Dealing w Mirage

[archerforkids]

I got what I am assuming was my first "real" exposure to horrible mirage this weekend practicing at 300 yards. It actually surprised me given it was in the high 50s. Not owning a mirage band, I applied black Gorilla Tape to my barrel and still had to back my scope from 42 down to about 20 power to clear up the target.
Has anybody used the ARD devices on their scopes to help mitigate mirage? Are they any more effective than a long sun shade? Or a scope cap with reduced diameter to look though? Obviously a mirage band has its place and I promptly ordered one when I got home. I don't want to start chasing gadgets if they haven't really proven themselves in the past.
And I do have a sun shade on my scope.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[6BRA]

Bbl heat mirage and atmospheric mirage 2 different things. Tape directly on your bbl won't do anything.You need to deflect bbl heat or use a fan. A scope mirage disc may help a little to cut atmospheric, but there are times when nothing will help. You can eliminate the bbl heat with a good mirage shield or fan. These keep the heat from rising in front of your scope.

 

[archerforkids]

Bbl heat mirage and atmospheric mirage 2 different things. Tape directly on your bbl won't do anything.You need to deflect bbl heat or use a fan. A scope mirage disc may help a little to cut atmospheric, but there are times when nothing will help. You can eliminate the bbl heat with a good mirage shield or fan. These keep the heat from rising in front of your scope.

Thanks for the prompt response.
I failed to mention I experienced this right out of the gate. I hadn't fired the first round when I looked through the scope and saw that mess. I assumed there was some reflection off the barrel causing this.
The black tape didn't seem to do much. That's when I backed the magnification way down.

 

[LHSmith]

Cut a 3" wide strip off a target and adhere to barrel with masking or scotch tape doubled up in a loop and see if that helps. I'd loose the sunshade- it can cause more problems than it helps- mirage-wise and vibration-wise. The best SRBR shooters I know stay on the highest scope power and study what the mirage is telling them. Mirage is wind you can see.

 

[archerforkids]

Interesting response about the sunshade. Not discrediting in any way, but could you elaborate on that a little?

 

[LHSmith]

The longer shades could act like a tuning fork which could affect scope internals and also it was proven years ago that the longer ones could cause their own heat build-up with-in the sunshade tube- search "Saunders mirage tube."

 

[archerforkids]

The longer shades could act like a tuning fork which could affect scope internals and also it was proven years ago that the longer ones could cause their own heat build-up with-in the sunshade tube- search "Saunders mirage tube."

I'll read up on that. Thanks for the information.

 

[AlNyhus]

You want to see the mirage...it's the most reliable 'wind flag' ever. You just want to make sure it's not coming from the barrel, which is the purpose of the barrel mirage shield.

It's important to remember that just because reducing the magnification seemed to clear up the mirage...it really didn’t. It's still out there displacing the target image. If you can't see it, you're effectively shooting at a moving target (image).

Good shootin' -Al

 

[Shooter13]

No mirage shield for me, I use a fan, for me, much more effective for barrel created mirage. For target mirage I use a diffuser and/or back off the magnification just a bit, with the diffuser it doesn't require as much magnification reduction.

 

[archerforkids]

You want to see the mirage...it's the most reliable 'wind flag' ever. You just want to make sure it's not coming from the barrel, which is the purpose of the barrel mirage shield.

It's important to remember that just because reducing the magnification seemed to clear up the mirage...it really didn’t. It's still out there displacing the target image. If you can't see it, you're effectively shooting at a moving target (image).

Good shootin' -Al

In retrospect I should have capitalized on the conditions. I thought in cool weather I was dealing with reflection off my barrel. I didnt know mirage would rear its head on a cool morning.
I had full value 2 to 4 MPH breeze that morning which held true with my holdoff. I should have put more effort into utilizing the mirage instead of my wind flags.

 

[JFrank]

In retrospect I should have capitalized on the conditions. I thought in cool weather I was dealing with reflection off my barrel. I didnt know mirage would rear its head on a cool morning.
I had full value 2 to 4 MPH breeze that morning which held true with my holdoff. I should have put more effort into utilizing the mirage instead of my wind flags.

You had both wind and mirage? You lucky dog Stan Taylor would aways say the wind is your friend~ use it, I find it to be a pita.

 

[archerforkids]

You had both wind and mirage? You lucky dog Stan Taylor would aways say the wind is your friend~ use it.

Yeah.......my inexperience came out.
Panicked over the "reflection" off my barrel. After some creative application of the gorilla tape and not getting the results I wanted the light bulb came on about mirage. I ended up using my flags, but suffered after falling back on magnification.
Ironically, my chassis rifle has a US Optics on it with diffusers. I never had a problem managing mirage and actually put effort into using it to judge wind. I haven't shot that rifle in over a year. I might take it with me next time and run it side by side with my 6BR if I have those conditions again and see what I learn.

 

[AlNyhus]

Not watching (using) the mirage generally results in that commonly heard lament:

"It went right where I was holding"........

 

[archerforkids]

Not watching (using) the mirage generally results in that commonly heard lament:

"It went right where I was holding"........

LOL.
Have you read my signature?
"I seldom miss. I'm working on aiming in the right spot every time."

 

[Rtheurer]

How would an ARD help with Mirage?

Cool mornings are and can be worse. it does not take much heat off the barrel to create a Nasty barrel mirage in cold weather under sustained fireing. Also if it gets real cold at night and then warms up quickly... Oh boy cold ground temps and warm sun...it gets real rough.

 

[archerforkids]

How would an ARD help with Mirage?

Cool mornings are and can be worse. it does not take much heat off the barrel to create a Nasty barrel mirage in cold weather under sustained fireing. Also if it gets real cold at night and then warms up quickly... Oh boy cold ground temps and warm sun...it gets real rough.

In all honesty I don't know that I ever shot with my chassis gun in conditions like I had this weekend. I'm not sure the diffusers in that guns scope would have made any difference. As I said earlier...lack of experience on my part. An ARD might not have helped a thing.

 

[Ajwilly96]

I shot on Thursday, beginning temperature in the morning was 16° and when we finished up was around 36°. At 900 yards with my scope on 40 power the targets looked like TV static, backing it down to 15 power the Mirage was still so bad you couldn’t make out the targets. This was while using an insert disc

Sometimes the atmosphere Mirage is just going to be terrible. But the benefit to it is it was super easy to gauge and see the wind based on it.

 

[archerforkids]

My problem was deciding which part of the target to shoot at. Dang mirage made it look like 3 or 4 of them having an orgy.

 

[archerforkids]

I shot on Thursday, beginning temperature in the morning was 16° and when we finished up was around 36°. At 900 yards with my scope on 40 power the targets looked like TV static, backing it down to 15 power the Mirage was still so bad you couldn’t make out the targets. This was while using an insert disc

Sometimes the atmosphere Mirage is just going to be terrible. But the benefit to it is it was super easy to gauge and see the wind based on it.

Just out of curiosity, were you shooting in an easterly direction? I was dealing with shooting straight into an early morning sun. Worse case set up.

 

[Ajwilly96]

Just out of curiosity, were you shooting in an easterly direction? I was dealing with shooting straight into an early morning sun. Worse case set up.

South, and the targets were in the shade haha