Slug guns and lead sleds

[Rchrd.miranda]

I dragged out the old lead sled and went to the range yesterday to sight in a scoped model 37 Ithaca with a rifled barrel. I was real pleased to get to the point that rounds actually touched at 50 yards. Then I lifted it out and fired by holding it as if in a field position and just resting my hand on the front of the sled. Oh my but the point of impact was no where near what I expected. Now, I have learned from experience that holding the front of the barrel with the sling is a no-no but I never thought about what happens in a lead sled. I had no pressure on the slide, I was holding it just enough to keep it from bucking off the rest. Thinking it may have been a peculiarity of the gun, I tried another pump slug gun. Basically, the same results.

I ended up using my shoulder as the anchor point and resting the slide in the palm of my hand. I got a good pattern at 50 and checked it at 100. all is well but I paid the price. You can achieve amazing accuracy in the sled but in real life the pump gun REQUIRES the inertial movement of the weapon and the slide. If anybody has similar experience and/or work around, I am really interested. For the moment I think the solution is to stick a limbsaver on to sight things in and just slip it off for the actual hunting season.

BTW, also sighted in a rifle in the sled. Gotta love that sled. It does make a pussy cay out of what ever you put on it.