I've seen two young shooters at the range get 'scope eyed,' by shooting off a lead sled by just crouching and not sitting.

yeah the whole idea of that rifle rest design, is to place a 25 lb bag of shot on that tray too , absorb recoil
these are very functional rifle rests and certainly helpful, but as with everything should be used as designed
and yes used incorrectly, the rifle rest, will result in the operator potentially having problems

I'm with you, never liked them. IMO lead sleds are just to get you on the paper so you can shoot and adjust from there.

I have shot both from shooting sleds and sandbags, both can be fine, as long as you are consistent. Did you have two actual gunsmiths redo your gun, or just two guys who work where they sell guns? Most gunshops I am in nowadays, I wouldn't let them touch mine.
Are you at all comfortable with tooling with our guns? Are the scopes of decent quality and not bargain basement? If so, I would start by removing the scopes, checking all mounts for tightness. Place the scope back in the mounts, (cradle/ clamp the gun in sandbags or a bench so it is level and solid)....check that it is level with a small pocket bubble level. replace the mounts,freq. checking to see the scope itself is still level. tightening them evenly. There is a small scope mount torque wrench sold, but I haven't invested in it yet...probably be a good tool though, if you do a lot of shooting. If the scope is torqued unevenly, it can deform the optics, causing messed up groupings. Someone else mentioned to have someone else tag along, so see how it shoots for them. good idea...we don't always see our own mistakes.
Be sure you are shooting the same brand, type and weight of bullet...I prefer the same lot number also.

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I misspoke earlier. It about 4 or 5 inches off at 100 yards not feet sorry about that. One shot will be 5 inches left of center and the next might be 5 inches right of center. I also have a 270 that I shot and Its on. No problems with it. I have no idea what the gunsmith took off to clean it. He could have completely disassembled it completely and i called him to ask but he doesn't remember. I looked at the crown but I don't see anything wrong. There is no dings or pits as far as i can tell. how can i tell if the stock is the issue or recoil buffer pad. The funny thing is that it shot great and dead on before i dropped it. If is is the crown about how much does is cost to repair it. Thanks again for all the help.

A re-crown is a quick and cheap process. Maybe $50 to have it done.

You can check it yourself by visually inspecting it. Looking for burrs, gouges, nicks, etc. You can also paint the end of your barrel with whiteout and then fire a shot. You should be able to see where gas came out and it should look pretty uniform around the edge of the barrel. If it's noticeably off you could have crown damage.

-Jake

what type of Browning rifle do you have? A-bolt, Medalian, BAR? my brother in law has an A bolt that had a really hard trigger pull. when we were sighting it in we had a hard time because of the amount of pressure used to pull the trigger. like yours, it shot bad groups until he had the trigger worked on.

I believe I paid $75 for a re-crowning of one of my rifles at Duffys Gun Room. As Jake said --- Look at a recently fired muzzle of a gun. It should display an even radius of sharp spear looking carbon deposits around the muzzle crown. If the radius is uneven...you need a re-crown.

A hot barrel and receiver generated, from multiple rounds fired...will have a tendency to spread the groups wider.
There is a stock action bolt torque tightening sequence for two action bolts on a rifle.
Tap the buttstock perpendicular on a carpeted floor to probably set the receiver in the stock. For the torque bolt tightening sequence and poundage might be variable, but I'm guessing that it is the bolt closest to the receiver that you tighten first.
Maybe someone else can explain that better....

This might help some:

https://bisonballistics.com/articles/rifle-action-screws-torque-accuracy-and-bedding-issues

Sure you're shooting .30-06 ammo through it? not .280...or 270 etc...?

factory loads? if handloaded....who knows, I'd check those bullet dia.

That was my first thought when he said 4-5 FOOT groups as well


-Jake