questions about the weight of your rifle.

[Mr. Friendly]

I've been considering the Winchester Wildcat Target/Varmint .22LR as my first plinking rifle. I held the regular Wildcat today...it was very light...lighter then I remember even my friends Cooey .22LR weighing. Now I'll admit my memory could be off, but I'm curious to know how the weight of a rifle should be distributed. With the thick target/varmint barrel option I'm going for, I'm going to guess it will be, top heavy. The one I felt top heavy, it was almost as if the wood stock was hollowed out.

for those of you who aren't familiar with the Wildcat, it's also known as the Toz 99, tho my understanding from a few things I've read is it's got a better stock and a few things have been beefed up in comparison.

so then, how should the weight on a rifle be distributed? how should it 'balance', so to speak?

 

[LeftyM77]

how do you plan on shooting it? off of a rest or free hand? if you are shooting off the bags all the time it might not matter as much if it is front heavy, but if you are going to be shooting offhand at gophers, cans, or what ever it might be better if it was a little better balanced. if the stock was synthetic you could allways add weight, im not sure what your options are with wood

 

[Mr. Friendly]

how do you plan on shooting it? off of a rest or free hand? if you are shooting off the bags all the time it might not matter as much if it is front heavy, but if you are going to be shooting offhand at gophers, cans, or what ever it might be better if it was a little better balanced. if the stock was synthetic you could allways add weight, im not sure what your options are with wood

adding weight...now I understand why there are cartridge bands to wrap around the stocks!

 

[H4831]

For off hand shooting, sometimes called, "Standing on yur hind legs and shooting like a man," a rifle heavier on the front is much easier to control. The finest, most expensive at the time, (I think) 22 sporting rifle ever made was the model 52 Winchester sporter. I have shot two of them and I could not shoot either one as well off hand as I could something much less expensive, but heavier on the front, than were the model 52s.
I am referring to the standard, accepted position for off hand target shooting. The same thing applies to rifles of heavier calibre.