Are you saying it's the mirage causing a 4:00 7? Sure, mirage can reduce your X-count. But a 7 is the wind plain and simple. 4 0-clock...the wind doesn't only blow your bullet left and right....it can cause elevation 9s and even 8s? IMHO people over-estimate mirage error and greatly under-estimate what the wind is doing...especially with vertical. Shoot while the wind is changing direction and you can get some huge elevation shots. Shoot on a hot low-wind day in the desert and you will get elevation 9's on a regular basis.
unshootable mirage
- Thread starter kzin
- Start date
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
That depends. Some people (like me) do not reduce magnification due to the phenomenon we incorrectly refer to as "mirage". (More on that below.) The MD disk supplied with some March scopes can be used at any magnification to expand the depth of field.
The term "mirage" is used incorrectly here, but since everybody calls it mirage, why fight it. The correct term would be "heat haze" or "heat shimmer," but for some reason we like our French terms in shooting: Mirage, Ogive.
A real mirage (the optical illusion kind) is when, for example, you're driving on a long straight road and in the distance, there appears to be water, even a lake, on the road ahead. That is a mirage and you do not need a riflescope to see it.
What we experience in our riflescopes is heat shimmer, which is a gradient in the refractive index of the air caused by the variation in temperature between the air at the ground and the cooler air above. This heat shimmer effect is enhanced by telescopic sights to where you can actually see it, which is why when you reduce the magnification the effect diminishes to where you do not even see it without an optics of some kind.
Also, it's a lot more fun saying "I'm watching the mirage" instead of "I'm watching the heat shimmer." It has more of a touch of erudition to it, don't you think?
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
Mirage is caused by differences in air density, typically due to thermal effects. Light passes through air currents of varying density,which cause it to refract differently. The mathematics of light incidence and refraction due to mediums of differing density are described by Snell's Law. It's no different than the old example where a pen standing in a half-full glass of water looks as if it's bent. Mirage can affect your shot in at least two ways. The first and most obvious effect is that many use spotting scopes to visualize the air currents (i.e. mirage), which can be used to estimate wind speed and direction. An incorrect estimate of wind speed based on mirage will put a shot out just the same as an incorrect estimate based on wind flags will.
The second effect of mirage is far more sinister. In very strong mirage, the point you think you're aiming at on the target may not actually be where you're aiming. In the example of the pen in the glass of water, our brain tells us that the pen isn't really bent as it appears, largely based on the top segment of the pen that is observed through air only. From that segment, which functions somewhat like a "3-dimensional anchor", or point of reference, our brain can make a very good estimate where the submerged part of the pen is really located. When looking through a rifle scope in bad mirage at a target at 1000 yd, there may not be such an anchor, no common point of reference, etc. It can be very difficult to know that you are actually aiming the rifle at what you're seeing in the scope. One approach that can help with this is to pick your point of aim during your sighting shots and see how/where the mirage is actually displacing your shots, The difficulty in doing that is that you have to be able to distinguish between the visual effect of the mirage (i.e displacement), and what the wind was doing to the shot.
The second effect of mirage is far more sinister. In very strong mirage, the point you think you're aiming at on the target may not actually be where you're aiming. In the example of the pen in the glass of water, our brain tells us that the pen isn't really bent as it appears, largely based on the top segment of the pen that is observed through air only. From that segment, which functions somewhat like a "3-dimensional anchor", or point of reference, our brain can make a very good estimate where the submerged part of the pen is really located. When looking through a rifle scope in bad mirage at a target at 1000 yd, there may not be such an anchor, no common point of reference, etc. It can be very difficult to know that you are actually aiming the rifle at what you're seeing in the scope. One approach that can help with this is to pick your point of aim during your sighting shots and see how/where the mirage is actually displacing your shots, The difficulty in doing that is that you have to be able to distinguish between the visual effect of the mirage (i.e displacement), and what the wind was doing to the shot.
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Brother I’m not sure about anything....
Today we have targets at 600 and 830 yards , my son in law is ringing Steele with zero problems. I love Montana
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Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
What I was saying is that in French, the word mirage means "something that is not there even though you think you see it. What we call mirage, the heat shimmer, is definitely there but it's messing up our view of the target.So Denys, what causes 'real' mirage? Is it not a change in the refractive index of the medium (air) through which the light (image) is passing caused by differential temperature of the layers? Edumucate me.
Savvy?
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
Also, the one the "real mirage" that I described is called an "inferior mirage".
A good place to see pictures of that and a good explanation is Wikipedia. Much as I dislike to use that source for information, they do a decent job here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage
A good place to see pictures of that and a good explanation is Wikipedia. Much as I dislike to use that source for information, they do a decent job here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
MGYSGT
Silver $$ Contributor
Last week we shot in what is normal Mirage for Arizona Summer. I know some people say don't bother dialing back. I dialed back to around 15X. That seemed to help. Of course my scope is only a 8.5X25 . I am sure the mirage was still there, but at least the target settled down.
Retired Grunt
F Open Shooter
I shot with four others at 500yds yesterday and they were saying how bad it was. I am using the new Vortex Strike Eagle 5-26-52 and had no problem, I saw the X plain as day, but when I broke out the back up rifle with the Viper HST the mirage was horrible.
Yes, being that the firing line is only slightly above the grass and the e-target line much closer to ground level than a pulled target, Laurel's 1000yd range has the worst mirage I have ever seen. Sometimes it seems like the shimmering black meat ball is moving 2-3 MOA and forget about seeing any scoring rings.
We girls could use the term shimmering!!That depends. Some people (like me) do not reduce magnification due to the phenomenon we incorrectly refer to as "mirage". (More on that below.) The MD disk supplied with some March scopes can be used at any magnification to expand the depth of field.
The term "mirage" is used incorrectly here, but since everybody calls it mirage, why fight it. The correct term would be "heat haze" or "heat shimmer," but for some reason we like our French terms in shooting: Mirage, Ogive.
A real mirage (the optical illusion kind) is when, for example, you're driving on a long straight road and in the distance, there appears to be water, even a lake, on the road ahead. That is a mirage and you do not need a riflescope to see it.
What we experience in our riflescopes is heat shimmer, which is a gradient in the refractive index of the air caused by the variation in temperature between the air at the ground and the cooler air above. This heat shimmer effect is enhanced by telescopic sights to where you can actually see it, which is why when you reduce the magnification the effect diminishes to where you do not even see it without an optics of some kind.
Also, it's a lot more fun saying "I'm watching the mirage" instead of "I'm watching the heat shimmer." It has more of a touch of erudition to it, don't you think?
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You know better than to get this crowd going Jenn
.I love this crowd! I know though boys will be boys and girls cause trouble!!You know better than to get this crowd going Jenn
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
Absolutely. It's got a mystical quality to it, so feel free to use it especially with your team. That will confuse everyone.
We confuse everyone anyways!!Absolutely. It's got a mystical quality to it, so feel free to use it especially with your team. That will confuse everyone.
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