Rifle's ideal centre of gravity ?

[Hsing-ee]

Looking at picture of a good rifle with mounted scope for sale. It's resting on a narrow box and in balance.

Butt to trigger blade 74
Butt to CofG 88
Total length with moderator 190

Assuming the total length of the rifle is something like 1 mtetre and scaling, that puts the CofG 460mm / 18½ inches forward of the butt, and the trigger blade 75mm / 3 inches behind the CofG.

My (fairly heavy) 80K and scope CofG is 480mm / 19 inches forward of the butt and the blade is 120mm 4¾ inches behind CofG. I'd prefer the CofG to be further back than that but that might affect the stability of aim.

Are there any rules of thumb about these things?

My understanding is that a rifle ought to be slightly muzzle-heavy to allow a steady training & aiming on target. The further back the balance point the less stability you’re going to get which is fine if you are in the US Marines and expect to do CQB in your job with lots of rapid reorientation of the rifle, but if you are a sporting airgun enthusiast then deliberate aiming with a slightly weighty muzzle end is going to give the most hits.

That’s my threppence.

[angrybear]

My understanding is that a rifle ought to be slightly muzzle-heavy to allow a steady training & aiming on target. The further back the balance point the less stability you’re going to get which is fine if you are in the US Marines and expect to do CQB in your job with lots of rapid reorientation of the rifle, but if you are a sporting airgun enthusiast then deliberate aiming with a slightly weighty muzzle end is going to give the most hits.

That’s my threppence.

I would completely agree if you're on a range shooting at stationary targets, as will having a bipod mounted further forward.
but for field work where a live target might hop sideways or jump to another branch necessitating a quick change of aim a CoG /PoB further back can be a benefit, as can mounting a bipod closer to the PoB.

Travis's 95, above looks spot on.