AYA ribs are welded, not soldered; will the barrels ring as soldered ones do?

Whether soldered or brazed or welded, so long as they are fused to the barrels they will "ring"

Too much emphasis is put on this ringing. Most soldered barrels are not 100% soldered the whole length and they still ring. If you want to know for sure, take a.002 shim and slide it down both sides of the ribs top and bottom and see how many places it fits. Yet these barrels will ring.

It is the ribs that are away from the barrel and won't ring as well, you will get a dull sound.

This ringing is similar to thumping a watermelon to see if it is ripe.

But isn't it fun to tap a barrel and hear it ring like the finest crystal! Barrel ringing is a good preliminary test but falls way short of being definitive.

Certainly not the definitive answer. However, if you get a thud or a buzz (vibration), that gives you a hint something may be amiss.

I've heard them ring like a bell and be loose...

A barrel set that doesn't ring may be caused by the presence of the extractors, not lose ribs. Drop out the extractor(s) and they sometimes ring beautifully.
I agree that ringing barrels are rarely a sign that the ribs are 100% good.
The only sure way to check the ribs for bleeds/looseness is to drop them in a tank of boiling water and watch the strings of bubble appear.
Of the guns I have in for restoration, I doubt that 1 in 5 have perfect ribs but 4 out of 5 will ring just fine. Even fewer will be perfect after modern reproof and I now check ribs on arrival and after lapping and/or proof.

The ones that ring but are bad make excellent wind chimes.

Could non-ringing be an indication of rust?

I would imagine if there was that much rust, they wouldn't ring, but then again, they would not be worth anything with that amount of rust on them.

Toby, are you saying that modern proof is so severe that it's breaking the ribs loose?

Vent ribs tend not to ring as clearly as solid ribs, so don't immediately fall on your sword if your vent rib barrels don't sound like a bell.

Not ringing is a reason to look closer at things. But, I have not had a set that sounded like a dull thud that wasn't loose.

I was looking at a potential purchase. Everything looked good till I rang the barrels. The rib was loose. Was very difficult to see. Owner ended up sending them out for a relay.

Joe Wood Its not particularly modern proof, I think that barrels that only have a very small contact area of rib to barrel can be opened up by the much larger pressure pulse moving up the barrels. Alternatively, it may be that there is a bleed hole there already but it is blocked by rosin, varnish, loctite (one commonly used bodge by barrel blackers), rust or baby food, who known! A good bang and the hole clears to produce a delicate stream of bubbles on the next test.
I remember a bit of high speed film of a load moving up a shotgun barrel and the bulge moving up the tube was quite visible. I have to admit it gave me pause for thought when I first saw it!

Toby. Do you have any idea if that high speed film is available to see anywhere ? It sounds as scary as it would be interesting.

El Garro, Sorry no idea where I saw it. It was certainly long before the internet revolution, Youtube etc.
Probably sometime in the '70's or '80's

PLICA, welded ribs? Maybe you mean brazed? And even then I am not so sure that AYA are brazed.

The vagaries of ribs, here and in other posts, reinforce my convictions that ribs are an abomination.

Alex Martin showed the way with his ribless guns. If the looks of a ribless double are objectionable then make a top rib that is screw detachable. It is incredible that in the days of CNC tech (used by the very "Best" these days) we are still messing about with tin tech.

I had a gun that when you "rang " it sounded awful . Some kind of dull rattle . Loose bead sight ! Ringing is a simple ,practical, rule of thumb test but it is limited to the experience of the person involved reading the results and interpretation of that information . It is not the be all and end all nor is it definitive but its the best you can do without a lot of equipment and has worked well for a couple of hundred years .

Is there a proper way to "ring" a barrel? Does it have to hang from a wire or string or can you just hold it by the barrel lug and ring it? What do you hit it with?

I don't know that there is a "proper" way per se. Probably as many ways as there are ringers. However, down and dirty way is to simply hang the hook from your index finger and thump the barrels with your fingernail. When available I prefer to use a small piece of metal. Doesn't take much of a thump. as mentioned somewhere above sometimes the extractor/ejector needs removing to get the barrels to ring. Just don't make a big project out of a simple test.