Caldwell Lead Sled FCX

The little knob you use to lock the rest into position sucks butt, ive already stripped 2 of them out and gave up, its easier to use a cresent wrench.

It uses a D shape on the shaft and a screw to hold the knob on. Cheap plastic and strips out on the D shape very easily. If not kept TIGHT, the rest drops down and throws your shot high.
 
Are you talking about the knob on the verticle adjustment (up by the bag) or the one on the bottom that keeps the butt end and forend together (keeps rest in one piece)?
 
I want something that will reduce recoil for load development, my son and wife. I have looked at that type of front rest and would be nice for small bore shooting, just wanting something to cover both
 
Is the plastic locking mechanism still a big problem with the Lead Sled FCX unit?

I'm thinking about buying one of the Lead Sleds and I'm checking out reviews that are not bought and paid for by the company selling the product. Which is why I put more emphasis on the guys that post in predator masters forums and not some U Tube Video bought and paid for by Battenfield or Caldwell.

So far I'm leaning towards the Dual Frame one or the Solo one. I still have to do more reviews of the reviews. Some say that the butt stock on their AR15 don't fit tight and they get wobble of the rifle in one of the Lead Sleds. I can't remember which one that was though. And then the Solo with the weight bag loaded gets in the way of 30 round clips according to some reviews where other's say it's not a problem? I figure that the latter reviews didn't have a lead bag in place when they used it.

I'm going to use the search function on this forum to see if I can find more information on the different types of lead sleds.
 
If its anything like its little brother ( This One ), you will love it!

I was using an older MTM rest and my groups with my .243 WSSM were at about 1 - 1.5"...

No change in the loads, only the rest and suddenly, I was getting consistently this type of group out of the same rifle, same load, same day..

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I have the first lead sled and have noticed a poi differance on two of my rifles, the biggest is my r700 varmint which has an axion stock. I believe the support of the stock is wrong compared to the bipod support the gun is normally shot from. Just saying sight in same as the gun will be used in the field to be sure of your poi.
 
I have the MTM rest.It has a compartment you can add weight to for recoil reduction.I've got a bottle with about 10 lbs of lead shot in there but it can hold twice that easily.Works great.
 
The Lead Sled it great for developing loads, but as others have commented, I haven't found it so great for setting your 'zero' with an optic...That needs to be done under your normal shooting conditions/position...

For developing loads, it is imperative that your sled and rifle are totally stable and you are removing the maximum amount of human factor that you can...For this purpose the old original is probably the best as there is a minimum of adjustment to work with (or get loose) and while using it with an AR and long magazines is a problem, shorter magazines are the solution...For load testing, I only use 9 or 10 round magazines since I'm only using five rounds at a time..Some of the newer versions have a multitude of adjustments and that is self defeating in the stability factor for load development....

Locking the Sled down to your shooting surface with a cinch strap provides for less movement during recoil than using weighted bags or no bags as the bags can cause a drift when resetting the sled in a heavy recoil rifle...The manner in which you use securing the rifle to the sled is also important...The tolerances on most sleds allow for significant movement of the rifle stock at either the forearm or the butt and any movement from the original position of the first shot to the second will throw off your efforts...

In the photo below, you will notice that my .204 AR is secured to the sled with a cinch strap across the butt stock and wrapped around the rear portion of the main rail...This is not so tight as to prevent what little recoil is present, but holds the rifle securely in one spot between shots and allows alignment with the target through the optic...The sled is secured to the concrete bench with a second strap that is very tight to prevent any movement of the sled...My only contact with the firearm is with my index finger and thumb in a 'pinching' position at the trigger guard...


 
OT, are those ratchet straps, or just the cinch type? That blue one almost looks like velcro, but I don't see a buckle on either. I bought the Plus type and have yet to tinker with all the snow yet up here. Hot day for your pics...hence the DQ plug:)
 
I wouldn't call Caldwell junk, but for just a little more cash you could have a Hart or Sinclair rest. Then you will have something that if taken care of, you can pass down to your kids. They even have upgrades and parts available if you lose something. The Lead Sled strapped down like Old Turtle has his, with a large caliber, is a good way to break a stock or screw up the bedding. Fine for a AR, working up loads. Stocks are not designed to be placed against a immovable object and fired. This teaches you WHAT in shooting? Will you have it while hunting? Caldwell does make a couple of modest priced pedestals, one with a windage movable top.
 
Karl, The buckles/ratchets are there...Just hard to see..If I lightened the top picture, there is one on the two straps that is in the bag section of the sled, as there are two straps hooked together holding it to the bench...The one on the rear is on the other side of the main upper tube and you can see both hooks on the right side...The ratchet there was placed so that it wouldn't be in my way when I was setting the optic on the target or getting to the trigger without having to touch the set up in any other way...


Ninehorses, I've used the sled the same way for setting up rounds for my custom .308 with a Boyd's stock and no cracks yet as I don't tighten the rear strap more tight than is required to stabilize the rifle, not prevent recoil...I just don't want it moving after the optic is set on the target..



When I'm testing developed loads, I want to do as much as possible to insure the rifle has the same pressure in all directions between each shot..As stated earlier, for zeroing the optic, it needs to be done in a normal shooting position..

 
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This post has me concerned about this particular model of the Lead Sled. If one can't lock the vertical adjustment in place then the unit will not work right. I read that the locking knob thing is made with plastic. I sure would like to get this one if they could fix the problem that you and others have described.

