Thread: Putting vent rib on a shotgun barrel?

Is there anyone out there who would have the skill to make up and fit a vent rib for my A5 20g ?looking down the barrel now the bead is only just.visible and it tends to shoot really high,looking to get the young fella(10) started this season and don’t want him put off by missing too much.full length rib seems to be the only solution for the old girl..was my long departed dads gun that he cut down for me when I was a young fella so kind of a family earldom,and fits the boy well except for the Beas issue. Thanks

you can call me a redneck
you can call me bubba

find an old fridge or freezer,rob a long magnet strip out of door rubber....slice it to width required and TRY IT before you alter anything else.
shooting too high...get you head DOWN ON STOCK....Bakail singles are like this....see if you can shim the stock down...sometimes loosening main stock screw will allow tiny bit of movement then retighten....
fit tallest bead you can find......the brass screw from inside an old light fitting fits a lot of shotguns......

I wouldnt go to the hassle of a rib, (Ps I love my old A5).
Possibly go to a taller bead, try some different ammo or at the worst track down another barrel.
Mind you it is probably just as cheap/easy to get another whole shotty. But it is a 20g so a bit harder

Im gonna suggest something a bit different. Nice shotgun, would be nice to keep it original. To try out varying height ribs, beads, stocks etc, how about taking a piece of alkathene pipe, slightly smaller than the barrel, and split it lengthwise. You will only need enough to maybe reach back to the stock, maybe more if you can work it out. Then carefully attach a rib or a bead or whatever you like by using small countersunk screws fitted from the inside. Then when you want to take the young fella hunting, clip it on and away you go. Doesnt need to be full length, doesnt need to look like a million bucks, it just needs to work. And then if you've proved the concept and you're worried about looks, make a really nice one, thin walled pipe of some sort, nice rib on top. I have just bought one of those orange glow type foresight, bead thingy for a nice SxS I have and that little glowing dot works great. Maybe try that on top instead of a bead, they have this fancy double sided sticky stuff and it sticks like the proverbial to a blanket.

A5's are long recoil and the rib must be brazed to withstand the forces on the reciprocating barrel. This can only be done at the factory in a purpose-built jig to prevent warping the barrel. Many gun shops often have used A5 vent rib barrels for sale and they are quite interchangeable. Another alternative is to find a spare stock and get it properly fitted for the young fella.

Might give the alkathene pipe idea a go and. Attach the bead to that just to see if the theory of the higher bead will work,I remember my dad removing the set of open sights from it that he used to hunt deer with in the-states ( and here)so I could use it on ducks and small game,can still see the mark on the barrel where the rear sight was...

Hey mate, I have this clip on Hiviz site that came on a A5 20ga that I have taken off as I’m not a bright bead guy. Your welcome to it if it’s of any use to you.

Give him a good intro to shotgun shooting........not with a gun which may, as you say put him off.

https://tinyurl.com/4wvps58

Originally Posted by gundoc

A5's are long recoil and the rib must be brazed to withstand the forces on the reciprocating barrel. This can only be done at the factory in a purpose-built jig to prevent warping the barrel. Many gun shops often have used A5 vent rib barrels for sale and they are quite interchangeable. Another alternative is to find a spare stock and get it properly fitted for the young fella.

Love to see one of them @gundoc
The only ones I've seen are at Gun City and just dear enough it would be worth looking at a cheap A5 for the extra bits

Ill never forget watching my mates A5 take a shot and its barrel reciprocate right over the edge of the boat into the drink
took the rest of the day to find the bloody thing up to our tits in flood water right next to the sewage treatment plant

good times