I thought I might start another thread specific to this subject since it has been prominently mentioned on another thread.
As many have observed, the somewhat popular Caldwell LeadSled is flawed in its design and can crack buttplates, or worse, crack a stock at the tang. This is because its main design flaw is having rubber feet which grip the bench surface and resist slipping under recoil. This makes it like placing the butt of your rifle against a brick wall: The recoil from firing will eventually take its toll on whatever part of the gun has to absorb that energy, and the firmer the surface against which the gun rests the quicker this will happen. Added to this poor design is the extra inertia when weight (like 25 or 50 pounds of lead shot) is placed on the platform of the sled.
Years ago I designed and built a simple, effective, yet safe recoil-absorbing rifle rest. It is made with a simple length (24 to 30 inches) of channel steel (5 or 6 inches wide). To this is welded a platform which raises and lowers in front for a sandbag (a simple 7/8" bolt about 5 inches long serves as the elevator), and a vertical piece of flat steel (padded with some dense foam and held in place with . . . you guessed it, duct tape) at rear against which the butt rests. The toe of the stock sits on a simple sandbag place on top of the channel steel. It looks like this:
And with a Sako cradled on it and pointed downrange, it looks like this:
It sits on a surface of carpet; thus, when the gun is fired the channel steel slips slightly rearward so that the inertia of the recoil is absorbed over a much greater distance and the peak pressure on both the rifle butt and the rifle's bedding is reduced to little (if any) more than when fired offhand with the butt against your shoulder.
The key to this design is to allow the rifle rest to slip rearward a bit under recoil, unlike the fully stationary Caldwell product. With light-recoiling rifles the movement is so little that it is unnoticeable. With heavy kickers you'll need to slide the rest forward after each shot an inch or so ("return to battery"). Notice that the rest extends off of the bench to the rear, making an offset shooting bench unnecessary since you can place the rest far enough to the rear to meet your shoulder comfortably. The rest probably weighs about 15-20 pounds, which is plenty to dampen the recoil of the hardest kicking rifle (this whole concept simply has the effect of adding weight to the rifle, NOT preventing the rifle from moving at all.)
I built the first of these perhaps 20 or more years ago and have illustrated time and again that the rifle's zero is not at all altered whether shooting from the metal rest or from sandbags. This is true both of low and higher recoiling rifles. I have several friends who come to my place to shoot and they all refuse to shoot from the bench without using one of my rests.
As many have observed, the somewhat popular Caldwell LeadSled is flawed in its design and can crack buttplates, or worse, crack a stock at the tang. This is because its main design flaw is having rubber feet which grip the bench surface and resist slipping under recoil. This makes it like placing the butt of your rifle against a brick wall: The recoil from firing will eventually take its toll on whatever part of the gun has to absorb that energy, and the firmer the surface against which the gun rests the quicker this will happen. Added to this poor design is the extra inertia when weight (like 25 or 50 pounds of lead shot) is placed on the platform of the sled.
Years ago I designed and built a simple, effective, yet safe recoil-absorbing rifle rest. It is made with a simple length (24 to 30 inches) of channel steel (5 or 6 inches wide). To this is welded a platform which raises and lowers in front for a sandbag (a simple 7/8" bolt about 5 inches long serves as the elevator), and a vertical piece of flat steel (padded with some dense foam and held in place with . . . you guessed it, duct tape) at rear against which the butt rests. The toe of the stock sits on a simple sandbag place on top of the channel steel. It looks like this:
And with a Sako cradled on it and pointed downrange, it looks like this:
It sits on a surface of carpet; thus, when the gun is fired the channel steel slips slightly rearward so that the inertia of the recoil is absorbed over a much greater distance and the peak pressure on both the rifle butt and the rifle's bedding is reduced to little (if any) more than when fired offhand with the butt against your shoulder.
The key to this design is to allow the rifle rest to slip rearward a bit under recoil, unlike the fully stationary Caldwell product. With light-recoiling rifles the movement is so little that it is unnoticeable. With heavy kickers you'll need to slide the rest forward after each shot an inch or so ("return to battery"). Notice that the rest extends off of the bench to the rear, making an offset shooting bench unnecessary since you can place the rest far enough to the rear to meet your shoulder comfortably. The rest probably weighs about 15-20 pounds, which is plenty to dampen the recoil of the hardest kicking rifle (this whole concept simply has the effect of adding weight to the rifle, NOT preventing the rifle from moving at all.)
I built the first of these perhaps 20 or more years ago and have illustrated time and again that the rifle's zero is not at all altered whether shooting from the metal rest or from sandbags. This is true both of low and higher recoiling rifles. I have several friends who come to my place to shoot and they all refuse to shoot from the bench without using one of my rests.
