Lead Sled ? Yes or no.

[303_enfield]

So, I've been looking at the Lead Sled for years. Never used one but like the idea. Is it worth the money or is something better?

Looking at the Lead Sled Plus $130 shipped.

Thanks

 

[crowdog7]

Hell NO!
You can't get a propper cheek weld, your eye relief is screwed, and you're shooting off a bench.

 

[Rob01]

Test the rifle as it will be shot.

 

[Willyz_54]

My father had a minor back injury and was recommended by his doctor to use a lead sled to sight in and develop a load for his 300 win mag for an elk hunt. I mentioned this in conversation with a local smith who highly advised against the lead sled use. His reasoning was that each shot generates recoil, and with the sled, there is no where for the recoil to dissapate. In the case of an off the rack hunting rig, he further explained, the recoil can utlimately damage the factory stock and worse, damage the internals of the scope.

 

[roggom]

No, lead sled is a crutch.

 

[Astrohog]

Not to hijack, but wouldn't the lead slead work pretty well for load development? Takes the human error factor almost out of the equation.

Once the load is developed I feel then it is time to drop the sled. Correct me if I am wrong.

Levi

PS: I have one so I may be a bit biased.

 

[MajorHeadTrauma]

I use a lead sled for load development.

 

[303_enfield]

Should have said, I'm looking at the Sled for load development, ladder testing and the 6 year olds using it. Look like I'll stick with the rolled carpet.

Thanks

 

[VKC]

It maybe nice to ensure your zero, but I don't like using them as I only shoot with equipment that is packable and what I could realistically use in the field.

 

[threetrees]

well. while i agree that the sled will provide a stable mount, the mount might be different from what you (yourself) do provide as mount. as such, the zero of the zero might be different compared to your own zero (different support at the front, maybe looking through the scope slightly different, ...)

maybe use the sled to investigate group sizes (to optimise/test reloaded ammo), yes. but i wouldn't trust the zero off a sled.

 

[Chiller]

Money better spent in other places.

Learn to drive the rifle right. This is not a benchrest game.

 

[seanh]

The sled is designed for the handicapped or pussies (people that bought too much gun). If you're not handicapped and seriously feel that you need the sled, I'd suggest that you sell your rifle and get one that will allow you to handle the recoil.

 

[Will Fennell]

The Lead Sled is the most amazing bit of marketing ever featured on Outdoor Television. Just say NO.

 

[Will Fennell]

NO

The Lead Sled is the most amazing bit of marketing ever featured on Outdoor Television. Just say NO.

 

[Sportin Wood]

Only use the lead sled if you are shooting for groups with your Crickett 22lr.

 

[Name Enough]

Had one used it for a couple of hours then I could not figure out why I bought it so I took it back. Must have read on the internet how good it was to sight in a scope or get load data sorted out.
Not so.

 

[BigJimFish]

I've never understood these or many of the other contraptions. I suppose as contraptions go these feel a bit more solid than most of the crap out there but they still just don't feel right. I just don't feel like I am properly behind the rifle. The sled results in a very upright shooter position. I think in the long run it would give a man bad habits as you don't properly get your mass behind the gun when using it. Also for that reason I would have some doubts about the zero on a heavy recoiling rifle. Lastly, I don't find it as solid feeling as a good bag. Save your dough.

 

[djp0623]

Not to hijack, but wouldn't the lead slead work pretty well for load development? Takes the human error factor almost out of the equation.

Once the load is developed I feel then it is time to drop the sled. Correct me if I am wrong.

Levi

PS: I have one so I may be a bit biased.

I have to agree with this statement. I am in the same situation. I'm in the load development process and my trip to a new range yesterday seemed like a waste. I couldn't get positioned properly on their benches. The wet and cold didn't help either.

Removing the human error from load development is a good idea. Especially with novice shooters. Once you know the load is precise in your rifle. Remove the sled and dial in the accuracy to the shooter. It just makes sense. A sled will help provide the baseline for the rifles capability that the shooter can use to gauge their performance.

I can see more advanced shooters not benefiting from a sled.

 

[Graham]

I'm in the load development process and my trip to a new range yesterday seemed like a waste. I couldn't get positioned properly on their benches. The wet and cold didn't help either.... Once you know the load is precise in your rifle. Remove the sled and dial in the accuracy to the shooter. It just makes sense.

