Testimonials of the Jeffries Reverse Slope Rib
It’s just so easy, is it magic?
Why would you buy anything else?
At last, I can see what I’m doing.
I didn’t want to believe it.
It does exactly what is is supposed to do.
Previous reviewers have said…
“Possibly the best new sighting aid since the Manton rib.”
“The RSR is something very special.”
“The HPX whatever the rib is a corker.”
John Jeffries says…
Its ease of use, pointability and better target vision makes the RSR the best new shotgun design for decades. The ULTIMATE is exactly what it says – the ULTIMATE shotgun.
John invited four shooters to test the RSR for an unbiased test, click here to read more
Vic Harker tests the Perazzi two-barrel set with the Jeffries’ Reverse Slope Rib
The subject of gun fit is inevitably a personal one. Not only must a shotgun stock conform to the shooter’s physical characteristics, it must also fit his mindset. Within reasonable parameters there is more than one set of dimensions for a particular shooter. What he expects to see when he brings the gun to his shoulder, and also feel, are both important. What he sees, or rather the relationship between the shooter’s aiming eye and the rib, is both the most important factor in accurate shooting and the most controversial. This is because most shooters have a preconceived idea of what they must see, which does not necessarily equate with consistent accuracy. It is then often the case the gun fitter is obliged to provide dimensions that do not coincide with what the shooter needs, but what he wants. This then is set in stone (or in the case of a gun stock, wood) and it can be that this results in months, even years, of the shooter not performing to his full potential until he once again resorts to the stock doctor for another remedy.
The shotgun’s rib, at least so far as English gun makers are concerned, originated with Joseph Manton’s short design, which he mounted on the gun’s breech face and cured the low-shooting properties of the ribless guns of his time. It also soon became clear that if you extended such a rib so as to slope it down to the barrels’ muzzle ends, you had a gun that was visually more pointable as well as placing the shot charge, at least to some degree, above the point of aim. How much above was then dependent upon how high the stock was. This meant you couldn’t enjoy the benefits of improved visibility a high stock provided without, in some cases, the shot charge being placed correspondingly higher than you may think desirable.
This dilemma remained unresolved until the development of the Jeffries Reverse Slope Rib. John Jeffries is best known for the long-barrelled over-and-under game guns he developed in conjunction with Perazzi. The RSR was first incorporated into those guns and very recently a Sporter model that I’ve been looking at. In fact it is two guns, insofar as the RSR Ultimate Combo provides two sets of barrels of 32″ and 34″ in length. 
There is little about the gun’s appearance that is unconventional except that when you look at the rib you notice that it is 7mm high at the front and slopes back to 1mm at the breech face. A feature I would not have noticed unless I’d shot the gun at a pattern plate with a stock to my usual dimensions, in which case I would have seen it shot very low. If, however, I’d had my gun fitted with the Jeffries adjustable stock, I could have raised the comb until the gun was placing the shot charge to the point of impact I required and providing all the benefits of visibility such a comb height has.
These benefits incorporated into the MX8 two-barrel set are literally an eye-opener. They can however be disconcerting to someone firmly wedded to looking flat along a shotgun’s rib with just the pupil of the aiming eye above it. Though shooting coaches constantly confirm that shots that are missed are usually below and behind, the fear of the high-shooting gun still persists. Keeping in mind the Perazzi RSR can place the shot pattern as high or as low as you like in relation to the point of aim, there is only one way to ensure your gun shoots where you want it to and that’s to resort to the pattern plate.
This still underused device can tell you all there is to know about point of impact as it relates to point of aim and the reassurance it provides in knowing exactly where your gun is shooting is a real confidence builder. I took my own advice with the Perazzi RSR, and using both sets of barrels they were soon delivering 60/40 per cent shot patterns above and below the point of impact.
The MX8 action that creates a platform for the Perazzi HPX guns has the optimum specification for any kind of target gun. Massive bearing surfaces at the side of the monobloc and the inside walls of the action are all locked together by way of a substantial bifurcated locking bolt that makes for a tough and durable gun. As with all the HPX guns, the barrels are long and light, but on this target gun not too much – with the 34″ tubes the gun’s all-up weight is 8lb 5oz.
The adjustable comb apart, the stock has an excellent configuration – the pistol grip’s fairly open radius provides comfort and control on targets at any height or angle, an essential quality in a Sporter. The forend wood is a new design Jeffries calls the flute shape, slim and easily held and controlled with the fingers.
I have to confess high shooting guns don’t worry me – in fact I see this characteristic as an advantage – but the whole purpose of the RSR is to provide a gun that shoots exactly where you want it to, high or low. The only difference is that you always have the advantage of good visibility above the rib with the high-set comb. In all circumstances you never lose sight of the target, and this has to be an advantage that helps create fast instinctive shooting. We all see something of the rib, no matter how subconsciously, but with the RSR you see more of the target. I enjoyed shooting the RSR with both barrel lengths, but in the end you have to try the Perazzi HPX RSR concept for yourself, and you can by contacting John Jeffries.
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