doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Please educate me on ribs . . .

concave rib, swamped rib, Churchill rib, English rib, file rib, game rib, raised rib, vent rib, floating rib, spare rib . . . what does it all mean? Nomenclature, configurations, advantages, etc. - anyone care to give me a primer on the agony and ecstasy of the SxS rib.

TIA

--shinbone

I'll be the first to say you are not alone with this question....

except the 'spare rib'-which goes well with a nice vinegar based BBQ sauce

more of a tomato-based-bbq-sauce-man, myself

This would, technically, be a "Memphis" rib. While I like all ribs, ... never met a rib I didn't like... I tend toward a Texas style rib, and pork loin being my favorite. I do like to "swamp" them if the sauce is especially good. If I'm just sampling, a "single siding plate" is my preference until target is established.

Try Ruger Red Label with the rattle rib, it’s hard to swallow no matter what kind or how much sauce apply

What a wonderful gun site. We give answers right to the point, don't we? I personally prefer the "country style" rib, much more meaty, and will take more smokey flavor.

Ribs is ribs except after you eat em and then you got a rhythm instrument (bones). But seriously, concave has a laterally concave top surface, swamped generally follows the contours of the barrel striking and has a "gull wing" section, raised generally has a "U-channel" section and stands proud of tangency with the barrels, vent is up on blocks or posts such that stuff can catch in the "vents", floating is up on posts but is only soldered or permanently attached at the breech end and secured by dovetail slots in the posts which allow the rib to expand or contract independent of the barrel(s). Churchill tapers from breech to muzzles so you get the "railroad" track illusion of greater length of barrel than you actually have. Game rib generally lower (less altitude above the barrel)than a target rib. Might be some niceties of differential elevation there that I've omitted but I'm kind of tired out from trying to remember if I actually know or should know or if I remember what someone told me or if they actually did. Don't want to go too far here and have to screw myself up into the BICBW posture.

jack

Shinbone:
Rabbit and others covered all types of ribs. A good reference for definitions on shotguns is Hollowell & Co website. If you google Hollowell you will find them.

Chicago Mike

A proper rib is smoked/cooked over real wood in Charles County, Maryland, by gentlemen of color, and finished with a vinegary sauce. Best location the junction of 224 and 225 at Mason Springs. Two slabs with mild sauce and one of hot sauce mixed together come out just about heaven.

As to shotguns, the rather high flat rib found on the early Remington Hammerless Doubles is my favorite.

the best place to go for this is Greener's book altho there are other descriptive terms than the 4 he uses. i'm going off memory here as don't have the book any more but basically there are 4 aspects of a rib's shape: 2 longitudinal and 2 lateral. i believe greeners terms were straight, flat, curved and hollow. straight and curved are longitudinal, flat and hollow are lateral.

straight would give a straight line sighting plane from breech to muzzle. curved would follow the barrels (which in my mind is much more attractive as the rib doesn't show above the barrels when viewed from the side). flat would mean the rib were flat from one side to the other and hollow would be concave.

i think curved/hollow is what's usually referred to as swamped but i'm not certain of that.

roger