I like the idea of being able to use a joy stick type adjustment for the fine adjustments but if the course vertical adjustment can't be locked in place the fine adjustments won't matter.

So for that reason I won't be buying this particular Model of the Lead Sled unless I can confirm that the problem has been fixed first. I guess that will require a new design of the FCX model. Fire Control Extreme Model of the Caldwell Lead sled.
 
I got the Caldwell Lead Sled DFT and really like it. I used it today for the first time. My last three shots were so close together that I covered them with a quarter. And this was shooting at my Shoot N C target at 200 yards away. I was very pleased with the results today.

I used my EOTECH HHS1 on my Ambush Firearms 5.56 rifle. I added a rear Magpul MBUS to the #1 position on the top rail so I had to move my EOTech G33 forward from where I sighted this system in last time.

Last three shots were the American Eagle Federal 55 grain FMJ 223 caliber bullets. These are factor ammo that cost only about $10 to $12 on sale at Gander Mountain.

I also shot two of the Hornady 68 grain HPBT bullets and they are a lot slower than the others. These are said to go about 2800 to 2900 fps. Thus they landed about 3" low on the target.

I was wearing my new contacts and at times was seeing double as I have an astigmatism and if the contacts don't float on my eye in the right orientation they don't correct for the astigmatism properly. Thus the double vision at times. But today I was seeing better and it was bright out side and my pupils were more constricted and this helps you see better. It's like stopping down a camera lens to F16 and increasing the depth of field and limiting the amount of light coming though the edge of the Objective Lens. So you get less spherical and color aberrations. So I only saw double rows of EOTECH red dots a few times. If you shoot using the wrong (false dot) your POI can be off by several inches. :O)

I was surprised that my gun didn't shoot the Hornady 55 grain V-Max very well today. But I moved the sight so that was probably why. After I readjusted the EOTech wind-age and elevation knobs I was hitting the 3" diameter bulls eye pretty good.

I didn't notice any problems with the adjustments being loose but then again it's brand new. I did read in the paper manual how to adjust the wind-age friction plates. If you don't oil them and keep them clean and the screws torqued properly (not too tight and not too loose) the wind-age knob is pretty secure.

Yes the Lead Sled moves with each shot even when I put two 25 lb. bags of #8 lead shot on the Lead Sled's tray. I could not get them in cross ways but they went in fine parallel to the double bars on the Lead Sled.

I didn't think to use a strap to tie the Lead Sled to the Bench. I had a ratchet type webbing with hooks on each end that I could have used if I had remembered to do that. Therefore the Lead Sled was moving after each shot. Who said that the AR15 223 didn't kick much? It moved a 23 lb Lead Sled with an additional 50 lbs of lead shot on it's tray. No problem though. I just move the Lead Sled back into position to sight in the red dot on the bulls eye. The Red dot covers a 2" diameter circle at 200 yards and the bulls eye is 3" in diameter. The only problem is that bulls eye is Orange in color and the dot is red in color. Two contrasting colors would be better. But I did the best I could do. Red being a longer wave length of light is harder for me to see than say Green or Chartreuse. But Red dots are what EOTECH uses on their Holographic EXPS3-4 sight.

My plan was to actually see what the rifle was capable of doing and not the shooter. Thus the purchase and use of the Caldwell Lead Sled DFT.

I have an 18" long Daniel Defense type barrel on my Ambush Firearms 5.56 AR15 and it's got a 12" modular float rail with the Picatinny rail on top. And the Modular Float rail 12" has a shot gun type grip attached to the bottom about 2/3 of the way down towards the end of the barrel from the receiver. So I had to adjust the Lead Sled DFT front rest all the way up to the end of the rails in order to get the Modular Float Tube's round part to sit properly and snuggly in the Lead Sled's Front rest.

The Lead Sled's front shooting bag has adjustable metal vertical side rails that can be moved in or out to make the bag tighter or loser on the rifle's stock or Modular Float tube. I like this feature. Also the rear butt stock holder bag is replaceable. Both the front and rear bag and padding are replaceable and held in place with Velcro strips. The rear padding was pretty good and secured the Magpul OEM folding Butt stock in place well. I added a sliding 1" wide stretchable strap on the back of the Lead Sled an rifle Butt stock to hold in down in place.

I would have bought the newer Lead Sled with the Joystick adjustment but I read that it's friction screw is made out of plastic and won't lock the front bag in place well. So I went with the DFT one. I looked at the Solo Model but didn't like the Rubber padding used on it. The DFT one uses better padding IMHO. It's a vinyl type material with stuffing inside it. And it slips over the read of the lead sleds metal back end. So I figure it can be replaced at a latter date.

Note: The other day with the same rifle and sighting system and just shooting off a Caldwell Tact Driver bag on the Modular Free float rail I was all over the target at 200 yards. But it there was a lot more wind that day. Which probably explains why my last three shots were so close together. The wind had died down as it was about 4 PM Warrick County Time. The range closes at 5pm Pike County Time. Pike County is an Hour ahead of Warrick County for some strange reason. Pike County is North of Warrick County and not really that far East of Warrick County. I don't have a clue why they go on Eastern Time when they are definitely in the Central Time zone. Indy is the same way. Maybe it's so that they can do business with the East Coast better. But it certainly is not due to Geography or the location of the sun and earth.
 
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