Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rifle Balance ? for M.D.

I've got a little Remington 504 .22 with a Lilja barrel. It wore about a 14 oz scope and some Burris sig z rings and is my third favorite squirrel killer. A couple 3 months ago I ordered an Arken ELP4 4-16 scope for the .22 Creed I'm building. Wanting to play with the scope while waiting for the barrel, I picked up a cheap set of rings that would fit the mounts on the 504. Just those extra few ounces (maybe 12 or so) turned the rifle into a butt heavy pig. It moved the balance point back and as BSA said top heavy. I hadn't thought of the top heavy description till he said it. Although I can shoot it slightly better from a bench everything else seems to be worse. Off hand, standing with a rest on the side of a tree and sitting are not near as comfortable or accurate with the rifle.

I personally like a little more barrel length for a forward balance, as the muzzle tends not to wave round as much offhand. Not so much that the butt of the rifle wants to lift up off my shoulder though. Putting the muzzle blast a few more inches away from my (protected) ears is also nice.

I noticed this first with an old Winchester 61 pump .22. I loved the way that rifle settled down. Don't own one anymore, but I have fond memories. The Model 61 and 9422s are a couple of the best rimfires ever made.

The 18.5" Model Seven vs a longer sporter with a thicker barrel profile also changed my opinion on 'as short and light as possible'.

So I wouldn't kick a 24"-26" barrel out of the safe. Hunting grouse and pushing bush is 'lively and nimble' with a 26" 20 gauge 870, but a shorter 24" sporter is somehow a real inconvenience? I think it may all be perspective...

You guys have a right to like what you want, but when you say you like a barrel heavy “balance” that doesn’t make any sense.

Over all fit is as important as balance to me, when I mount a rifle with my eye's closed then open them every thing has to be lined up with out adjusting and wiggling the rifle to get it lined up, I like my rifles to handle like a perfect Shotgun.




Once you add a suppressor it changes the balance and feel of a rifle, i've cut barrels down a couple of inch's at a time to get the balance right for me, one rifle started out with 26" barrel and ended up at 18.5". Rio7

Speaking of shotgun balance, the term "dynamic handling" is often used. The preferred balance point for fast-handling, British game guns seems to be in the neighborhood of 4.25-4.5" ahead of the trigger, which few autoloaders or pumps can achieve.

This 20-gauge, 26" Remington 1100 happens to balance 4.5" in front of the trigger.

Sandlapper,

However, the other more-or-less standard "balance" for British game guns is to have half the weight between your hands--which makes handling more "dynamic. Which generally doesn't occur with semiautos or pumps--and also isn't consistent because of the magazine in front of the action.

When I saw this BSA spec sheet I had to compare it to my BSA Model 12. Fairly close to what they specify: balance point 6.25" ahead of the trigger, but mine weighs a little more at 9lbs 4oz.

For sh*ts and grins I checked my favorite .32-40 target rifle setting here close to hand. Winchester High Wall, 32" bull barrel, hooked butt plate, weight 14 lbs 2oz, point of balance: almost 12" ahead of the trigger. I had the barrel off of it once and it weighs right at 8 pounds alone, which explains the egregious weight forward aspect of the gun. Boy, she sure does lay steady though when you're trying to slop a lead bullet into a bullseye at 200 yards.

I don’t know anything about rifle balance… but that BSA 15 with a set of those sights sure looks about right.

Gorgeous rifle. What stock is that?


Okie John

I have never seen or handled a Semi-Auto or Pump that balances and handles as well as a well done Double our Over and Under. Rio7

Mule Deer,

Thanks for elaborating on the subject! Seem to recall you mentioning somewhere that a 16-gauge Model 12 balanced well for a repeater?

Couldn't help but laugh at one writer's eloquent description:

The double’s subtle advantages spring from its compact, centrally located metallic nucleus.
Repeaters must have working parts strung from stem to stern.

Harry Pope (mentioned in an earlier post) opined that, "For the finest offhand shooting the rifle must be muzzle heavy," with the weight distribution being in the barrel.

Now that's funny!