Ideal Rifle Balance

idealy? at the pistol grip. or more importantly on the thumb of your dominate hand.

when building an AR? i have no idea. i dont own an AR.

I think Hoppy590 is right on the general preferred set up.

On an M16/M4, I actually think they run a bit better nose heavy for rapid CQB kind of shooting, but that may just be my perception, others mileage may vary. Doesn't help as much at all for standing off hand shooting at greater distance.

No such thing as a rule of thumb in this instance. Pick the way you're going to shoot it (off-hand, prone, etc.) the most and find a comfortable balance point for you.

Barrel heavy helps steady the muzzle off-hand. It also helps reduce muzzle rise, not that that's a huge concern with a .223/5.56 anything, but a consideration none the less.

For me, neutral balance tends to settle into bags easier off a bench, but this also increases muzzle rise on a decent kicker.

I've never personally used a rifle that was rear-heavy, so I've no thoughts on that.

As for me, I grew up shooting long barreled 12 gauges after geese (28" minimum, 30-32" preferable) and hunting rifles with longish barrels. So to my way of feeling, anything not barrel heavy feels clunky and unbalanced.

If it is for short to mid range, fast action I prefer the balance point midway between the hands. so should handle almost instinctivly like a good shotgun on quail.
For long range shooting off bench, bags, or tripod a barrel heavy is great.
I have a scoped AR with heavy 24" barrel for long or longer, and a light-under-handguard M4 with EOTech HWS for fast, instinctive, both eyes open shooting. They are 2 very different creatures.

The best balanced rifle is the one that feels the best to you when out shooting.

I spent 30 years in the music business, and I had to chuckle when people spoke of things like a "balanced" conductor's baton. There are companies actually hand balancing batons so the balance point is just at the front of the handle, and charging exorbitant prices for them. Yeah, THAT'll make you a good conductor (a baton weighs approximately 1 to 2 ounces).

I can take any rifle (or any conductor's baton) and balance it by the muzzle (or tip) on one finger if that impresses you, but it won't help my shooting (or my conducting) one bit.

The best balanced rifle is the one that feels the best to you when out shooting.

I spent 30 years in the music business, and I had to chuckle when people spoke of things like a "balanced" conductor's baton. There are companies actually hand balancing batons so the balance point is just at the front of the handle, and charging exorbitant prices for them. Yeah, THAT'll make you a good conductor (a baton weighs approximately 1 to 2 ounces).

I can take any rifle (or any conductor's baton) and balance it by the muzzle (or tip) on one finger if that impresses you, but it won't help my shooting (or my conducting) one bit.

I like mine to be balanced towards the front of the magazine well for offhand shooting.

If you take a large ziplock bag, and stuff it into the butt trap, you can add lead shot to get it to balance where you want it, providing that its already muzzle heavy.

Weight and balance is a very personal thing. Experiment and run whatever works best for you.

On my service rifle ARs, I like them to balance right around the delta ring, with maybe just a tad bias towards the muzzle. They weigh somewhere around 12-13 lbs unloaded.