Mirage Reduction

[CharlieNC]

Shot our first Fclass match this past weekend. The view quickly changed from barely see through fog to barely see through mirage. Willing to try anything, I screwed the aperature ring onto the Golden Eagle; it reduces the objective from 50mm to 35mm. Never having this option in the past, I was surprised how much better I could see through the mirage. Anyone else have experience with these?

 

[Nude nut]

I have seen a lot of shooters here in oz with there front scope cap drilled out to about that size must be something in it may try one myself as I rarely ever shoot in mirage free enviroment.

Cheers Trev.

 

[JimPag]

Shot our first Fclass match this past weekend. The view quickly changed from barely see through fog to barely see through mirage. Willing to try anything, I screwed the aperature ring onto the Golden Eagle; it reduces the objective from 50mm to 35mm. Never having this option in the past, I was surprised how much better I could see through the mirage. Anyone else have experience with these?

Most all March scope comes with a 35MM Modifier Disk. I've used one in competition since the 2013 season. They do work because they may cut the incoming light by as much as 50% and your depth of focus increases by as much as 50% also.

 

[fastarget]

Are the March Modifier disks compatible with NF scopes?

 

[JRS]

Are the March Modifier disks compatible with NF scopes?

If the diameter and thread is the same, yes. You might ask Shiraz about the thread pitch. I believe it is metric, (0.75) and the NF is Imperial.

Edit: You could have a step-down ring made, but it would be expensive.

 

[hrlincoln]

My NF 15-55x52 Competition takes a 58mm UV filter. ASR of the same size will work....if that helps.

 

[JimPag]

Are the March Modifier disks compatible with NF scopes?

No they are not. The objective bell ID of a NF 15-55x52 Comp is bigger than a March.

 

[BoydAllen]

Back in the day, I did an impromptu experiment on a bright day at the range, I used a pair of small scissors to cut a sort of roundish hole in a piece of cardboard that had been the back of a note tablet. The hole was about the size of a quarter. I knew that putting it in front of the objective , centered by eyeball, touching the front of the scope, would seriously darken the image, but it was a bright day, and I wanted to see if it made the image sharper. I walked down the line and to a man, everyone humored my request to compare the image sharpness with and without the cardboard stop. In almost every case they said that the image was sharper with the reduced aperture, but when I tried it for myself on my B&L 4200 series 36X the image just got darker, no sharper, which I took as an indication that its optics were better. The thought that started this was from my background in photography were it is generally the case that lenses do not give their best resolution when they are set at their largest aperture (F stop).

MY point is that you do not have to have some finely machined piece of threaded metal to stop down your scope. Some careful work with scissors and an Xacto knife can produce something that will work, and I do not think that some of that less adhesive painters tape would hurt your scope's finish.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

My NF 15-55x52 Competition takes a 58mm UV filter. ASR of the same size will work....if that helps.

That should help a lot. What I has discovered over the years is the for attachments to riflescopes such as filters, hoods (shades), etc. you start with the objective diameter and then add 6mm to get the filter size. The thread is an industry standard for sizes between 30-something and 82, I believe; 0.75mm. All my camera lenses, riflescopes and spotting scopes have the same thread, just different diameters.

 

[seymour fish]

Are the March Modifier disks compatible with NF scopes?

Dan Pohlabel makes them for Nightforce scopes, and they are top quality. He is the Flex-pod inventor, and a fine gentleman. Seymour

 

[Raythemanroe]

Sightron SIII 10-50 and NF 56mm scopes allow for camera filters (62mm)..

Ray

 

[johnnyi]

Link for Pohlabel website:

http://www.kreativ-solutions.com/mirage-caps.html

 

[fastarget]

Great service from Dan/Kreative solutions, excellent bi-pod as well. Have a mirage cap on the way to test.

 

[Toejoe12]

Great service from Dan/Kreative solutions, excellent bi-pod as well. Have a mirage cap on the way to test.

They work really well. I shoot a lot with Dan and use his mirage caps (he now makes different size openings for the real mirage muddy days). He now has a neat cap to plug the whole if you want to leave the ring on your gun and protect the lens as you put away in your safe. Also his cap for the Nightforce competition will fit a March 8 x 80. I have both and the same cap fits.

 

[CharlieNC]

The GE has a nice configuration whereby the aperature can be added either before or after the sunscreen, and the protective cap added in the end. Very flexible options.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

The GE has a nice configuration whereby the aperature can be added either before or after the sunscreen, and the protective cap added in the end. Very flexible options.

If you put sunscreen on your riflescope, it's going to get sticky. And if you get some on the lenses they will be blurry.

I think you meant to say sun shade not sunscreen. Anyway, once you have the proper filter size for your lens, you can add shades and filters and aperture devices in any combination you want. On my DSLR lenses, the sun shade or hood as it's called in photo circles, actually attaches to the lens via a bayonet-type mount. But in the olden days the hood would screw on like they do now on riflescopes. I don't see riflescopes going to a bayonet-type mount for the sun shades, they come apart too easily.

 

[JohnKielly]

Most all March scope comes with a 35MM Modifier Disk. I've used one in competition since the 2013 season. They do work because they may cut the incoming light by as much as 50% and your depth of focus increases by as much as 50% also.

A friend found out that additionally, they showed the mirage over that increased depth of field, which he could never decide was advantageous or disadvantageous.

I've never bothered. Where I shoot in Australia, there will be mirage & the mirage will give you information on wind movement, so why try to hide it? Filtering it out, or lowering magnification so your brain is comfortable with the sight picture doesn't change what's happening - just gives you a feeling of comfort.

 

[xring]

Don't mean to waylay this thread , but it seems like there are a lot of Atmospheric Variables which might make the optimum actual Size of the "stop down " Aperture ........ variable also . I wonder if someone could Design a Variable Iris / Aperture for these hazy/ Mirage conditions which attaches to the Scope . You could crank the Iris to whatever Diameter looks best for your eyes on that day and fire away . What do you guys think ?

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

It's not rocket surgery. Camera lenses have been doing that for multiple decades, but that's another mechanism to add, with the weight and complexity. The simplest and cheapest method would be to buy a few Butler Creek objective lens caps for the scope you have and then drill a different size aperture in each of them. Once on the line, you can decide which size aperture does the trick for you and leave it on for that string. They weigh next to nothing, cost very little and they can be removed quickly or just flipped up if need be.

I would suggest that 2 of them would be quite sufficient. I'm thinking that 2 EVs should be sufficient so the first one's aperture should be 50% of your objective lens diameter and the second one should be 25%. Don't forget the square in the equation.

 

[Toejoe12]

It's not rocket surgery. Camera lenses have been doing that for multiple decades, but that's another mechanism to add, with the weight and complexity. The simplest and cheapest method would be to buy a few Butler Creek objective lens caps for the scope you have and then drill a different size aperture in each of them. Once on the line, you can decide which size aperture does the trick for you and leave it on for that string. They weigh next to nothing, cost very little and they can be removed quickly or just flipped up if need be.

I would suggest that 2 of them would be quite sufficient. I'm thinking that 2 EVs should be sufficient so the first one's aperture should be 50% of your objective lens diameter and the second one should be 25%. Don't forget the square in the equation.

That's exactly what Pohlabel makes (see my post above) He has a big selection he carries with him to every match he attends if anyone wants one or you can go to his website (also listed above)