stepped ribs?

Why do people use stepped ribs? How do they affect the point of aim?

(looking for a new gun and saw one with a stepped rib and prompted thoughts...)

Never tried one myself so can't really comment. Someone will be along with some info

They are less "natural" - of course you don't point with the rib - it's out of focus in your periferal vision but they do move the barrels away from your line of sight. They originate from the trap disciplines where they allow a quicker pickup of an emerging target and create a more upright head position. Theoreticaly the recoil of the first barrel is lower in the axis of the gun. When I tested a Perazzi model 2005 I found strangely that if I missed I couidn't tell where. Adjusting to them takes time and cartridges.

Do you mean a stepped rib or a raised rib? Stepped ribs are, in my opinion, aesthetic. I had one on my K80 and it did nothing as far as gun fit, point of aim or shot placement are concerned. This was determined by comb height and the barrel hanger I used. If you are referring to the raised rib often used by OT and DT shooters, the idea, as 40UP says, is that they keep the head upright and eyes level. This allows a higher gun mount. In pricipal I can see the sense of this although i've not found them beneficial for the domestic trap disciplines and it's not something I would go for. There also a bugger to set up as the barrel, stock and rib are usually independently adjustable.

Watching Richard Faulds shoot double trap today mounting a ladder on the rib certainly seems to help must admit shooting DT for the first time this afternoon I did think "I wish I still had my X trap" makes it easier to pick them up earlier and a more "natural" head position.

but for dtl or abt/OT? avoid or makes no difference?

Wouldnt say avoid, BobP uses a K80 pro rib for skeet, sporting, Fitasc sporting and does very well with it. POI in most instances doesnt change too much from a regular trap gun probably about 60/40 above. Do they make a difference? to the average shot probably not, but to the top boys and girls when its 1 clay that makes the difference between a medal or nowt, yep it will.

Unfortunately there aint a quick fix in this game. Might have hit more with my old x trap, but truthfully I doubt it. For me to be able to pick up a clay a fraction of a second earlier makes no odds as my fundamentals aren't there,but I'm certainly no trap shooter to start with

Personally, i'd say avoid a high ribbed gun (and by that I mean a K80 trap special rib or similar) unless you shoot a discipline that specifically requires it. They are a specialist tool that even very competent competitors have struggled to get to grips with.

If you do go down that route then be preapred to spend time with your coach fine tuning the gun and adjusting your style to get the most from it.

janski, thank you for the advice, seems to make sense.

I have a stepped rib on my Remmy 3200 and I must confess whilst I never liked the look of them, I dont notice it when shooting. If I shoot my wife's miroku 3800 at trap birds, I find no difference in using the two guns. I don't know what their function is/was when introduced so I can't say it improves anything but I am not disadvantaged either.

Phil

Much better visibility around barrels however they can take a while to adapt too. And you must shoot a high gun hold or you defeat the whole idea.

Many years ago I used two 682X trap guns, one was a 30" and one was a 32". I found them both great for DTL, but I couldn't get on with them at ABT or any of the other fast trap disciplines. These days it may be a different case with ABT, since they have changed the rules and there are no grass cutters any more! But in general if I wanted just one gun to shoot all the trap disciplines, then I would go for a normal flat rib gun, but that's just me, others may disagree with it. Ribs in general are a very personal sort of thing, I love mid beads on the rib, others may hate them, I love big wide ribs, other may prefer narrow ribs. It's what works for the individual at the end of the day. :wink:

Totaly agree Les53, I shot high ribs well at DTL and even at ABT (depending on the layout) but cant shoot OTor UT with one. The trouble I find is that when you miss a fast target with a high rib you havent a clue were you missed it, you dont seem to get the same feedback.

ips said:

Totaly agree Les53, I shot high ribs well at DTL and even at ABT (depending on the layout) but cant shoot OTor UT with one. The trouble I find is that when you miss a fast target with a high rib you havent a clue were you missed it, you dont seem to get the same feedback.

Click to expand...

I would agree with that. There are significant benefits IMHO of stepped ribs and Ips has hit the downside on the head. I have been doing an experiment between flat and stepped ribs. All other variables largely controlled e.g., geometry, poi etc. the high rib is either amazing or just inconsistent and when inconsistent its hard (even with a photographic memory) to get a fence to why missed.

The recoil on the high ribs is excellent and markedly more palatable than flat ribs due to the plane the recoil is transmitted through.

I think they are great for DTL (and we cannot deny there benefit with double trap) however precisely why they work at such disciplines and not others is because of the known height of a DTL or indeed ATA target against the much faster much steeper / tighter angles of other trap disciplines. I think that the brain (at least mine anyway) gets confused by a high rib when trying to instinctively shoot a trap target.

ips said:

I think they are great for DTL (and we cannot deny there benefit with double trap) however precisely why they work at such disciplines and not others is because of the known height of a DTL or indeed ATA target against the much faster much steeper / tighter angles of other trap disciplines. I think that the brain (at least mine anyway) gets confused by a high rib when trying to instinctively shoot a trap target.

Click to expand...

I often used to shoot at American bases back in the late 80's early 90's, the yanks love boody great high ribbed single barrel guns. Some of those guys shot DTL with them, but mainly ATA handicap by distance and some of those guys were amazing too! I knew a guy that used a Miroku 800SW I think it was, it had a big high raised rib, he shot O/T well with it. He traded up to an MX8 SC3 or something, well it did not work at all. He spent almost a year trying to buy back his Miroku, but he couldn't, so he went and bought one just like it. As far as I know the Perazzi is still in his gun safe. Step/high ribs are another personal thing I guess, but I often wonder how many of these things are down to a trend or fashion, started by the companies that make the guns.