Shooting in Mirage

[Broz]

I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd share an experience I had this last weekend that I feel shows how drastic your POI shifts can be due to mirage.
My friend and I were shooting 2 different rifles ( both 300win mags ) and both shooting the same handloads. We both zeroed our rifles and then began shooting a seating depth test. The mirage was so bad that as we adjusted our parallax our targets never seemed in focus so we did the best we could. We were shooting at 250 yds. After making sure our zeros were both perfect we each shot a group. Both of us impacted 12" low!!! We were both dumbfounded since it was both rifles. We then each shot our next group except he made no adjustment to his turret and I adjusted mine to compensate for the last group. His group fell right back on the bullseye while mine sailed high and over the target! Our only explanation is mirage. We are in Arizona and the temps out in the desert were in the mid 90's. It was very hard to figure out were the dancing bullseye was.

You goit it. In heavy mirage you may actually be shooting at an "illusion" of the target. It's the spoon looking bent in a glass of water thing.

I have seen them go 1 moa low at 1000 many times with a proven rifle, drops and load at the same tar get. Either wait for the mirage to suside or practice this condition, learn and be ready when you need to apply it to what you need to do. Sometimes for the cold bore when I see a mirage boil I will dial up .5 moa. That way if I am off it will usually be with in 5" at 1000 and I can live with that better than a full moa.

Jeff

 

[260shooter]

In boiling mirage shoot at the bottom of the bounce. You will notice that the target bounces to varying heights, but always goes to the same spot at the bottom of its bounce.

 

[Silly_Ghillie]

I am glad this thread is here, no matter how old and decrepit it is.

this is exactly why I joined LRH in the first place. As a young long range shooter, this information is gold.
​

I had just spent $4.5k on rebuilding and re-scoping my first precision rifle this year, put a XLR evo chassis on, vortex razor HD 5-25, one piece MPA 35mm rings, 29" heavy palma match barrel from Mcgowen, Atlas bipod, cerakote, etc. My local range was shut down for renovations so I went to a county road and zeroed on some hot sandy BLM land with insane afternoon mirage. In my limited tenure, I have never really experienced much mirage since I am in the colder mountain regions and just worked through it.

This last little friendly annual ELR get together on the fourth of July, I was missing high at 1.2 MOA consistently and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why my rifle lost zero. (I had heard bad things about vortex tracking and zero retention and I was not ready to call CS about my $1899 scope that wont hold zero...) It was embarrassing to have the spotter yell out "miss, over the top, miss, over the top" with my first six or so shots. I had to think long and hard about everything I had done in the last two weeks and it hit me. I had to come here to confirm my suspicion. It just goes to show that no matter how many of Bryan Litz' books you read, you have to experience failure every once in a while in order for things to really sink in. "shooting in mirage is like being married to the wrong woman" is something I will never forget.

 

[User4302021]

If you are in the same mirage band as the target (i.e. shooting across flat ground), the movement of the mirage (heat shimmer actually) will carry the target in the direction of the flowing mirage (i.e. up, and/or up and to one side or the other).

If there are differing thermal interfaces (actual mirage) between you and the target (e.g. shooting across a canyon or across other land features) then those interfaces act as a lens, and the target image will deflect in the direction of the warmer air.

Sun angle and intensity determines the severity of the shift.

 

[Greyfox]

My most frequent encounters with mirage has been mid day antelope hunting and summer competition. Never loosing sight of the fact that mirage is one of the most viable wind indicators, my first strategy is to look for "lull's" in the intensity of the mirage(clouds, wind conditions, etc), and if they are occurring, wait for a low distortion shot. I agree with many that it is light refraction that distorts the target. Another line of attack is to vary magnification, seeking a sweets spot that sharpens the target. This is where the scopes power range and optical quality can make a difference. I find that my "high end" tactical scopes used for competition are often more effective at dialing out mirage then some of my hunting scopes. Lens and internal surface coating/designs play a role in reducing glare, a key contributor to target distortion in heavy mirage. Given all the possible remedy's, I can't count the number of times I have had to pass, change position, or wait out shots on some really nice animals at extended ranges in heavy mirage....frustrating!!!

 

[elkaholic]

It is frustrating! I feel that reading mirage is probably my weakest link in shooting!

 

[Elkeater]

Ya mirage sucks. Last year hunting elk in the sagebrush the morning mirage was so bad that at 800 yards the herd of 500 elk I was stalking just looked like a tan blob through any optic. It took me an hour and some blisters to crawl within 500 yards and even at that range the elk were pretty blurry.

 

[Greyfox]

One of our members posted this APP review of Mirage Magic. I purchased it a few weeks ago and have been playing with it. It's pretty slick! While it doesn't help with distortion of the target, it could serve as s useful training/support tool for someone who doesn't have a lot of experience determining wind corrections by reading mirage(or rain).

 

[User4302021]

Dialing back the power will help target clarity but does nothing for target displacement.

Heat shimmer and true mirage are different things with differing effects.

Reading heat shimmer isn't at all difficult, it just takes a little bit of intentional practice without the pressure of having to send a round.

Actual mirage is a very complicated problem. That is the one that will have you missing by 2 moa or more with no warning or obvious signs it is there.