Vent ribs and choke tubes

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warzaw

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I grew up in a time when vent ribs and choke tubes did not dominate the shotgun sports . Winchesters , Remingtons , Ithica's mostly came with light well balanced tubes with fixed chokes . They all pointed and carried well patterned great as they still do today . Now days if it does not have tubes and a vent rib it is avoided by most . Double gunners don't seem to have a problem with non vent rib fixed choke barrels maybe it's because they point a shotgun and not aim it . Good fixed choke barrels pattern and swing and point well all I can see choke tubes come with weight heavy barrels they swing like two by fours . Most tube shooters play with tubes trying to rectify poor shooting. Target guns today with ribs chokes and nice wood push into the 8 lbs plus range which is ok but hunting with them is a chore. I will take my Belgian Super Light fixed choke and small solid ribs or Ithica 37 Win M12 solid rib or Rem 870 all in the under 7lb range any day for field hunting which is not great around my parts now days . These are only my opinions which don't carry much weight . Steel shot has sure changed the game . Looking for some feed back from the gunners out there.
 
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Might be comparing apples to oranges, but my 1950's 870 wingmaster with vent rib/fixed full swings heavier then the revolution armoury semi Im using for waterfowl thats vent rib/changeable chokes/ wood stocked. The vent rib is tapered alot more then the wingmaster also.

It comes right in at 7lbs, and 75% of the weights back on the reciever. It plays double duty as a farm gun and sees everything from slugs to birdshot, in the snow, rain,mud etc. Nice to swap out chokes and only ruin one inexpensive gun in the process.
 
Marketing plays to what the pros use. For trap shooting in mid summer heat a vent rib makes a difference. Less haze over the barrel. As more clay games gained in popularity tastes and styles changed. At one time model 12s were the trap n skeet guns. Then rem 1100 autos and then the over under then high ribs and now stepped or mid ribs
Choke tubes make a gun more versatile for different hunting or clay games. Personally mod choke is the best and majority of my double guns are f/m or f/f er
My double guns with tubes generally see ic/m for skeet and waterfowl but full chokes when using bismuth or targeting turkeys or trap

We all have our preferences and our up bringings play a major roll in what we think is important.
 
I grew up shooting field grade models for hunting plain bbl worked very well this was the late 60’s to early 70’s . When I started shooting trap around 73-74 many model 12’s at the club bought I bought a late 40’s trap with a standard stock never changed that gun shot till 97-98 it won me my share of trophies and money yrs back in the day you could when money on the options . I jumped around for awhile looking for a o/u a fellow let shoot a Rem 3200 with a standard stock and it worked well for me my doubles then would sit in B class A never mastered them but held my own . I know I could ether on of those two guns today and hold my own .o and one more thing I never patterned any one of those two guns in 20 yard plus when the targets turned into a black puff of smoke all was good . Today everything has to be over the top .
 
Vent ribs and interchangable choke tubes make little difference on a field gun but they can pay big dividends on a target gun. At the game of sporting clays you can have a 5 yard target at one station then a 50 yard crosser at the next station, it's true that you can shoot the close target with the same full choke that you'll use on the far target but for the 20 yard targets then there's really no disputing that a more open tube may gain you a target or two at the end of the day. Also, try shooting 6 to 10 rounds quickly on a smoking hot day like you will at sporting clays and you'll soon see the benefits of a vent rib! Are these things a must on a target gun... not really, but they do serve a useful purpose.
 
Falconflyer said:
Vent ribs and interchangable choke tubes make little difference on a field gun but they can pay big dividends on a target gun. At the game of sporting clays you can have a 5 yard target at one station then a 50 yard crosser at the next station, it's true that you can shoot the close target with the same full choke that you'll use on the far target but for the 20 yard targets then there's really no disputing that a more open tube may gain you a target or two at the end of the day. Also, try shooting 6 to 10 rounds quickly on a smoking hot day like you will at sporting clays and you'll soon see the benefits of a vent rib! Are these things a must on a target gun... not really, but they do serve a useful purpose.
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Totally agree I have many Target guns and rib designs and enough choke tubes to fill a wash tub. I shot a Beretta 34 "under barrel with a tube It was so clunky I could barely get through a couple of rounds of trap with it. I was trying to refer to field guns as they are made today Rem choke barrels are heavy clunky beasts as are most other choke tube barrels Browning etc . This was all brought on by steel shot nothing handles better than field gun with a thin fluid fixed choke lead shot barrels of yesterday. The double gun group will understand this . My 86 year old 20gauge Le Fever mod and full with 3/4 oz copper #6 is death on birds Choke tubes on a field gun are not really a good thing.
 
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