Dukats Journal of Hunting

The Lead Sled arrived boxed up and the first thing I noticed was the weight of the box.  The rest is built of heavy, sturdy steel tubes with welded connections.  It does arrive in several pieces and requires assembly, but it is as simple as bolting several of the main pieces together and velcroing on a butt stock support and a front bag.

The rear butt stock support is tied to the front rest and provides a sturdy place to rest the butt of your rifle.  The front rest consists of a large metal bolt machined with a slot to hold it in the same position and allow a set screw to be applied to hold it in position once adjusted.  The adjustment is made using the threads of the bolt and an oversized nut which allows easy raising and lowering of the front sight.  On top of the bolt is a drilled and tapped connection to bolt a plate for the bag rest to set upon.  The front two legs are cushioned with large rubber shoes and the rear leg allows up and down adjustment of the rifle using another bolt.

The first trip to the range, I brought along a 17 Remington, a 270 Winchester, and a 375 H&H.  A full range of calibers, just to see how it performed.  After checking the price of a 25 lb bag of shot and learning four bags were nearly double with the rest cost, I decided I would test it with the sand bags provided at the range.  I would guess the bags are around a third the weight of the lead shot, so I loaded the sled up with three of the sand bags.

I started with the 17 Remington which has little to no kick anyhow.  I wanted to test the adjustment of the front sight and see how well it worked just as a rest.  I have a 14.5 power scope of the rifle and razor thin crossheairs, so it would provide a good test of zeroing the rifle into the target.  I found the rest to be as good as any on the market in this respect.  Any rest filled with sand requires the shooter to make the finite settling of the crosshairs and this one was no different, but the platforms worked perfectly.  I shot over 20 rounds with the 17 Remington allowing it to cool between shots and found it grouped better than I'd previously thought. 

I next moved to the 270 Winchester between barrel cooling of the 17.  The 270 normally doesn't cause too much flinching, but can wear out a shoulder in a good session of checking the zero on the rifle.  Shooting the 270 was very similar to the 17 Remington with the Lead Sled.  I was impressed and had the rifle shooting 1" groups with the cheapest ammunition I could find.  So far so good.

Now the time for the real test.  I uncased the 375 H&H which normally makes my shoulder wince just at it's sight.  It's manageable shooting off the sticks or standing, but can be a real bear when sigting in.  I thought about trying to add one more sand bag, but decided to give it a try as is for starters.  I settled the crosshairs on the target and slowly squeezed the trigger.  To my amazement, I hardly felt any recoil at all.  It was noticeable, but only slightly and noticeable is markedly different than painful.  I would guess with the lead bags you wouldn't feel it at all. 

In all, the Caldwell Lead Sled performed excellent in my intial trip to the range and all trips since.  I look forward to playing with different bullets and loads now rather than dreading the trip.  I will spend more time at the range and will know the next time I miss the monster buck, it wasn't my rifle, but my own mistake.  Now that I think about it, this may not be the best, but on second thought, I'm sure I'll find another excuse when that days comes.