This may belong in the gunsmithing forum, but for a serious (DG) hunting rifle, what exactly is the purpose of a quarter rib?
Strength?
Esthetics?

The Ruger RSM's come with them, many request it as a custom add-on. Just interested.

Looks alone. It doesn't do anything that can't be accomplished by a banded rear sight or by a screwed and soldered island sight.

It does give the gunmaker a nice surface on which to engrave his name though.

It's an item that evokes a sense of nostalgia. It doesn't add strength.

George

Today it doesn't add practical strength but I think that yesterday it did with it greater contact area with the barrel, just as I think a banded rear sight does and did. Plua a 1/4 rib or banded rear sight just looks right on an African rifle - say a 375 plus.

JPK

I thought the quater rib was developed as a tool to draw & focus the eye directly and instantly down the line of the bore when a scope is not being used?

A sort of optical trick/techinque to facilitate instant target acquisition for use both in conjunction with the iron sights as well as alone for snap shooting at times when even trying to line up iron sights would be to slow.....

I was told that this is the reason a quater rib was designed with the following characteristics...
1.) a flat plane,
2.) has a dull no glare or scroll work type finish on the top,
3.) is raised to the same or approximate level of the receiver bridges.

One is just to raise the rifle, look over the receiver bridges and the eye is naturally drawn down the flat top of the quater rib into infinity. One can either "aim" using irons if there is time and depending upon the situation at hand... or "point" at the desired impact area and squeeze the trigger... if the distances, target speed, surroundings etc. don't allow one to line the irons up.

The quater rib being designed so that all of this can be done as naturally, instinctively and instantly as possible with little or no consious thought & effort required by the user. It's a case in which the rifle builders tried to capitalize upon the biology/anatomy of how we see and the eyes natual tendency to want to center and line things up. I believe the same principle can be seen used on some competative type shotguns that have a long flat rail running the entire length of the barrel.

In cases of high stress & high speed I was told one will look down the quater rib right "through" the irons as if they weren't even there, directly at the target so a shot can still be taken. Sort of a backup plan for your irons when in a worst case scenario...

I believe it was Jack Belk that explained the above to me....

Regards,
Dave

DavidC,I found that interesting.I plan on getting one on a custom rifle.

I like the lines of a quarter rib...

I could be very wrong but I was under the assumption that the quarter rib allowed the gunsmith the ability to move the rear sight forward or backward to help regulate the gun. Could this be done if the quarter rib was on a parallel plane to the barrel or barrels?

DavidC's explanation is the best I've seen printed on a web-site in regard to quarter ribs.

The fact is the quarter rib is useful in the exact same way as the rib on a competion shotgun. The takes away the heat waves from the hot barrel, as well as giveing a textured surface on a flat plain as the top of the reciever ring, and draws the eye to the back sight. There is no need for the rib to extend past the rear sight,because it can't be seen anyway, and the extra weight is not needed.

The QR on the Ruger is part of the barrel, and not screwed, or soldered on, and is a quality item in the rifles construction, that costs a lot of extra money on custom rifles. It givea long flat surface with pleanty of meat to hold sights, and today, scope bases, that require far less fitting to install.

In the final analysis, they simply look nice anyway!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MacD37:
The QR on the Ruger is part of the barrel, and not screwed, or soldered on...[QUOTE]

That is true of the RSM, but on the Ruger #1 they are attached by screws.

George

quote:

Originally posted by GeorgeS:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by MacD37:
The QR on the Ruger is part of the barrel, and not screwed, or soldered on...[QUOTE]

That is true of the RSM, but on the Ruger #1 they are attached by screws.

George

Correct, The No1s are not only screwed on, but bush pinned as well!

I assumed, wrongly, you would know I was refering to the RSM (DGR)bolt rifle.

I will give David C an Atta Boy for his explanation of the quarter rib but I will tell you why I did not get one on my Dakota 416.
I wanted to be able to mount any scope I wanted as close to the bbl. as possible. A nice looking quarter rib will cause you to mount certain scopes in higher rings thus the reason for the island rear sight.
A well done quarter rib is sexy though and one does thing of African rifles with one on.

What I love about the quarter rib on my RSM is it makes Ruger rings QD rings with no extra $$.
Looks good as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Harry:
I will give David C an Atta Boy for his explanation of the quarter rib but I will tell you why I did not get one on my Dakota 416.
I wanted to be able to mount any scope I wanted as close to the bbl. as possible. A nice looking quarter rib will cause you to mount certain scopes in higher rings thus the reason for the island rear sight.
A well done quarter rib is sexy though and one does thing of African rifles with one on.

Harry, if Dakota is making your rifle, they can relieve the quarter rib to accommodate the front objective. Here is my .416 Dakota with a Swarovski scope...

Zero D...thank you for your photo and suggestion. Great idea.
Both come many years too late as I have had my 416 RM for many moons now.

DavidC

That is a great explanation. For rifles designed to shoot with iron sights such as my English doubles, the quarter rib is very functional and does indeed draw your eye to the appropiate spot even without seeing the iron sights. For dangerous game that is a very comforting feeling.

CFA

quote:

Originally posted by Zero Drift:

quote:

Originally posted by Harry:
I will give David C an Atta Boy for his explanation of the quarter rib but I will tell you why I did not get one on my Dakota 416.
I wanted to be able to mount any scope I wanted as close to the bbl. as possible. A nice looking quarter rib will cause you to mount certain scopes in higher rings thus the reason for the island rear sight.
A well done quarter rib is sexy though and one does thing of African rifles with one on.

Harry, if Dakota is making your rifle, they can relieve the quarter rib to accommodate the front objective. Here is my .416 Dakota with a Swarovski scope...

That is one of the nicest looking Bolt Rifles I have seen. Very Nice! What level/type of wood? Did the stock come from Dakota?

BD - My Dakota rifles were built by Dakota when Don was running the show. I selected the Bastogne from Don’s large collection of wood. I did a few extra things to the rifles to get exactly what I wanted. I wound up with 4 custom rifles with a semi-custom price tag and all 4 rifles were delivered in less than 6 months. I have yet to find any custom smith who can match the quality, price, and delivery time.

Not suggesting that these are the absolute finest rifles ever made, however, for field guns, they are damn difficult to beat. They all feed like a dream and easily meet 1 MOA in accuracy - every day.

I noticed how great looking Zero Drift's rifle is as well. I have a 375H&H and also a 30-06 that would rival Zero Drift's rifle. Guess what? They were built by Dakota a long time ago when Don and his wife, Norma, were running the show. Custom rifles with beautiful stocks picked by me and to my dimensions, very nice fit and finish, all quality parts and peices.

Very accurate, very good triggers, full length bedded and with aluminum pillars too.

JPK