Let me think this one through: If you are a novice shooter, and have a rifle that needs a 'load development process' in order for it to be precise, then paying for a device into which you initially strap the rifle will help achieve your objectives. Hmmmm......

 

[Diablo]

LMAO, agree completely with what Seanh says, it is a marketing POS.

Suggest training novice shooters how to shoot, not how to stick the weapon on that POS.

My 11 year old grandaughter LIKES to shoot my 308, and she never needed a lead sled.

And if you feel the need to take the "human factor" out of load development, could it possibly imply that your technique is poor and you really need as much additional practice as you can get?

 

[Squid284]

For that money, maybe a few more dollars for a good muzzle brake would be a better investment. (if recoil is an issue)

 

[sobrbiker883]

No.
Shoot the rifle as you shoot the rifle most.

 

[ragsflh]

no ,shoot the rifle

 

[djp0623]

Let me think this one through: If you are a novice shooter, and have a rifle that needs a 'load development process' in order for it to be precise, then paying for a device into which you initially strap the rifle will help achieve your objectives. Hmmmm......

I'm a physicist. I'll nerd up any sport. I find the load development fun. At this point a sled does get me to the data I am looking for.

While I still completely agree with my original thought. I actually ended up not getting the sled and bought a shooting mat instead. I watched a couple of videos of guy a shooting prone with a bipod and rear bag. After watching the videos I feel that I will be able to setup in a consistent reproducible manner.

"And if you feel the need to take the "human factor" out of load development, could it possibly imply that your technique is poor and you really need as much additional practice as you can get?"

I'm sorry, but including the shooter in load development adds a variable into how the load and rifle interact with one another. The shooter is not going to tighten up the grouping better than the best load for a particular rifle without the shooter based on the same aim point. Yes, you can compensate for the shooter with load development, which is what most of you are actually referring.

Yes! It absolutely means I need more practice. much,much, more practice behind the rifle. IF I know the rifles capability, then I can gauge my progress and know when I've reached the limit of the rifle.

Please guys.....Just because you dial in your rifle as a system (makes a lot of sense), don't discount the science behind breaking down the separate steps.

 

[Graham]

I actually ended up not getting the sled and bought a shooting mat instead. I watched a couple of videos of guy a shooting prone with a bipod and rear bag. After watching the videos I feel that I will be able to setup in a consistent reproducible manner.

It sounds like you realized early why you don't need a gadget that serves no practical purpose.

If your rifle shoots so poorly, or so well, that you have to lock it into a mechanical device in order to 'take out the human factor', then there's something seriously wrong with your rifle. If you shoot so poorly that you can't produce a predictable group without using such a device, then the device won't get you closer to being able to shoot the rifle accurately.

I was at the range the other day. The guy beside me had his rifle locked into a 'sled'. He told me that he was 'zeriong' his rifle for varmint hunting. I asked him 'How's that?'. He replied that he was 'taking out the human factor' and getting his rifle 'mechanically zeroed'. 'Oh,' I said.

Load development is primarily for shooters, like Benchresters, who have to develop loads because the load recipe is a very large variable in the kind of shooting that they do. And they, too, don't anchor the gun but develop their loads with the rifle in the same position that it will be shot in competition.

It doesn't matter whether you are shooting different boxes of hunting ammo to see which one will hit a barn door at 100, or doing a ladder test to find an accuracy node, if you clamp the rifle into a mechanical device you're wasting ammo.

 

[gstaylorg]

I had one several years ago. I gave it away as soon as I realized I could shoot with much greater precision without the Lead Sled, shooting prone with a bipod. For those that are thinking about using one for load development, just be aware that it does NOT take the shooter out of the equation. The POI of a rifle clamped down in a Lead Sled will shift around just like it would if it was being improperly manipulated without one. In other words, the rifle will still be responsive to what you do behind it. The Sled may (and I emphasize "may) reduce movement ever so slightly, particularly if the driver doesn't follow good fundamentals, but you still have to drive the rifle when it is sitting in one. Caveat emptor.

