So...I sold a couple of Final Approach layout blinds and was flush with bucks so I thought I'd pick up one of the Lead Sleds for super fine tuning sighting in the rifles. I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and picked one up yesterday. $199.99. It's the fancy one with the Caldwell bench rest components. They went through a lot of trouble making the front end of the thing solid but in the back there's an adjustment for moving the back end up or down and it's a sloppy fit making it extremely difficult to hold the crosshairs on target. Frankly, it's not worth the extra money.

The Lead Sled is supposed to make sighting in a high powered rifle in such a way that the recoil is absorbed by the device. I'm sure it works fine for that but what good is it if you can't keep it on target? I have an expensive Caldwell bench rest and it's pretty good if you have a bench rest rifle but a standard sporter rifle with a rounded forearm rolls around making it difficult to use. The Lead Sled has a narrower bag on the front so I'm going to use it for sighting in my centerfire 22's and use the Lead Sled for working up loads and sighting in my 7mm Remington mag. I'm also going to see about what I can do to make the back adjustment on the device more solid.

Let us know what you come up with Moe. I was looking at this at Bass Pros and want it for my .338 Win Mag.

I have the plain Lead Sled. I took a couple of jean legs and packed each one with 30# of lead sinkers.(I got the sinkers for free) Put them on the tray and your ready to go. It sure works great with my 300 Weatherby. I also used it to sight in my buddies 30-378 Weatherby. Good luck with your new toy Moe.

Wayne

I used my new dual-rail Lead Sled to sight in a 22.250 and a .270 WSM last weekend and it worked pretty good including the rear elevation adjustment. What I don't like is that when you unlock the front elevation adjustment, the big wheel, it is so sloppy that everything up front moves. I could get elevation close and fine tune it with the rear adjustment, but then had to screw around with the windage adjustment again. All in all it worked pretty well and better than the two cheaper rests I have but even with two bags of shot in the cradles the .270 WSM would still move it back a half inch or so unless you really put you shoulder in it. After shooting the WSM off hand after sighting it in I really appreciated how well the Lead Sled worked to reduce recoil, but I think I will add a third bag of shot.

SteveH.

This is the first time I've used a device like this. I loaded it up with 6 canvas shot bags filled with sand. After all, I was shooting a 22-250 and a 223 Ackley Imp. Even the 223AI pushed the thing back 1/2" or so making it so I had to make numerous adjustments each time I shot. Shooter John will tell you that the way you shoot those tiny groups is to have everything consistant each time you shoot with little or no stress anywhere on the rifle. When the windage or elevation or anything else is changed the stresses on the rifle are going to be different every time you shoot. I did shoot some nice 3 shot groups but couldn't hold things down right to make them nice 5 shot groups.

I quit loading for my shotguns some time ago and gave away a few bags of shot to a good friend. Now I wish I'd kept them. Shot prices these days are out of sight.

Someone suggested wheel weights from a tire shop or fishing sinkers. I got the shot for $29/bag at Midway, I think, with free shipping six months ago. I was shooting off of an Inventive Technologies bench up in the hills behind my house. I modified the bench to make it easier to put up and take down and by doing so made it less stable. Now I know why they made all of the folding parts so damn stiff; it is a real finger pincher to put up and down. I got some excellent groups out of the Savage .204 but it wasn't moving things around like the bigger bore stuff. I was getting close on the 22.250 and .270 WSM but got the barrels hot and I gave up for the day. I really need to go to a real shooting range and give it a try. I've never been to one and the closest is a 150 mile round trip.

SteveH.

Good info here gents, thanks. I always wondered how that lead sled worked and if it would make it difficult to get lined up on for the shot.

Was reading a gun magazine the other day and a fellow had a question. He was using the lead sled, and about 100lbs of weight, and the boomer he was shooting was developing a crack in the stock, right behind the action. The writer said he was using too much weight. He said if you use too much, and stop all recoil, the enegy has to go someplace and that resulted in the stock cracking. The article was in Guns or Shooting, don't remember which.

Good point Braz. The recoil is absorbed by the shooter and if you use the sled alot with heavy hitters I could see that happening. Good thing I have a synthetic stock. I would hate to ruin a beautiful piece of wood.

If I remember correctly, it was a syn. that they were talking about.

A couple of years ago I bought a stainless steel spring system for my old Remington model 1100. After installing the spring I took the gun up into the hills to test it out. The spring system is supposed to make the shotgun cycle more reliably and faster. So I loaded up some of my old standard lead shotshells, put the butt of the stock against the tire of my truck and fired it rapidly 3 times. There's a recoil pad on the gun and, of course, the tire. It cracked the stock.

BTW....the new stainless spring fails after about 6 shots. I noticed they're not selling the system anymore.

In the article I read, they used the example of putting the butt against a tree and firing. You can imagine the recoil effects against your stock in that situation. The article states that putting too much weight in the sled does the same thing.

Good to know! I think I still want one for sighting in cause that's not a naturaul shootong position especially for big calibers. I will make sure not to use to much weight. I wouldn't want to use it every time at the range.

The article indiated that 50# would probably be max with no problems.

Sounds good! I think that would tame it but still give you some movement to absorb recoil.

We have one, hubby and son use it to shoot long range with the 300 WM and the Ultra Mag.. Its awesome. No complaints here. Gives a good solid rest, and it does lessen the recoil. we dont put much weight on it mainly because we arent packing all that weight with us where we go. So perhaps the lighter weight is why ours hasnt given us any problems? Heck we even used it without anything when we forgot the weight LOL.. And in the middle of nowhere nevada there isnt many heavy objects that lay nicely in the sled.

Caldwell sells an accessory set of three canvas bags with zippers and carry handles to hold shot for the Lead Sled. They suggest laying the third bag across the rails behind the two bags placed in the trays if needed for larger bore rifles. I think that there will still be enough flex in the device to prevent splitting a stock. I think the idea is to keep the rifle on target after each shot to prevent having to resight each time.

SteveH