the lead in mine is about 6in long. i know this becouse it came loose and i had to glue it back in. both my freind's .500 and my 470 have had problems with this. his 500 was sent back to gsi to fix the screw hole, and the very next time at the range it tryed to come through the recoil pad agian. i filled the hole with about a tbls of adhisive calk and slid the rod back in for him. so far no more problems. we shoot about 40 to 60 rounds every week end so if any more problems come ip i'll let you know