 

[Graham]

I had one several years ago. I gave it away as soon as I realized I could shoot with much greater precision without the Lead Sled, shooting prone with a bipod. For those that are thinking about using one for load development, just be aware that it does NOT take the shooter out of the equation. The POI of a rifle clamped down in a Lead Sled will shift around just like it would if it was being improperly manipulated without one. In other words, the rifle will still be responsive to what you do behind it. The Sled may (and I emphasize "may) reduce movement ever so slightly, particularly if the driver doesn't follow good fundamentals, but you still have to drive the rifle when it is sitting in one. Caveat emptor.

Exactly: Free recoil only gets you a zero on a Benchrest rifle.

If you're afraid of the rifle just sell it and let someone else shoot it and hunt with it.

 

[dwt]

No , no , no !

 

[39-Ret]

Why waste your money? Shoot Shoot

 

[djp0623]

My cabelas shooting mat arrived today. It seems pretty rugged. Its very well padded. I played with it a bit on the living room floor aiming out the window. I was impressed by the stability I was able to achieve on a 200yd target with full mag. On my 3-9. im very eager to get to the range and try this out.

While it is still untested, I dont believe anything will be given up to a sled (which is my current method). Its hard to explain, but movement induced by breathing is much more predictable. I fought this with the sled while trying to get as natural of a shooting position as possible. While one would think that breathing induced motion would be non existant on a sled, it just wasnt the case.

I thought I would give my 2 cents to those like myself that were contemplating a sled purchase.

It could also double as a sleep pad for camping.

 

[Graham]

It could also double as a sleep pad for camping.

And a Sled could double as a boat anchor.

 

[Smokerroller]

Friends don't let friends use leadsleads!! Too many reasons to list why to stay way from them, and a lot of them have been covered.

 

[Rhys]

FOr any meaningfull info the rifle has to be able to move as it would when normaly being used. if you lock a rifle down to where it can't move at all in recoil it will likely shoot worse than if driven correctly. About the time these sleds came out I had a half dozen rifles that had stocks broken through the wrist come in to the shop. Everyone of the owners had been using a lead sled. Generally they split from th magazine cut out to the point of the comb. THe sled was keeping them from moving rearward in recoil, and all that energy had to go somewhere. The result is that it split the stock.

 

[rleffel]

I only use mine for sighting in the 40 cal + rifles. I does not get much use

 

[finbox]

I bought one shoots like crap!...does work well to hold you rifle while cleaning.

 

[bullseye13]

I own a lead sled dft and used it for a couple years with magnum calibers because I thought I would shoot better with it, especially for load development. Then I took a long range shooting class with a couple of buddies, we ended up shooting just under 400 rounds over a Saturday and Sunday mostly prone, never from a bench. I can honestly say, that I don't think I will ever shoot from a bench again, and I now realize what a piece of crap the lead sled was/ is. I can shoot better groups prone using a quality bipod and a rear bag than I ever could with the lead sled. If I could do it over again, I would have put my money to better use than buying a lead sled. Just my .02¢

 

[Archer762]

This is why I like this forum- people are saying NO. If you posted this question on a common hunting forum, you'd get a ton of people highly recommending it for the half-box of ammo they shoot per year.

 

[c1steve]

I have a 375 Ruger that needs load development. I am considering using a lead sled to start the process, just to save my shoulder and reduce the possibility of developing a flinch.

For moderate size calibers, I see no reason to use one.

-s

 

[gasdoc09]

Is there really risk of damaging a mid- to high-quality scope using the Lead Sled?

I have one and have used it for load development with several rifles (from .223 to 338LM). This isn't marksmanship practice time for me; for this purpose, eliminating as many human factors as possible is the goal and it seems to do a good job of that. But if I might wreck my SWFA 5-25 or S&B PMII using it ...

 

[wolffman]

I bought one 4 years ago and have never used it 1 time. I am sure I could find somebody to buy it just haven't needed to use it and it was an impulse buy at cabelas because it was marked way down.

 

[MJY65]

I bought one 4 years ago and have never used it 1 time. I am sure I could find somebody to buy it just haven't needed to use it and it was an impulse buy at cabelas because it was marked way down.

My situation exactly. I saw it on sale and bought it. When I tried it at home, I realized I just couldn't get behind it comfortably. I thought I might use it for load development, but never have.