or behind, even though your were trying for a hard focus on the leading edge of the target while supposedly ignoring the barrel or rib or bead.