ORIGINAL: cma3366a
Gun hold has alot to do with the POI of your shots, Holding your gun consistantly, regardless of what you do is key. How absolutly consistant do you think the feet of a lead sled skidding over a bench in recoil is, how consistant is the return to battery? How comprable is the leadsled to how you hold/shoot a gun?
A read of the whole thread may be in order here. I'll make it easy on you:
ORIGINAL: SwampCollie
From post #18, bottom paragraph
The only way, at least in my eyes, that a sled would change your POI, is because you are out of a natural shooting position. You can't snuggle up to that sled like you can a rifle unobstructed by such a device. This may well force a shooter into a different head position than hisnormal or natural one. Paralax would come into play I suppose, but it may well alter the POI. Moreover, try canting a rifle at 25 degrees next time and see what it does to your POI. That may well be a cause also, as sometimes a shot in the field will make you lean a little bit. But that is no different than a regular bag, or tri-pod rifle rest. If you tilt your rifle, your POI is going to change....period.
Tom: You are right, it is splitting hairs, and it is fun to look at all sides of the discussion.
I will submit this once more as well: Are we not attempting only to test our equipment here? Does anyone here acctually shoot deer off a lead-sled or sandbags? There maybe a few who have box stands with sandbags, but for the most part (espeically in my neck of the country) treestands and (sadly) truck window's seem to be the prefered method. Now, will your POI change from shot to shot on the lead-sled...no, it shouldn't, and in my case has not. Will your POI be differentout of the lead-sled and resting on sandbags; it might, but in my experience it has not. Will your POI be different under real field conditions than it is on the lead-sled; may very well be, but I have not been able to prove or disprove it. Any variences were so slight that they would surely be attributed to user error.
Here again...maybe we should be sighting our rifles in off-hand, or using safari sticks?