Ribs - Ribs - Ribs
 

We've had discussions about top ribs in the past - tapered ribs, flat ribs, ventilated ribs, swamped ribs, solid raised ribs, and on and on, but I don't think we've ever included all types in one thread.

Excluding the ventilated rib for this discussion because we know they are usually finely tapered and flat-topped, lets focus on the others - the finely tapered ribs that taper to as narrow as 5/16 of an inch, and which gauges they were customarily applied to, when did the finely tapered ribs first show up - what is the lowest serial number Parker to have such a rib? What is the exact width at muzzle of your finely tapered rib? What is the width at breech?

Flat ribs are some of the most uncommon type of rib on a Parker shotgun and are most often found on 'live bird' or 'trap' guns - competition guns, in any case. What is the width of your flat rib at the muzzle? What is the width at the breech? What is the serial number of your flat ribbed Parker? Is the legend on your flat rib roll-stamped or is it engraved?

I'm hoping we get some good participation in this thread - Inquiring minds want to know - Thanks!






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Dean: My #6 frame 36" TLH measures 9/16" at the breech and 3/8" at muzzle. All my #2 and #3 frame taper ribbed guns measure 15/32" +or- 1/32" at the breech and 3/8" +or-1/64" at the muzzle. Thanks for the task, I am recovering from hip replacement surgery and needed something to do!!! Maybe I should be writing something for PP.

Craig good luck with your recovery! what grade is your 36" gun? what barrel steel? Gary

Gary it's a D10ga. Pictures on my album page.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/album.php?albumid=654

Hickory Smoked Ribs
 

Dean;
Great thread. Here's what I have for a 32" 20,DHE,1931, flat rib 235764.
1/2" at the breech and 1/4" at the muzzle. Hope this helps.

What is the serial of the gun or the year made?






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Several years ago I had a nice and obviously totally original CHE 12ga 1 1/2 frame 28" that was straight grip DT splinter forearm. That gun that had a smooth English style rib that was marked with all the normal barrel markings. The gun also had English style rose & scroll engraving and English proof marks.

DH 12 1 frame 26" Damascus 1908 146932
1/2" at breech 3/8" at muzzle

Gotta admit, the thread title made me hungry!

Dave, please explain what you mean by a "smooth English style rib" and "English proof marks."
I would presume the gun had been to Great Britain and by law, had to be proofed to their specs, but I have no idea what a "smooth English style rib" is.






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Flat ribs vs tapered. & Short, Pork, Beef or Eland
 

Flat ribbed 128562 is interesting and in keeping with the teachings of Austin it is 35/64 at the breech of the 28" barrels and 26/64 at the muzzle. Interestingly it's a 1 frame and the forend I could get to with these has a single 2 under the serial number. Rest of the thing is somewhere... I'll try and post the rest tomorrow. BTW I got this early one morning back in the olden days before ebay was on top of their game...

The rib was smooth on top and concave in cross section like the ribs commonly seen on English guns. The gun had English proof marks in addition to the normal Parker markings, I assumed that the gun was ordered by
a customer from England as I have has many other guns (I have a Mannlicher Schoeneaur right now) that were not from England but had English proofs.

Thanks Dave - have you ordered a letter on that CHE? It would be interesting to read who ordered it like that.






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Dean, My 16, 1 frame, 30 inch barrels, 219080 is 15/32 at the breech and 1/4 at the muzzle.

Dean- this is a very interesting post. Some ribs have a very dramatic taper it seems and others not so much. I wonder why and if there is any rhyme or reason? Thank you for posing this question!

Thanks Josh -
It seems we encounter the more "dramatic" or "fine" taper on the smaller bore guns or guns with longer barrels.
Can we presume these ribs were designed with the intent to direct the eye to the bead/target? It would definitely be the case on guns with the ventilated rib - that, combined with the wedge cut into the ramp on a vent rib gun both seem to serve the same purpose.

I'd like to see a lot more posts on this topic of various rib designs so we might be able to learn more.

Which came first - the finely tapered ventilated rib, or the standard, matted, concave, finely tapered rib?





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I no longer own the gun, I owned this gun several years ago and I never got a letter for it when I had the gun.

30" Titanic, 20ga. .519" tapered to .219"

30" Titanic, 16ga. .523" tapered to .230"

Wow Edgar - that .219" is narrow!

What year were those guns made?





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1928
edit:
sorry, wasn't paying attention. The 20, 225647, is 1928. The 16, 202044, is 1923.
my 00 frame 28 has a wider rib, muzzle end, than either of my DHE 20s, and GHE 20. Go figure.

Getting here a bit late, but I've a 16 ga. DHE on a No. 1 frame, #228929, that at some point had a set of 20 ga. Vulcan barrels added/fitted/& numbered to the gun. Both sets are 32" in length. This gun came to me from a PGCA member here some years back, all shipped in a very nice, 2-bbl. LOM case. (You know who you are, and 'Thank You' again.)

The 16 ga. Titanic set came with its original twin ivories, is still choked full & full, and shows an 'unstruck' weight of 3 lbs. 12 oz. The rib is concave, matted, and roll engraved. Width of rib at breech end is .540" tapering to just .255" at the muzzle.

The 20 ga. Vulcan ejector barrels came with a single factory metal bead that I removed and replaced with vintage twin ivories after rust-bluing to match the 16 ga. set. 'Unstruck weight of this 32" set is 3 lbs. 8 oz.; still choked factory full & full. This rib is also concave in cross-section, matted, and roll engraved, though it is not as tapered as that on the 16 ga. set:

Width at breech end is .510" tapering to .320" at muzzle.....

FWIW, weight of the gun is 7 lbs. 8 oz. with the 16 ga. barrels having a MWT of .028". MWT on the twenty ga. set is .024" and likely unmodified. Fun gun to shoot providing I have enough spreader loads on hand.:D

All Best,

Rob

Thanksfor that information Rob. She sounds like a real sweetheart!





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Out of all the skeet guns, trap guns and one live bird gun there isn't a flat rib in the bunch:shock: I would have thought the rib dimensions would have been pretty std within the gauges.