Lead Sled....just don't

Poboy said:

Why not just use shotbags and reposition the rifle?

Click to expand...

Leadsleds do allow for very nice precise adjustments and a firm hold on the firearm. I use mine when sighting in and developing loads because they have a very nice two-point hold so you know that it's not you pulling a shot, flinching, etc. BUT...I modified my leadsled and took off the cradle in the back that prohibits a rifle from coming back on recoil and replaced it with a shelf and a bag with arms that cradle the gun, but allow it to move backwards. Of course that was only after I learned a lesson on the first shot of a gun I built that was in the stock leadsled rear cradle. Pushed the brass buttplate so hard it deformed it on top. It was easily fixable, but that was the end of that stock cradle they supply. From the sounds of it, I was lucky that was all it did.

Okie Hog said:

i'm nearly 80 years old and don't fully understand how otherwise healthy folks become so recoil sensitive.

Click to expand...

Oakie, I'm now 80. Three years ago I was as healthy as an athlete and grateful for it. I could hold a heavy rifle with ease and hike the Ozarks all day. Then early in 2016 and for the rest of the year I got hit with a triple whammy of serious health problems and two major-major surgeries. I now get around and feel OK but my strength is way down. Check out the thread about my new Little Fella rifle Dave Person recently built for me. With a light rifle I am now back in the shooting game. Stuff happens, enjoy while you can.

Rifleman1776 said:

Oakie, I'm now 80. Three years ago I was as healthy as an athlete and grateful for it. I could hold a heavy rifle with ease and hike the Ozarks all day. Then early in 2016 and for the rest of the year I got hit with a triple whammy of serious health problems and two major-major surgeries. I now get around and feel OK but my strength is way down. Check out the thread about my new Little Fella rifle Dave Person recently built for me. With a light rifle I am now back in the shooting game. Stuff happens, enjoy while you can.

Click to expand...

Yes, it’s good to be able to keep shooting.. or start shooting. Totally disagree with that poster who said to just stay home if you’re recoil sensitive. Kids and women would often just have to be discouraged from shooting or hunting. The strap on pads work well, and the padded shirts with pockets for sorbothane help too, Browning and beretta come to mind. The recoil padsare much better today also. I’m one of those Who is recoil sensitive, and I’m not about to stay home. . Slim ML wrists made from curly maple are susceptible to breaking, not only from shooting, I’ve seen them break as the hunter leaned on it to sit up etc. I reenforce that area by drilling a blind hole under the tang area through the wrist and epoxying apiece of fiberglass ramrod that’s been roughed up in there. Never had one break.
Lead sleds are good for working up loads in heavy rifles. I built a 505 Gibbs for a guy once. He asked if I test fired it. I said, “ hell no, you’re gonna test fire it.”.
My wife is recoil sensitive and petite. I built her a very small light 36 cal left hand rifle, that she shoots in matches. She usually beats most of the men.
I used to shoot heavy stuff. & 500 practice skeet targets a week with a 12 ga o/u. Had to get cortisone shots in my shoulder, to compete... just getting over shoulder surgery from that, rodeo wrecks and a plane crash seperation.. doc Cleared me to start shooting again and have shot a couple matches fine with it.
I’ve built and modified a lot of guns for people with recoil sensitivity. Allowed them to enjoy shooting and shoot much better. And has nothing to do with “shooting like a man”. .
Stay home? Nah..

I have a cheap gel filled slip on butt pad I picked up at Walmart a number of years ago. It reduces the sharp kick enough that my skinny 8 year old grandson was shooting a unmentionable off the bench without pain. When he touched it off his chair slid back about 6 inches and he started laughing and asked "Can I shoot it again?" I switch it back and forth from my guns when working up loads from the bench including my larger caliber muzzleloaders. Even a 50 caliber with 70-80 grains gets old after a bit from the bench when it has a small narrow butt plate. Off hand it isn't much of a problem.

It’s rare that I shoot standing on my hind legs like a man. 99.9% of my shooting is from some sort of rest even if the rest is my knee, a tree branch or a fence post.
There are places where a big charge is good but I think we tend to over charge our guns too. Round ball ballistics just won’t accept magnum loads.

The high tech modern sissy pad.

I owe an apology.
I meant as in standing like a man and not in the egotistical sense.

I learnt a long time ago that rifles with considerable recoil should not be shot off a bench as one would a 222.
Benching a heavy recoiler needs to be done with a vertical spine and the rifle lifted up to achieve that. That allows the upper body to rock back and slowly absorb recoil. Shooting off hand or standing with sticks supporting the rifle is another good way of absorbing recoil.

If one wishes to bench in a low position say 270w and up in recoil values at least for a shooting session put a slim newspaper under the shirt or coat.

I don't consider any of my muzzleloaders heavy recoilers.

Once more I apologize if some thought I was questioning their manliness.

B.

I hope no body took it like that, if we can’t rib each other and take a ribbing and laugh just as hard at it, I fear we will melt in the sun.

