Show how aa SHO 7 by bob nichols shooting editor field and one runs across F frequently the shooter who declares he could not do good work in the field without the aid ot of the matted rib on an his shotgun barrel of course all american double barrel shotguns have hare this matted sighting rib and there seems to be more excuse for it on the double tube gun but the shooters who hold enthusiastically to the necessity tor for the matted alighting alb are arc usually those who shoot single barrel repeating guns I 1 personally do not favor a sighting rib of any description matted or otherwise on a single tube shotgun for two reasons in the first place the rib adds weight to the gun and what Is more to the point the rib adds weight at the muzzle where any awkward excess weight should certainly be avoided added weight out beyond the support of the hands tends to make the gun muzzle heavy unwieldy to handle slow to swing in the second place the matted rib on the single tube tends to command too much attention from the eye which means that in pointing and aiming too much of your eyesight Is unconsciously drawn to the gun when it should be concentrated on the target the eye loves straight lines to prove this stand on the edge of a cornfield when the crop Is only about a foot high and casu casually idly glance at various spots in ID the field the farst impression your eye registers Is of the long straight sighting line instead of only 30 per cent of your eyesight being concentrated cent rated on the gun CO 60 per cent on the target and 10 per cent on the area immediately surrounding the target you may find yourself devoting a full 50 to GO CO per cent of your eyesight on the gun no man can hope to become a really fine upland if his matted rib gun demands that much of his eye attention it will make a slow shot of hire him he may do well enough when the shooting Is in the clear open sp spaces abes but when the cover gets dense and the birds bird go booming out in twisting turn ing flight through the tops of the briars then the slow aiming shot has a tough time of it and man a reproachful reproach dil look he will get and deserve from his faithful old dog I 1 feel reasonably certain that thai some of the leading gun makers of england brive already recognized recognize fl this his fault of the too prominent ril on the upland held field gun for I 1 have run across a number of their alne double tube guns that are with smooth inconspicuous alb rabb ground concavely on top and en without the matted surface that Is so likely to command an ex cess of eye attention the ribs on these guns are polished shed to the same stain smooth finish of the barrels tn in aiming one of these fine guns one Is not of at all conscious of the rib pulling too hard on ones eye sight of course if ones gun does not it fit him then I 1 can see why by the mat ted tad tit til on top would become quite necessary but on the other hand if a mans upland gun does not fit fil him film then he has no business us ing it anyway ile he will never real ize his potential shooting skill with such a gun and should take imme diate steps to make the necessary De stock adjustments so that his gun will fit in duck shooting especially on highflying pass shooting it Is not I 1 so BO absolutely essential that a mans gun shall fit him it can have too much drop at the heel of the stock have long cumbersome barrels and be greatly overweight over weight and yet he can do do good work with it because in this type of ving shooting you have plenty of time to adjust yourself to your gun you see your game coming from a distance with deliberate movements you alm aim a almost as with a rifle ride your hold bold must be very accurate b because because of the long range this type of duck gun Is almost a mathematical instrument ment but tile alie upland gun is tile the tool of an artist 1 a 0 western New newspaper union |