Lead Sled & Wood Stocks

[elsielake]

I recently picked up a "Lead Sled" for shooting at the range. I have a .338WM with a wooden stock (Browning Safari) and a co-worker mentioned that he had heard of wooden stocks breaking when used in a lead sled. Something about the Lead Sled not allowing the rifle to move to much during the recoil and the stock taking the brunt of the force and breaking.

Any one heard of this??

[marshall]

I think we've all heard that before. My opinion is if the action isn't properly fitted to the stock the recoil will split the wood anyway. Perhaps the sled makes that happen a little sooner.

[mdhunter]

Max weight on sled

The other thing I had heard was that when some folks load 100 pounds (4 bags of shot) on the sled, all of the force is absorbed by the rifle stock as the sled doesn't move, and this may damage the stock. When I use my sled with 2 bags of shot (50 pounds), the sled still moves about an inch after each shot. I haven't experienced any problems, but I've also limited the load on the sled to 2 bags of shot.