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How much rib are you seeing? How do your beads stack up?

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hank15

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I shot a Browning BT99 the other day, and to hit anything I felt like I had to be an inch (from my perspective) under the bird in order to not shoot over it.

It looked like this: http://www.meadowindustries.com/images/ph_vbce3_correct_lg.jpg

Except with a little more rib (maybe 3 inches from the shooter's perspective) between the front bead and mid bead.

With that setup he told me the gun shot 80% high.

Just curious as to see what everyone is seeing and how their guns are patterning. What's the ideal pattern for someone who shoots birds right when they come out the box? And how do your beads stack up?
 
#2 ·
My opinion, for what it is worth:

Quit worrying about how much rib you see. It is irrelevant. Look at the target.

If you like where the gun is shooting, leave it and shoot it like that.

If you think it is shooting too high, and it sounds like you do, set your comb lower. That will make the gun shoot lower. Again, pay no attention to whether or not you have a figure 8 or if you are seeing rib. And don't try to squeeze your face harder on the stock until you see a figure 8.

All that matters is when you mount the gun firmly, and look at the target, does the gun shoot where you want it to. If not, move the comb.

And quit worrying about "XX percentage high" because that is meaningless too.
 
#3 ·
For what it worth
I think it all matters
And great shooters use all of whats out there to help them
some 90-10
some 80-2o and on and on
I think you start at 70-30 and work it from there
And use the pattern board often to help you know what your shooting
and where
Stack the beads to begin with and adjust from there
 
#4 ·
Hank, accomplished shooters don't care! the only reason for two beads is to help in offset or lack thereof on the stock with the shooters face, for correct shot placement when the beads are INLINE. Experiment, make a little spitball out of a piece of paper, place it on the rib, make a perfect figure 8 , now move the spitball back, or front you will either see more rib or less rib but the impact does not change! It's almost to some shooters a pacifier, but if you have to have your pacifier, just move the middle bead where ever to find it and be happy! incinerate em!
 
#7 ·
The original poster was talking about a BT-99, which most probably does not have an adjustable rib.
 
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#8 ·
Phil Kiner took a black marker to my mid and hiviz beads on my browning. I haven't paid attention to the beads or the rib for that matter since.

When my new gun showed, I made sure to look at bead alignment for the initial mount fit. Once I was on the trap field, the smoke is what I used to fine tune adjust.

Thanks again, Phil, for a great clinic, and on your anniversary no less. We'll be back in the spring!
 
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#9 ·
timb99 nailed it.

To answer your last question, a lot depends on your style. I used to shoot a gun with a 22" high POI (@40). I shot very quickly. I found it very helpful. Many of the big dogs shoot really high POIs. A while ago I lowered my POI to 10" @ 40, because I was having a hard time with the second shot of doubles. The lower POI helps with that (I may go lower yet), but I shoot both singles and caps more slowly now, because more of my eye is occluded by the rear of the rib and it takes longer to pick up the target.
 
#12 ·
Timb99 told you all you need to know. Some shooters do have adjustable ribs on their guns as it is one more way to make a gun shoot high other than an adjustable comb; the lower the rib at the end of the barrel the higher the poi but it's not always possible to get beads to stack in a perfect fig 8 using an adj comb and adj rib together and STILL get the gun to shoot to the right poi for you. Shooters have been known to go crazy trying to do that. The ONLY way to get a perfect fig 8 bead stack is to FIRST get the gun to shoot to the poi you want regardless of bead stack sight picture THEN physically move the mid bead to where it gives you the fig 8 you want...you will almost always have to drill and tap the rib in a new location to make it do this.... BUT, if you have ALREADY got the gun shooting where you want why would you do this? See the bird,kill the bird..
 
