Caldwell Lead Sled

[bigmoose]

youp50,

What load are you using, good looking bullets

Good Luck

Hopefully you can get 1800 to 1900FPS, that would make it a monster killer

[bigmoose]

Edge,

10 shoots in 3/4", but not a good bench shooter.

Does that mean you could hit a half dime, with your eyes closed SMILE

[bigmoose]

youp50,
As for my penetration test, several very knowledgeable folks have dicscribed my tests as worthless. Nothing alive is made of compacted magazines, most favor soaked newspaper, with the Buster Bullet, I think I would need about 3 feet of wet newsprint to stop this round. My tests may be worthless but all I'm doing is having fun.
Jacketed bullets do very poorly with my blocks
I have never held a hard cast rifle bullet, much less shot it, so I'm interested in your results
Good Luck

[Deleted]

i ordered this one some days ago. All im wanting out of it is to see what it will do for my group size out at 100 and 200 yards. I doubt i will use any weight on it as my rifle hardly kicks.

[ozark]

I moved this because I just couldn't see how it was specific to the Savage Smokeless ML. It is a great thread nevertheless. Or maybe I moved it because my favorite bench rest is the Bench Master. The Bench Master is a well made adjustable rest that has given good service. I generally don't use a rest of any type but bought this for use at our annual egg shoot. Shooters attending the event begin to order one for themselves. They had a choice between an older lead sled and the bench master and the bench master was by for the most popular. Sorry if I aggrivated posters by moving this thread. You will get over it soon or get one of the other moderators move it back. Happy springtime.

[youp50]

Ben,

I love you. I really needed a belly laugh today and you have provided it. If you notice I did modify my original post to state that I would use it with my 10 ml.

There are just so many folks here that look to the Savage ML section and leave. I was hoping to get as much free time on the big market as possible. Avoiding the inevitable.

I hope that no one will grieve your action here and thank you for being Mr Mom to us all.

[ozark]

Three intentionals and you get to experience a session in the wood shed. Gosh, I hate to hear a grown man cry. lol

[Jon]

The one thing I like about the dft I can move the front rest set it where I want it for whatever rifle I'm shooting.
Jon

[Guessed]

{Working,,again}
Kerry,kerry, Kerry- I'm not coming across correctly in type. Mountainam (which I shortened to 'nam, said it best about recoil. And my point about overweight contraptions is that if you want to invent the muzzle loading equivalent of a 'rail gun' then that's great for getting little bitty groups but does nothing for your shouldering consistency which affects both point of impact and group size. And while removing the effects of your shouldering consistency with a rail gun type set-up will indeed shrink your groups, I don't recall ever seeing anyone use one in the field for hunting. For me to debate my point further will just turn this into a light fast bullet vs a heavy slow bullet where long range is the goal type debate. Only this debate doesn't revolve around bullet weight and long range accuracy, this debate is total gun/rest weight and recoil affecting group size and steadiness vs steadiness and consistency during hunting situations. Also airplanes and cars are apples and oranges, but driving in Formula 1 races probably would be detrimental to your form for dirt track races. Just my opinion, backed by thousands of rounds of benchrested shooting and tens of thousands of rounds of off-hand shooting. I could be wrong, it occurs with increasing frequency the older I get. And I do shoot off a light, steady rest when I'm at the bench. And it does put the holes in a different and larger place when I shoot kneeling, instead.

[rebelrick]

I'm 6' 4",, 230 lbs and can handle the recoil but I like my Caldwell DFT while shooting and come deer season there will be plenty of deer sausage on the table.

[youp50]

GG,

I shortened Guessed Guess, please do not confuse it with Gigi that old lame silent French movie.

There was some discussion in years past about the most effective bench rest technique with the MLs. The consensus being, hold some down pressure on the barrel. The slower bullet velocity allows muzzle jump to act on the bullet prior to it exiting the muzzle. Maybe that will help you maintain the same point of impact.

I think I will enjoy my rest. Somehow I imagine a range session with the big bullets sans rest may get me confusing this about some old grade 'B' movie called Gygy about a bubble headed beach blond. I assure you I need everything I can think of to try to maintain my mental clarity.

I do like the muzzle loading rail gun analogy, perhaps a name change is in order.

[Richard]

Youp50..........That is a good analogy! I more or less consider my 13 lb. ML sitting on a 24 lb. Lead Sled "DFT" with many modifications, a 16 lb. leather shot bag and riding on a base that guides the rearward recoil to be about the same as my 45 lb. heavy 1,000 yard bench gun. Since the gun and sled move as one unit. As far as the trash that "guest" is rambling about, pay him no mind. Shoot your ML in comfort and come hunting season, fire for effect from what ever position you hunt with. You can't wring out your gun/loads potential if you can not effectively control it when shooting numerous rounds. If you can develop loads that shoot those little "itty-bitty" groups? Then you have that much more leeway when you are in a hunting situation without the rest. Benchrest shooters tend to also be long range varmint hunters. And varmint hunters know that you need an accurate rifle and load to be effective. On a several trips out west on mule deer/antelope/elk/prairie dog hunts, the guide told me he would rather have an "eastern" woodchuck hunter than someone who is just a "hunter!" My point being..............if you can shoot and develop accurate loads off the bench/rest/whatever, it will manifest itself in the woods. Every long range shot I took at game out west was done off a good rest. Whether it be a bi pod or my back pack. I use good benchrest technique and made one shot kills.
Get the SLED!
Richard

[Jon]

Richard well put. If you want to see how accurate a rifle is you have to as much as possible remove your self from the equasion. Once that is established then it up to you to do your part because you know the rifle can do it's part. Just my 2 cents.
Jon

[youp50]

Guns and Ammo May 2010 issue has an interesting article on heavy recoil rifles.

