The mirage

[Nimrod]

How do you account for or deal with Tue affect of mirage issues?

[LR1955]

How do you account for or deal with Tue affect of mirage issues?

NR:

I bumped this thread to the Training Forum.

Depends. Sometimes you ignore it. Sometimes it becomes a secondary indicator of wind that you use to refine a wind call. Sometimes it is the only indicator you have for wind doping. Sometimes you may hold a bit low in a boil (if you think it means anything), and sometimes guys choose to shoot when the mirage is running because they believe they can see their target more clearly.

State your shooting conditions and requirements first. That way you can see if guys even care about mirage under those conditions and if so, how they use mirage for their benefit.

LR1955

[Nimrod]

Well I was only shooting at 100 & 200 yards, there was a boiling mirage, kind of made things ripple and I had about a 10 mph head wind. I didn't really think much of it until my load that always shoots good was giving me spread out groups. Maybe just a rotten day but it got me to wondering.

[LRS_Ranger]

I was taught to never shoot over a boiling mirage, because it means that the wind is shifting. Better a known wind that you can hold for, than a bunch of who-knows-what...

[LR1955]

Well I was only shooting at 100 & 200 yards, there was a boiling mirage, kind of made things ripple and I had about a 10 mph head wind. I didn't really think much of it until my load that always shoots good was giving me spread out groups. Maybe just a rotten day but it got me to wondering.

NR:

Could well be a combination of factors contributed to you having problems. The mirage distorted your sight picture so you really didn't know where the middle was. Don't discount barrel mirage either as that will really give you fits. However, given a 10 MPH wind, most likely you were having problems with ground mirage.

Guys sometimes crank down the magnification and even try to use their focus to get a confident sight picture. If they are having problems with barrel mirage, they will use a mirage screen over the top of their barrel.

If you have the option, you may find that waiting until you get a cross wind may be your best option. A cross wind will tend to blow out the mirage so your sight picture may be better. At least a cross wind blows the barrel mirage to the side and away from your objective lens and or iron sights.

Understanding that the conditions were not ideal is also a good thing as you aren't automatically blaming your equipment or yourself but are considering other factors that you have no control over.

LR1955

[warped]

Gene at our event this coming Saturday they are predicting in the 90's and you know what that means around here.

It will be like looking into running water. Hopefully we will have enough wind

[Nimrod]

Thanks for the input, I probably should have just made it a plinking day, the following day I shot the same load in better conditions and it shot as it should.

I appreciate the input.

[noone]

I always thought that Mirage was my friend. The information you can get from watching mirage largely overshadow the problems caused by Mirage.

Generally I agree with what LRS_Ranger says if you have the luxury of waiting on the shot. Just like it is better to wait until other odd environmental factors settle down. But if you have to take the shot, use the mirage to give yourself more information.

Many shooters use mirage bands, extended scope tubes, or little electric fans next to the bench to keep the barrel's heat mirage away from the front of your scope. You are simply stuck with the mirage downrange though.

Most sniper instruction books have sections telling you how mirage can tell you wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, temperature, and some other factors that are quite useful.

[LR1955]

I always thought that Mirage was my friend. The information you can get from watching mirage largely overshadow the problems caused by Mirage.

Generally I agree with what LRS_Ranger says if you have the luxury of waiting on the shot. Just like it is better to wait until other odd environmental factors settle down. But if you have to take the shot, use the mirage to give yourself more information.

Many shooters use mirage bands, extended scope tubes, or little electric fans next to the bench to keep the barrel's heat mirage away from the front of your scope. You are simply stuck with the mirage downrange though.

Most sniper instruction books have sections telling you how mirage can tell you wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, temperature, and some other factors that are quite useful.

Noone / Guys:

I would certainly like to see how mirage can tell me wind speed, humidity, and air temperature. What manual are you citing?

Mirage tells you if the wind is blowing left to right, right to left, or from 12 or 6. It doesn't tell you wind speed, humidity, or air temperature.

What these manuals have are sections that give some very questionable advice on elevation changes based on environmental factors. And the information seems to be a compilation of myths and things that sound reasonable but have not been substantiated as having any practical value.

The manuals are generally good in terms of being more true than false. However, they don't really prioritize concepts or information in terms of its importance.

That brings me to something I ought to comment on which is data books and their use. The exact same data book is used very differently based on skill level. So information in manuals is interpreted and used very differently based on the skill level of the team.

LR1955



So

[warped]

Having stared into a boiling mess over the years led me to believe one thing, wait if you can.

If you are lucky a slight breeze will help you out, otherwise it will bend the light just as assuredly as a pool of water.

Even using instruments in that type of environment is trying, we may think we can resolve a small amount of angulation, but we cannot and this is proven by closing the horizon or turning Direct and Reverse in the vertical.