dakota.potts
New member
Took my newly finished rifle to the range today to set it in. A friend of mine loaned me a Lead Sled Pro, which I had never used before, and I figured that I had best set it up and take it so I could get some groups recorded with the rifle.
I went with the rifle boresighted using a collimator and the lead sled put together. I did not have any bags of lead shot and figured that the rest would be heavy enough to be relatively stable (mistake).
I had two boxes of ammo, a 165 grain Federal Fusion and a 178 grain Hornady Precision Hunter which together cost me almost $60 at the local gun store. I really wanted to get some good groups on paper so I was willing to pay for what seemed to be higher quality ammo.
Despite being bore sighted, it took me a number of shots to even get on paper with the Federal Fusion. I got it dialed in without using too much of the box, but then the trouble started. The lead sled jumped every shot (I didn't expect that to happen so bad without the lead in place to hold it down, rookie mistake) so that I had to reset it every time. I was not able to get a comfortable and consistent cheek weld every time, and I noticed that when moving my head around in relation to the scope, I could see the crosshairs move around the target slightly without the gun moving at all. So without holding the gun in the same repeatable condition, every time I re-centered the sled I could have been slightly off from the last time. I also had a hard time keeping the optic reliably in focus, and I actually started to get mirage fairly quickly (probably because of temperature differential since it was around 35 degrees outside). I shot two 5 round groups this way and they averaged about 3" at 100, way bigger than a rifle like mine should be shooting. After the second group this way, shots started to walk a lot, and after a couple shots, the front action screw fell out of the gun altogether! I just assembled the completed gun a couple days ago and remember tightening the screw down but not to the point where it felt like it was binding on anything. It must not have been tight enough and worked its way loose.
Obviously re-tightening of the front action screw changes the way everything sits and my zero was horribly lost. Having only 100 yard range and 12" bulls-eye targets, I decided to make the best of it but the rest of the day was lost. I took the bolt out and used the rest to look down the bore, center a target, and align the scope to that, but it didn't work very well. My shots were nowhere off paper and the splashes I could see in the backstop were several feet away. I spent the rest of my second box (the expensive Hornady Precision Hunter) trying to walk it in via splash but got nowhere close. I discovered later that I accidentally put a single shot clean through the bullseye -- of a different target than the one I was aiming at.
Pretty frustrated right now because I wanted to have something to show for the rifle and the ammo was a pretty large investment.
After making sure everything in the rifle is tight (including the scope), I'll have to take it to the range with a couple good rest bags. I have shot off a variety of rests on a bench and, despite the stability that the lead sled offers, I have learned that there's a certain technique to it that I've not yet acquired. Even with the lead in place, it seems to me that the rifle would still have opportunity to shift somewhat and lead to the issues I was having aligning the scope before. Rested off of bags, I'm very familiar with the techniques to get consistent cheek weld and eye relief and I think I'll shoot better. I'll also try to shoot at a closer range first with a much bigger target.
One of those days where you have to remind yourself everything will be OK, nothing major is broken, but you have to pick your pride up (and in my case, reconcile all the expensive ammo gone)
I went with the rifle boresighted using a collimator and the lead sled put together. I did not have any bags of lead shot and figured that the rest would be heavy enough to be relatively stable (mistake).
I had two boxes of ammo, a 165 grain Federal Fusion and a 178 grain Hornady Precision Hunter which together cost me almost $60 at the local gun store. I really wanted to get some good groups on paper so I was willing to pay for what seemed to be higher quality ammo.
Despite being bore sighted, it took me a number of shots to even get on paper with the Federal Fusion. I got it dialed in without using too much of the box, but then the trouble started. The lead sled jumped every shot (I didn't expect that to happen so bad without the lead in place to hold it down, rookie mistake) so that I had to reset it every time. I was not able to get a comfortable and consistent cheek weld every time, and I noticed that when moving my head around in relation to the scope, I could see the crosshairs move around the target slightly without the gun moving at all. So without holding the gun in the same repeatable condition, every time I re-centered the sled I could have been slightly off from the last time. I also had a hard time keeping the optic reliably in focus, and I actually started to get mirage fairly quickly (probably because of temperature differential since it was around 35 degrees outside). I shot two 5 round groups this way and they averaged about 3" at 100, way bigger than a rifle like mine should be shooting. After the second group this way, shots started to walk a lot, and after a couple shots, the front action screw fell out of the gun altogether! I just assembled the completed gun a couple days ago and remember tightening the screw down but not to the point where it felt like it was binding on anything. It must not have been tight enough and worked its way loose.
Obviously re-tightening of the front action screw changes the way everything sits and my zero was horribly lost. Having only 100 yard range and 12" bulls-eye targets, I decided to make the best of it but the rest of the day was lost. I took the bolt out and used the rest to look down the bore, center a target, and align the scope to that, but it didn't work very well. My shots were nowhere off paper and the splashes I could see in the backstop were several feet away. I spent the rest of my second box (the expensive Hornady Precision Hunter) trying to walk it in via splash but got nowhere close. I discovered later that I accidentally put a single shot clean through the bullseye -- of a different target than the one I was aiming at.
Pretty frustrated right now because I wanted to have something to show for the rifle and the ammo was a pretty large investment.
After making sure everything in the rifle is tight (including the scope), I'll have to take it to the range with a couple good rest bags. I have shot off a variety of rests on a bench and, despite the stability that the lead sled offers, I have learned that there's a certain technique to it that I've not yet acquired. Even with the lead in place, it seems to me that the rifle would still have opportunity to shift somewhat and lead to the issues I was having aligning the scope before. Rested off of bags, I'm very familiar with the techniques to get consistent cheek weld and eye relief and I think I'll shoot better. I'll also try to shoot at a closer range first with a much bigger target.
One of those days where you have to remind yourself everything will be OK, nothing major is broken, but you have to pick your pride up (and in my case, reconcile all the expensive ammo gone)