Shooting in mirage

[royinidaho]

Jeff,

This thread got me to thinking . . . again . . . not a good thing.

Back in the 70s during my BR efforts I got fed up with mirage. Went to the range before sun up. Zero'd the 40X 222 light rifle. I think it had a 20 something power Leuy on it and a 2oz trig.

Wind was always from the same direction. The only differences were in intensity.

Long story short. I shot 1 shot every half hour. Adjusted left or right for wind. Held on center vertical for each shot.

From 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM POI moved up 1.5 MOA. I was pretty proud of myself as the sting was a straight vertical line. That morning helped me win a bunch of matches on "that" range.

If you are consistently shooting low due to mirage that tells me you are shooting with the wind going from you to the target. This pushes the target image down.

I read the attached discussion from time to time to keep me from switching to thinking back wards.

Reading Mirage

Remember, mirage is your friend! . . . . once it's understood.

Also, one season I watched a muley that looked like he was painted on a sheet hanging on a clothes line. Only happened once. I didn't take the shot.

 

[Broz]

If you are consistently shooting low due to mirage that tells me you are shooting with the wind going from you to the target. This pushes the target image down.

Actually the wind was from 9:00 and 8 to 12 mph.

Thanks for the input and link Roy. I will read it.

Jeff

 

[royinidaho]

Actually the wind was from 9:00 and 8 to 12 mph.

Thanks for the input and link Roy. I will read it.

Jeff

There ya go. Shows ya how much I know about mirage in someone else's back yard.

That's just how mirage treats a fellow.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

We seemed to be hitting low as well, but the windage is what really seemed to cause us trouble. A lot of horizontal stringing. Shot better groups the day before at 630 than the next at 300.

Thanks for the links. I will have to sit and read them.

Steve

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I will add to this story.

I was a little sheepish to say originally how badly the shooting went. Now after going out to the same location last Sunday and shooting more or less the exact same loads and rifles and having moa or better success out to 1000y. I am willing to admit how bad it was.

That 1st trip out two Sundays ago we had difficulty hitting a target printed on a sheet of paper 3 times in a row at 300y. I was not able to say that I had a confirmed zero set for 300y. Could not hit 18"x24" steel at 1000y. Last Sunday all rifles (but one) shot 1" or 2" at 300y. Shot 750y and shot everything in 3" to 6". By the time we moved out to 975y the mirage started a bit. Nothing like the previous trip. We were still able to stay at moa and felt good about the data collected.

So I did some reading about mirage and saw one statement that I did not know what it meant. The statement said do not bother shooting in a boil. I think this must be what we had going on.

So if you have a day in the mirage......you are not as bad a shot as you may think.

Steve

 

[WildRose]

In a way I am glad to hear that I was not the only one. I really felt like I should give up all this precision stuff. I can't shoot, can't load, don't know what I am doing. Told my buddy that I was going to go to the store and get a Vangaurd 30-06 and two boxes of factory ammo and go hunting.

Steve

The only thing you can do is to back off your scope power to the lowest setting you can get by with and then do as Broz suggests. Timing the break of the trigger is a skill that takes more than a little talent and lots of practice since it's more about the art of shooting than science and you just have to develop "the right feel" for "when the shot is right".

I can tell you from lots of experience when you are having a bad day it's best to take a long break and come back or go home and try another day. The more frustrated you get the more we tend to "push the shot" rather than waiting for everything to be right and that generally has very poor results in the end.

Mirage can be your best friend trying to gauge the wind, but it can be a real frustrating SOB when you are watching your aim point move all over the prairie.