"gunwriter John Wooters lost an eye to a detached retina and decided cumulative recoil was a factor"

I do expect my rest to be delivered early next week. Thanks to all that offered advice.

[ozark]

I agree with using a rest while developing a load and while determining the accuracy of the rifle absent the imput of the shooter. Some shooters claim that you don't notice heavy recoil while shooting a game animal. I personally cannot trick my mind into believing that heavy recoil isn't going to hurt. I find that shooting my pellet rifle, my .22 and my .17 HMR a lot stamps a good memory on my mind about shooting being a pleasant thing. It gets me away from shouldering, flinching and tensing up and then when I shoot a rifle with heavier recoil I just follow the same routine. But I can lose that routine by firing several shots with a rifle that hurts. In competition we had a tight sling, a thick glove and a shooting jacket with a padded pocket for the butt plate. We shot an average of 50 rounds daily in practice with a M1 or a M14. We got used to that but get rid of all the aids and soon even experienced shooters will develope some bad habits due to getting hurt by recoil. In pistol matches I always knew when I had the .45 in my hand as opposed to the .22. One was a pleasure the other was not. I say use a rest at the bench and do a lot of shooting with pellet rifles and improvement will be realized across the board. JMO, but in this case I agree with myself.

[deadon]

ozark, you made me laugh so loud my wife came to the garage, My hide out to see what was going on

[ozark]

I don't have a clue to what was so funny. Are you sure you are smoking those funny looking cigarettes? I re-read my post and it was not near as funny as when the old sow eat my little brother up.

[bigmoose]

Edge,

10 shoots in 3/4", and not a bench shooter, that looks to like 5 nickels, 3 pennies and 2 dimes.
Marty

[bigmoose]

Ozark,

I can't remember, any recoil, when shooting at game. No matter the caliber of the rifle. That maybe due to a lack of brain cells.
Rebelrick,
Being big and thick, IMHO means you absorb recoil, where as a light frame, go with recoil, As I like to point out, That young lady Cindy Garrison, who had a TV show, hunted Africa, using a 500 nitro express with great skill.
It is not a rifle I would look foward shooting on a regular basis. Its a boomer.

[huntingmike]

Apr 14, 2010 7:04:32 GMT -5 KerryB said:

I have to tell you that i have tried all of the models of Lead Sleds that my buddies own and i just don't care for any of them! Some aren't adjustable enough (no windage) and the models that are adjustable seem high priced for what you get. They are designed for lead shot bags and i saw one of those tear open on the bench one day and dump about 10lbs of shot on the bench and ground. No fun to clean up......... Yes, they do absorb recoil, but i found what i consider a better device. It is built by Shooters Ridge and it's called the Zero Kick Rifle Rest. It uses a weight.......same as the Lead Sled, but this one isn't lead shot........it uses a barbell weight. They sell weights at Wal-Mart fairly inexpensively and those weights have handles molded in which makes them easy to transport, or you can just leave it on the rest. There is a large locking wheel to hold the weight on making it easy to transport in one piece. The feet on the rest are all four screw adjustable for leveling on the bench. Both the front and rear of the rest are elevation adjustable with mariner wheels and both have large locking T-handles for holding your adjustments securely. The front of the rest is windage adjustable and both the front and the rear of the rest come supplied with bags. The rest has rubber feet to prevent slippage on the bench. This rest is very well built and is very attractively powder coated for durability. If you ever look at one of these in person and then look at a Lead Sled, you'll never consider a Lead Sled again! It is a pleasure to shoot high recoiling rifles all day long on this rest and you know as well as i, you don't feel recoil when you shoot at game anyway. No i don't work for Shooters Ridge.......i just know how good this rest is! And now the good part! This rest is dirt cheap for what you get............$118. Here is a link: trophys.dealerease.net/catalog/product.asp?ret_id=806356&pid=62598
www.shootersridge.com/products/shootingrests/tabletoprests/zerokickshootingrest.aspx

If you are still looking for a rest Kerry, Doug, and Hawkeye have already tried to get you look at the Zero Kick Rest. Doug turned me on to it back in the winter and I love mine. It can handle any big recoil gun IMO. It also gives you the gun in the shoulder feel with out the kick.
Mike

[youp50]

Looking at one now Mike. Its in the basement. Hope to get out Sunday. Seems to be time to work now. Night shift, day shift. 50 or 60 hours a week. Gotta make hay though.