Actually, I've never handled a 28" box lock gun, of any nationality, that I felt was barrel heavy.
SRH
Stan, have you ever handled a Ruger Gold Label? In an effort to keep the weight down on those guns, they milled metal out of the receiver. The result was a gun with a very definite weight forward bias. I've owned a whole bunch of side by sides, but the vast majority of them were made for hunting rather than target shooting. I think, as you suggest, that much depends on the preference and experiences of each individual. "Barrel heavy", in my mind, defines a gun that has a balance point well in front of the hinge pin. But such a gun may not feel "barrel heavy" to those who are used to guns designed that way. They do to me, because I've owned and shot far more guns that have a balance closer to neutral (right around the hinge pin) or maybe even a little behind it--which could be described as "barrel light".