I have a permanent bench sat up ,and I do line my rifles up,and developed loads using a rest,but unlike the lead sled mine has a sling that slips onto two adjustable forks that cradle,and keep the butt stock straight,and a small sand bag.that the forend sits on.I never adjust it tight enough to keep from being able to slip.I am not recoil sensitive, and that is not why I use it.I even use it with my bow.When I first started using it I had a tendency to fiddle with the adjustments while looking thru the ocular, and lining my crosshairs up on target,and shooting without a consistent cheek weld between shots,and encountering parallax.I now get it close,but a hair high and get a normal grip ,and cheek weld on the gun and pull the for end down into the front bag to get on target.It's mainly just to see how good a gun will,or will not shoot.

Some, my wife perhaps, would tell you I have enough lead in my ass, that I don't need such devices. Like all heavy metals it doesn't go away once you accumulate it in your body. Come to think of it, the older I get, the more my ass feels like it weighs, even if I've lost weight. Uh-oh! Here she comes now, about to tell me to get my lead ass off the pew-tur and get something done around here!

I think many of you are invisioning a lead sled as a way to rest your rifle while hunting....it is not. The lead sled was developed for merely sighting ones rifle in...wether high powered or low powered, the user has an option to add weight, or not add weight. Also it gives the user a way to fine tune the sighting in process with adjustable height. I use mine with no weight added, that way it's allowed to slide backwards as it should. After I work up a load and zero everything in, I put the lead sled away and shoot off hand. I have used my dads sled for years and years, in fact I've used his sled on each and every rifle I own. This past Christmas I finally got my own. I've never ever experienced any kind of stock wreckage using one...id love to see proof of this. Is it possible that someone is overloading their muzzeloader and using a lot of weight to try and keep it in place? Just my two cents...

Britsmoothy said:

I owe an apology.
I meant as in standing like a man and not in the egotistical sense.

I learnt a long time ago that rifles with considerable recoil should not be shot off a bench as one would a 222.
Benching a heavy recoiler needs to be done with a vertical spine and the rifle lifted up to achieve that. That allows the upper body to rock back and slowly absorb recoil. Shooting off hand or standing with sticks supporting the rifle is another good way of absorbing recoil.

If one wishes to bench in a low position say 270w and up in recoil values at least for a shooting session put a slim newspaper under the shirt or coat.

I don't consider any of my muzzleloaders heavy recoilers.

Once more I apologize if some thought I was questioning their manliness.

B.

Click to expand...

Hey Brit, just remember John Wayne always said , don't apologize its a sign of weakness!!

SDSmlf said:

View attachment 3828 The high tech modern sissy pad.

Click to expand...

This is the one I’ve used for years and recommend it highly. It spreads the impact over a wider area and absorbs a lot of the shock.

That's the one I use when sighting in my 1885 unmentionable with 500gr bullets.

Best to not fire high recoil rifles from sitting position ever. The big ones are more than capable of breaking both stocks and bones. Sight in shooting from a standing rest instead. Use a tripod or something like that. Best way to reduce recoil is practice more.

I pull mine wherever I want it!

Shootbn by Sharps Man, on Flickr

IDK, I'm 6' tall and about 135 lbs. Standing or sitting, a heavy recoil rifle is gonna push me around like a 300+ lb.. NFL lineman.

But, it ain't gonna hurt me. Yeah, long story, but shooting a full box of 30.06 cartridges or 2-3 boxes of 12 ga. shells does give you a sore shoulder, but not a broken one.

Brit and Poboy have the right idea - upright spine, stock tight against the shoulder, and roll with the recoil. The slight person has an advantage in that they don't offer much resistance to the gun; the big guy has more inertia and takes a bigger punch. All within reason...an old friend, slight of build, did some long range sessions with heavy, African double rifles. Dislocated his shoulder, and wasn't allowed to fire so much as a .22 for a year.

Richard/Grumpa

Juice Jaws said:

Hey Brit, just remember John Wayne always said , don't apologize its a sign of weakness!!

Click to expand...

Actually, it takes courage to apologize.
A desire to put some one at rest or make peace is never a bad thing.
Thanks.

B.

S.Kenton said:

I think many of you are invisioning a lead sled as a way to rest your rifle while hunting....it is not. The lead sled was developed for merely sighting ones rifle in...wether high powered or low powered, the user has an option to add weight, or not add weight. Also it gives the user a way to fine tune the sighting in process with adjustable height. I use mine with no weight added, that way it's allowed to slide backwards as it should. After I work up a load and zero everything in, I put the lead sled away and shoot off hand. I have used my dads sled for years and years, in fact I've used his sled on each and every rifle I own. This past Christmas I finally got my own. I've never ever experienced any kind of stock wreckage using one...id love to see proof of this. Is it possible that someone is overloading their muzzeloader and using a lot of weight to try and keep it in place? Just my two cents...

Click to expand...

Mr. Kenton,
The key to your successful enjoyment of the "Lead Sled" has been your NOT adding lead to weigh it down and thereby reducing the rifles ability to move. It's not only "possible" that people who have cracked stocks used a lot of weight, I can tell you from personal observation that's exactly how it happens. I've never owned one or read the instructions for use so I don't know how the manufacturer addresses the issue. That said, for whatever reason folks I've seen use them have always weighed them down to minimize or even eliminate movement. Those are the folks I've witnessed having a problem.