Outstanding explaination, Ken! It makes me feel really good to see other people who "get it" write such explainations!!
FOX SXS- a quick check is to pick up a gun and quickly mount it to your shoulder while giving it a swing or two. If you move your front hand during the mount of feel any urge to move it after mounting, consider that the balance does not entirely suit you. Balance determines the % of the gun's weight that is proportioned into each hand. People have, as Ken pointed out, differing preferences on this characteristic. Also, some peole have diffeering preferences as the gun's weight and swing effort vary.
Weight, balance (teeter-totter point), unmounted swing effort (moment of inertia around the balance point), and mounted swing effort (MOI around the butt) make up a handling "fingerprint" of the gun. Knowing these parameters is to gun handling as knowing prefered stock dimensions is to gun fit. "Proper" in both cases is whatever you shoot best or enjoy shooting most; usually "shoot best" and "enjoy most" will be different for handling.
"Balance" is often used as a subjective summation of the gun's handling. Since I deal in objective data, I can't comment on what anyone considers subjectively proper.
Hope that helps. Feel free to post back questions. Sorry there was not a simple answer to your question.
