Mirage question

[powdergun]

Was out at the range with my 223. I was shooting at the pigs on the 300 yard line and noticed a very strong mirage as it was getting hot. I aimed at the target and noticed shots were hitting a bit high consistently. As the gun was set to be zero at 100 yards I found that a little strange.

Just reading that the refraction of light due to mirage will make the target appear higher that it actually is which may explain why shots were high as I would be aiming high at the image in the scope.

Is this a common thing or is it time for new glasses and more sleep for me lol....

Never had this happen when it is cool/cold.

 

[sjstrey]

We run into this often at our range. We shoot from inside through windows, and the air in area right in front of the rifle Outside the window is turbulent. What we do is put the sun shades on our scopes then use a paper or plastic tube to extend the shade out to the end of the muzzle (but not past). The heat coming off the barrel doesn’t pass in front of the scope and the mirage is reduced. In the winter it gets so bad some days you can’t even see the target at 100yds with a 45 power scope. The other thing you can do is dial the magnification back below about 20x, and it clears up a bit.

 

[Munkey1973]

Just reading that the refraction of light due to mirage will make the target appear higher that it actually is which may explain why shots were high as I would be aiming high at the image in the scope.

Is this a common thing or is it time for new glasses and more sleep for me lol....

Sounds about right. I deal with this all the time competing in F class at Nokomis SK.
Becomes a real problem (interesting challenge) after 800 yards.
We'll use our first 2 shoot (sighters) to set the scope.
Once I dial-in, I try to take note of light conditions.

If its moderate (or low) after my scope is set, then when the sun comes out and gets stronger I will just hold the reticle anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 MOA.... if the sun really gets boiling, then I sometimes may need to hold under 3/4 to a almost full MOA.

I learned "Suns up ... bullets up" after pairing up with one of the old timers about 3 years ago.
At a 900 yard rely with 15 shoots for score, it was a screaming hot Saskatchewan day but it was also cloudy.
It was a great learning experience paired up this old PRO, as he had helped me to transition between holding on target and holding under target about 4 times (depending on what the mirage was doing).