leadsled help please

[Broz]

My advice would be to sell the ledsled and use the money to install a good side discharge brake. Shoot prone with a good bipod and rear bag. This will insure no change in point of impact and will aid in training you to be more in tune with your rifle and equipment. I got rid of all the sleds, rests and stuff years ago. Now everything is done in the manner I shoot in the field. Even load development. I shoot better today because of it.

Not to be rude but just truthful. If you are using a sled, is for one of these reasons? 1: you are bothered by the recoil or 2: you do not trust your shooting skill to test a load. The only way to get past these is to get comfortable with your rifle. Install a brake if the recoil bothers you and practice shooting.

Jeff

 

[Doublezranch]

Since your placing weight on the frame to deaden the recoil, in some cases the rifle and scope absorb the recoil instead of the recoil going into your shoulder for instance. The recoil has to go somewhere. I used to put weight on my sled...a 100 lbs infact. I don't do that anymore. I want the recoil to push the sled a bit thus having somewhere for the recoil to go.

 

[FEENIX]

it really damaged your scope?!?! how can they sell things that damage scopes?some people.on here actually said the leadsled was great....now I feel like I wasted 200bucks...this is a leadsled dft by the way...

I have the older lead sled and have been using it for a while now without any problem other that poor cheek weld.

When used properly, it has it's benefits. Where problem starts is when people used them to eliminate recoil by putting excessive weight (i.e. 50+ lbs) to eliminate recoil. Well, guess what, something has to give, whatever the weakest point (stock, scope, etc ...) is will fall under Murphy's Law.

As previously noted, I used it during load development and I can transition to cleaning the barrel securely and then back to shooting.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I have the older lead sled and have been using it for a while now without any problem other that poor cheek weld.

When used properly, it has it's benefits. Where problem starts is when people used them to eliminate recoil by putting excessive weight (i.e. 50+ lbs) to eliminate recoil. Well, guess what, something has to give, whatever the weakest point (stock, scope, etc ...) is will fall under Murphy's Law.

As previously noted, I used it during load development and I can transition to cleaning the barrel securely and then back to shooting.

well I've put about 25 shots through the rifle on the sled with about 30lbs weight...it still recoil but not much. hopefully I didny ruin the rifle or scope....is there anyway to know if I hurt the rifle or scope?

 

[Doublezranch]

Well said my friend!!

 

[Bigeclipse]

how would I know if my rifle or scope was hurt from the recoil?

 

[FEENIX]

how would I know if my rifle or scope was hurt from the recoil?

Don't be too quick to assume there's something wrong/ruined already.

Per #6, esp. your FIL since he's got the model rifle. If he shoot well under 1 MOA, then it's not the rifle, ammo, or the lead sled. lightbulblightbulblightbulb

 

[Bigeclipse]

I do have one final question. Assuming the sled isnt ruing my gun...i.e. the recoil absortion isnt as bad as it "might" be...shouldnt it provide tight groups(i.e. elimating some shooter error)? This is also assuming the ammo being shot works well with my rifle.

What I am looking for is just trying to find the best ammo my gun can shoot. THEN I will fine tune my rifle on my bipod. But as stated above if I am shooting 5 different boxes of ammo...say 5 shots of each(to try and find best grouping ammo)...thats 25 shots...my arm becomes really sore with that amount. So If I could do those 25 shots on the sled to eliminate shooter error AND save my shoulder JUST to determine the best shooting factory load in my gun then GREAT...but if the sled could be causing bad groups I.E. bouncing the rifle or something else I am not seeing then I will ditch it. P.S. a good group to me is below 1 MOA...I know you all probably look for much better than that but I am jus trying to get a decent hunting set-up out to 300 yards. Also, I understand maybe I should have gone with a 270 or whatever for less recoil but I didnt lol Maybe I will get a new rifle next year but this is what I have for this year.
P.S. Muzzle breaks are kind of frowned upon where I am due to noise and blah blah blah. I know...stupid but I have to deal with it.

 

[shimoda]

Try dry firing your rifle while in the lead sled and see if your cross-hair moves from point of aim. Could be technique.

The couple of times I shot from a sled I was uncomfortable and couldn't get settled behind the gun. My technique and "feel" is much better without the sled.

I spend a lot of time dry firing in my shop at very small aiming points. Also a lot of trigger time with rimfires.

I have some rifles that like to to be held down and man-handled and others that prefer to be tickled. Lead sleds don't allow your rifle to tell you which.

All that being said, she may just not like what you're feeding her.

 

[FEENIX]

I understand maybe I should have gone with a 270 or whatever for less recoil but I didnt lol Maybe I will get a new rifle next year but this is what I have for this year.

P.S. Muzzle breaks are kind of frowned upon where I am due to noise and blah blah blah. I know...stupid but I have to deal with it.

Recoil? It's not necessarily the chambering but the load and rifle combo ... .300 WSM with 165gr ??? factory ammo vs. .270 Win with 175gr Matrix VLD handload.

Do not underestimate the .270 Win, esp. when you reload, it's definitely no slouch with the right bullet, powder, and barrel combination and of course the nut behind the trigger. I'm pushing 175gr Matrix VLDs @ 2919 FPS with 57.5gr H4831SC while fire-forming to .270 AI. My goal is to 3100 FPS or near that but accuracy comes first.

Frown all they want but it's your rifle. As Jeff (BROZ) noted, an effective muzzle brake is awesome ... it not only reduces the recoil but also reduces muzzle rise ... being able to see the impact on your target is priceless.

Below is my .270 AI with JP Enterprise Beenie Cooley muzzle brake.