AusVarmint

Hi people,
Been thinking of purchasing a front and back rest for some time to make zeroing my 223 a little easier.
I have just seen these lead sleds produced by cadwell and they look awesome.
I usually sit in a bare paddock with my bench and just use the Harris bipod on top and fire away . I think to my self, I could have more accuracy using sand bags or a sled.

Anyway my question is does anybody own one of these beauty’s (lead sled) and what do you think of it??

buy a rear bag.

the spin on those is they are supposed to absorb recoil and make sighting in big recoiling calibres easier.

Hardly a problem with a 223

would be better to get bags mate and a good front rest

I have never used a lead sled
I have heard and read some storied about them causing stocks to crack

My feeling is, you sight in the way you intend to shoot the rifle, if you you shoot off a door rest, off the back of a ute, off a mound sniping etc then zero your scope that way. If you zero on a solid bench rest then shoot free hand the point of impact will, most probably, change. Also, if you sight in during full sunlight then go shooting under a spotlight the impact can change again. If the rifle/shooter aren't accurate enough to make any difference, then a good bench rest wont either. Sighting in etc the same as you shoot also becomes good practice.

Glenn

I sight my rifle's in on a portable bench in a paddock. I use a front rest and rear bags. I personally wouldn't recommend sighting in from a door rest or off the back of the ute. I've never had any problems with point of impact changing from different positions, so if there was a change, I'd suggest that it's a minimal concern for hunting situations.

I personally wouldn't recommend sighting in from a door rest or off the back of the ute

Each to there own of course, but why not sight in a rifle from a door rest? If it's good enough to use to shoot at game/vermin etc it can't be too unsuitable.
I agree, in a hunting situation you probably wont notice a POI difference, my point is, you also wont notice any accuracy gained by spending money on a rest and bench. If on the other hand you have a very accurate rifle shooting at small varmints a long way out you will notice a POI change.
Try for interest, shooting a group at 300 yards in the middle of the day from a bench then shoot at the same target, same distance from the back of a ute with a spotlight at night and see if they group in the same place!
I do however recommend benchrest shooting, not to zero a rifle but to learn and practice general shooting skills like reading the wind and trigger control etc.

Cheers

Glenn

Hey Glenn, I hear what your saying and I'd love to give it a go sometime as an experiment. When I was shooting roo's, I did a lot of shooting from a door rest. While I found they are quite steady enough, they aren't a substitute for a rock solid bench. When I'm sighting in my rifles, I like to have the steadiest rest possible to ensure my adjustments are correct and that there's no (or not much) shooter error affecting them.

By the sounds if it though, I'd say you've done a lot more long range varminting than me so when my savage turns up, I'll give your suggestions a go. I'm always prepared to be wrong.

I'm making a rest from a car jack and some scrap steel lying around. I just want to take the shooter out of the equation when zeroing. I have been zeroing from a bipod and using my hand as a rear rest and it's not too bad but I am just wanting to see how small the groups are when the rifle is really steady. I always practice shoot from the shooting rail on my door so that it's mor realistic but I never practice at night as there are critters fo kill then! Only thing you would call practice shooting at night is shooting bunnies with the .223 instead of foxes. If I can't find foxes, I usually try to find a long range bunny to keep my eye in. HMR does all the close in work.

Forget the Lead sled--- they really only cater for big, heavy, hard hitting calibers--- 223 won't belt you around----- at Silverdale range, the sleds are too high to allow the rifles to be shot due to the low overhanging awnings.
Stick to a good bag and front rest
Cheers Malcolm

I bought one a few years ago. I gave up using it in favour of a bag of rice for the front on the bonnet of the 4x4 ( we sight in at an old quarry ). Use a bit more ammo this way but I found it worked better for me. Still hit foxes out to 275m leaning against a tree or laying down.

Dave