#13 ·
Several of the answers to your question are correct. But, to specifically answer your question for myself only, if I stack up quarters at the flat part of the rib closest to my eye, I need six of them to come up to come up to just under the front bead. For me, that puts the pattern about 100% high over the bead. Having said that, DON'T look at the front bead and try to measure a gap between beads, or how much rib you see. Focus on the target as hard as you can, the eyes will take care of the difference. For example, I shoot a LOT of sporting clays, almost all true pair. Being old, 76, when I pull the trigger on the first target, the recoil often causes my other eye to take over duties. Now, the off eye is looking down the side of the barrels. When you consider the distance between the eyes is on the order of 4 inches and it's about a yard between where your cheek hits the stock and the front bead, the "wrong" eye sees the end of the barrel several feet from the target. Example: A 50 yard target times 4 inches is 200 inches or 16 2/3 feet plus or minus any lead. The eyes can any usually do make this triangulation without any conscious effort on my part. The brain is a wonderful organ if you just let it do its job. I don't shoot as well as I once did, but I still have FUN!

Johnpe
 
#15 ·
There's no need to move the mid bead forward or backwards iwhen you raise your comb for a higher poi. If the gap between the front and mid bead bothers you then simply tape something on top of the mid bead thick enough to close the gap when you reach the comb setting that works for you.

Jerri White over in Fort Collins invented what he calls the Bump which is nothing more than a piece of aluminum or plastic of various thicknesses with a bead mounted on it in place of your factory mid bead. Perazzi copied this system using it on their MX-9 using mid bead inserts of varying heights to maintain a figure 8 when raising the comb for higher poi. The gun didn't sell well as no one understood the concept and they still don't or there would be fewer high and adjustable ribs and more Bumps of various heights.

As everyone seems to agree looking at the target not the beads will take your hands to the target but the eyes must tell the hands and what the hands are holding onto when and how to intercect the target, the eyes must have reference point be it the barrel, rib or bead in order to break the target.

Surfer
 
#16 ·
I'm a pretty quick shooter and need my gun to shoot fairly high. When I have shot patterns it typically puts about 90% of the pellets above my aim point at 40yds. The gun has both an adjustable comb and rib, and with some experimentation I have it shooting as stated with a figure 8 sight picture. Now that it is set as I want I rarely pay any attention to the mid to front bead relationship. Just mount the gun and call pull while looking for the target, the rest takes care of itself!
 
#17 ·
bigben said:
Hank, accomplished shooters don't care! the only reason for two beads is to help in offset or lack thereof on the stock with the shooters face, for correct shot placement when the beads are INLINE. Experiment, make a little spitball out of a piece of paper, place it on the rib, make a perfect figure 8 , now move the spitball back, or front you will either see more rib or less rib but the impact does not change! It's almost to some shooters a pacifier, but if you have to have your pacifier, just move the middle bead where ever to find it and be happy! incinerate em!
Click to expand...
good thought!
 
#18 ·
Not only don't I get the bead stacking - I don't pattern at 40 yards either. That's out there where the doubles second bird shows up, maybe. The first responder (timb99) has it exactly right for me - that bead stacking, although I've heard lots of guys refer to it, means absolutel nothing. Plug your ears when they talk about it.

I pattern where I break the bird (around 32 yards) so I can see all the BB's that are getting in there and don't fall off or miss the mark. When the weather gets nice - here in northwestern PA - I plan on using Neil Winston's (13 yard) pattern recommendations.

In my world (not knowing the specific BT99 "hank15" has) if you don't at least have an adjustable comb - and you're a trap shooter (or any other shooter for that matter) - don't buy or use the gun. My father, back in the early 60's, had fixed comb guns and he bought more than anyone around, simply trying to get one that hit the birds for him. He'd be up till 2 in the morning, bending tangs on Model 12's and then working the wood to fit.
 
#19 ·
I have removed my center and front beads and shot about 300 targets with good success. Not sure the beads are necessary. Patterning is approx 80/20 when the target is my front sight. Optimistic that I will continue to leave off the beads since I was looking at them too much after calling for the target. Ralph
 
#20 ·
I shoot mostly sporting clays so shoot a flatter pattern than most at ~ 55/45 or center at 1-1/2 inches high at 30 yards. That said, when I had two beads on my gun, the mid bead came about half-way up the front bead and I saw a little rib only. Now I have eliminated the overly large front bead and moved the mid bead to the front with no mid bead. So far, this is the best combo I've ever used -- YMMV...
 
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