Make no mistake: for a 22lr, these are big revolvers. IIRC, the model I have for sale was, at one point, the heaviest Smith revolver you could buy due to the amount of metal still in the cylinder (22LR a bit smaller than a 44mag.... ;-) ). However, for target shooting, this extra weight was helpful for me to stay on target (less movement in the gun). As for balance, there is definately more weight in the front of the gun (due to the long barrel) but the gun is by no means unbalanced. I think I "measured" it before and the balance point for the gun was just behind the barrel (I would imagine around the forcing cone). Would have to check again to make sure.