Lead sled worth it?

[Chuck R.]

I've got one that I received as a gift.

I tried it once, took some pictures to send to the guy that gave it to me, and it's sat in the corner of my gun room since. I have the basic model and my biggest complaints were getting it on to the aim point, and the fact it has the rifle sitting about 6" higher than normal. I swear I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the crosshairs on the TGT while maintaining consistent pressure on the gun.

Normally I just use an old Hoppes front rest, or a bipod and rear bag when shooting from the bench. For the hard recoiling stuff I use a past recoil shield and/or a slip on Limbsaver pad. The Limbsaver looks goofier than chit, but it works pretty well.

I keep mine because it was a gift and periodically the gentleman that gave it to me comes over. IF not it would have headed down the road a while ago.

 

[jmorris]

There was a thread in special projects over on castboolits, I copied and made this, from ‘junk’ I had around.



It will do this.



Makes it worth it to me.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

It has it's place, but I find I'm much more accurate using bags or a bipod and rear bag.

Same here. I have the Solo, and had traded a Hyscore for it, as a buddy and I were not really happy with either of them. But I do use the Solo as a gun vise for cleaning. I use a bipod and Protektor rabbit ear rear bag for benchrest shooting.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Used one of these often before i got the Rock rest,

 

[Moparnut]

I bought 2 types of bag setups. One is the tack driver, it works pretty good with my ARs. I also bought the dead shot model, with front and rear rest bags. The problem with the dead shot rest seems like I am always adjusting after every shot, the rear bag needs to be adjusted constantly and the front bag settles at the most inopportune time.

I may try that Steady Rest. Having the ability to adjust the front screw up and down may be the way to go.

 

[jmr40]

I have no use for one. But if developing handloads and if you want to eliminate all human error to determine accuracy, I suppose they would do that. Or to eliminate any human error just to determine the true potential accuracy of your rifle. But no, I wouldn't buy one.

 

[Zygodactyl]

I bought one and used it once. I got the big one with the tray for lead bags. I have a Martini Henry that the recoil is brutal with full power loads. I was trying to develop an accurate load and thought it would add some consistency. It was an exercise in frustration. I went back to sandbags and a limb saver recoil pad.

 

[silicosys4]

Love mine, its great for working up loads on heavy kicking rifles.

 

[Sniper66]

If you want a free one, come to my gun club and occasionally find one on the donated items self in the club house. They seem like an OK idea, but are usually disappointed. I mostly dislike them because they interfere with shooting practice. A shooter is forced to compromise almost every aspect of rifle shooting to accommodate it's use. The minuses really outnumber the pluses by at least 10 to 1. I gave mine away.

 

[jag1954]

And I thought that I was the only one not particularly enamored of it. Used it once, donated it to the gun club.

 

[Milt1]

Don't like 'em, love sandbags!

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I’ve found they’re not good for sighting in, as the point of impact is different when fired the shoulder

Reminds me of my ex wife......one of those “seems like a good idea” but isn’t.

Yeah, you just won the internet for the day.

And, btw, I don't like mine much, either. Withut a bunch of lead on it (as it was designed), it tends to slide to the right when I fire, pushing POI off POA. SO you can't zero a rifle with it. It make a good gun cleaning station, however.

It's a good idea. I especially like the crank/screw/threaded whatever you call it to change elevation, but I quickly went back to my Hoppe's orange tripod and sand bag combo-which is long out of production.

 

[wombat13]

I have no use for one. But if developing handloads and if you want to eliminate all human error to determine accuracy, I suppose they would do that. Or to eliminate any human error just to determine the true potential accuracy of your rifle. But no, I wouldn't buy one.

That's why I bought mine, but I've found that I can shoot more accurately without it. I find it very difficult to get consistent cheek weld, hand position, etc. with the sled.

Now I use mine mostly to hold rifles while cleaning or other maintenance. I'll probably use it if I ever have to pattern my 3.5" turkey shotgun again. Don't need super fine accuracy for that, so the problems with the sled wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[chickasaw_hunter]

It was worth it to me when I was recovering from a shoulder injury. I did manage to crack a stock during the process. After my shoulder got better I gave it away.