Wind or parallax

[Nimrod]

I am brand new at this game so please be gentle!

I was shooting paper yesterday double checking my loads and had some horizontal dispersion. I had some wind but it was mostly from behind and light, the mirage was strait up but I had a little movement in the weeds telling me otherwise. I didn't bother checking my meter but the wind couldn't have been any more than 5 mph. with even less crosswind. I was shooting at 500 yards and would have shot my first ever .5 MOA 500 yard group had it not been for the horizontal.

I was shooting a .25/06, 115 grain Nosler Ballistic tip at right at 3100fps. average, temp was a balmy 100 degrees and I was shooting off my pack in preparation for a pronghorn hunt this fall.

My group measured 3.456 horizontally but only .686 vertically.

I could see no discernible parallax in the scope but the mirage was pretty bad. So what do you think? Was it wind, parallax or shooter error? Should I just ignore it and move on?

Thanks!
Bob

 

[Broz]

Having shot quite a bit in the Ozarks this time of year and knowing what the typical mirage is like, I say you did good. Look for a morning, evening or overcast day and shoot again.

Jeff

 

[WildRose]

Having shot quite a bit in the Ozarks this time of year and knowing what the typical mirage is like, I say you did good. Look for a morning, evening or overcast day and shoot again.

Jeff

Yep. High temps, high humidity can create a hell of a mess with mirage.

I'll ditto Broz's statement in that "you dunn good".

Without knowing more about your set up it would be hard to even guess beyond the mirage which could frankly be the whole issue.

 

[Greyfox]

At 500 yards 3-5 mph wind even on an angle will give you a couple of inches of wind drift.......very nice shooting anyway.

 

[SidecarFlip]

My comment is, it don't have to be sub MOA to be a kill. It's an animal not paper.

Just don'r shoot the first thing that looks 'good'. Patience usualy has a nice reward.

 

[Nimrod]

Thanks for the responses!

I was pleased with the group, but then I got to thinking about how nice it could have been. I'll just have to practice more! Hopefully I can post a braggin' picture pretty soon. The good thing is that out of 20 shots fired from 2 different rifles 19 would have (or should have anyway) resulted in a bang flop. The other one was a clean miss when I forgot to dial back down for a closer shot and over shot the target.

I have been trying to shoot on days with heat and wind, I expect to encounter one or both in Wyoming. I also like to test my loads in the hottest weather possible to minimize the chance for pressure problems later.

Bob

 

[WildRose]

Thanks for the responses!

I was pleased with the group, but then I got to thinking about how nice it could have been. I'll just have to practice more! Hopefully I can post a braggin' picture pretty soon. The good thing is that out of 20 shots fired from 2 different rifles 19 would have (or should have anyway) resulted in a bang flop. The other one was a clean miss when I forgot to dial back down for a closer shot and over shot the target.

I have been trying to shoot on days with heat and wind, I expect to encounter one or both in Wyoming. I also like to test my loads in the hottest weather possible to minimize the chance for pressure problems later.

Bob

You will definitely deal with wind.

As a general rule anytime you are above 3,500 feet wind is going to be a factor especially at long range. On the high plains and high desert there are just damned few days that come along where the wind doesn't blow over 10mph most of the time.

 

[Bravo 4]

I'm with the others, don't beat yourself up. I "attempted" to do a little shooting the other day under a 108 degree sun and couldn't get a little orange dot to sit still long enough to get a good 100yard group to check my zero.