doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Where is the typical balance point ?

My Iver Supertrap balances at the beginning of the forearm, so that when holding the forearm at its middle the balance point is a couple inches behind my forward hand.

Is there a typical or preferred balance point on a 12 ga. trap gun?

Thanks

Lou

Hi Bush..your "Couple behind front hand" is a bit vague,as some people hold Longer than others
The beginning of the forearm would indicate a slightly muzzle heavy balance.
Usually the Hinge Pin is a reference point, sometimes the Breech Face or Trigger(s).
Usually target guns will have the balance point 1 or perhaps as much as 2 inches forward of the hinge Pin.
But I'm no 'xpert, just have a couple of 71/2lb Pigeon Guns that are in that range
G'day n G'd luck
Franc
Someone who shoots trap will help more/ I'm sure

Measure from the face of the front trigger to the balance point.

Some guns such as M21's have a longer distance from the face of the trigger to the hinge pin.

A preferred balance point is of course shooter and disipline (trap, skeet..) dependent.

The front of the trigger is a good place to start inasmuch as it is related to the position of at least one hand that will be sensing the balance. Hinge pins don't care where your hands are. That said, most field or neutral guns will balance about 4.5" forward of the trigger. Target guns are usually built with a weight-forward bias, and that might equate to about 4.75" to 5.5" in front of the trigger. That latter length, 5.5", starts to feel a bit unwieldy.

FO, MO, and 5E all get a gold star and go to the head of the class! I can't find an emoticon for me turning back-flips for joy, so I'll just say it!!

The Iver balances at 6.5 inches from the front trigger, which is just after where the side of the forearm becomes parallel to the barrel:

Hinge pin. Nowhere else. Even weight on each hand.
Just my 2c
Mike

MB - The balance point can be referenced to any point on a gun. The issue for selecting a reference point is to aid in defining the % of weight carried by each hand. To calculate these %'s, we need the weight and the distance from the center of each hand to the balance point. Rear hand to (front) trigger is a fixed relationship gun to gun. Trigger to hinge pin is not a fixed distance, varying as much as 2" from gun model to gun model. Therefore, hand to hinge pin can't be a fixed number and must be considered on a gun model by gun model basis; note also that pumps and semi-autos don't have a hinge pin but are subject to balance. All guns can use trigger to balance point with the same meaning for each gun-shooter.

Example of balance caluclation: assume hand spread is 12 " center to center, balance is 4" to trigger, and rear hand center to trigger is 3". Then, rear hand center to balance is 7" (3" + 4" = 7"). % weight carried is the inverse of the distance. 12" - 7" divided by 12" = 5"/12" = 0.42 X 100 = 42%. The front hand is, then, 100% - 42% = 58%. Gun weight multiplied by the % gives the hand weight. Ratio of front to rear is by individual preference.

Bushmaster - less than 3" balance to trigger is very rear balanced, 3" to 4" is rear balanced, 4"-5" is "usual/normal/typical" for game weight guns, 5" to 6" is forward balanced, and over 6" is very forward balanced. From my database, the following guns have 6 1/2" balance:

Beretta 391 Gold Semiauto
Remington 1100 auto
L. C Smith "F" TLHG
Beretta 391 Auto
Remingtom M-870 TB
Rizzini Vertex w/ extended screw chokes
Browning Gold Sp Clays Auto/merc
Ithaca NID 4E BLE Trap #457465 SST
Neumann BL 10 bore

Hope that helps. Questions?

Lou,
I've found that for me, a very forward balanced gun like yours is very conducive to good shooting on most sporting clays and trap presentations. I had a Beretta 12g 682 Gold E with 32" barrels that balanced very forward (I don't recall the balance point and I sold the gun a few weeks ago) and I shot it extremely well. I also have a Browning 525 20g 32" barreled gun that is balanced very forward which I shoot very well at trap or sporting clays.

Don,
A tangent to this discussion that I don't recall coming up is LOP effect on how a gun swing inertia is affected. A lot of shooters favor longer LOPs and say they shoot markedly better with a long LOP for their body size. It seems to me that a 1/2" more LOP is pushing all the mass out another 1/2" and increasing the MOI of the gun to the shooter. That may account, in part, for a shooter "liking" a longer pull in a particular gun.

Yes, I agree. Longer LOP and barrels can increase MOI and higher MOI definitely smooths swing. It takes more effort to get going, but returns that effort in not wanting to stop or slow down as quickly.