Can Mirage Displace Your Target Image?
01:05:40 | In this episode, Bryan, Mitch, and Francis discuss the possibility of mirage shifting the target image. There have been some convincing anecdotal cases and there is also a well-understood scientific mechanism for this to occur so it’s an important topic for long-range shooters to explore. Even at this early stage of the conversation, there’s a lot to say about these observations, conditions in which a shift will occur, and how to test and solve the potential issue of target image shifting.
This is a well known issue at my home range (Bayou Rifles in Houston). I’m the long range match director and I’ve plotted thousands of rounds both in matches and practice from some of the best F-Class shooters in the country. What we’ve observed is approximately 30 min after sun hits the range we will start getting random vertical dispersion of varying degree’s. Depending on conditions it can vary from as little as 1/8 MOA to over 1/2 MOA. Clear cold days are the worst and cloudy days are the best and it is not really too dependent on wind unless its really blowing. The worst confirmed case was a cool partly cloudy day Tim Vaught and I were shooting the last match and we were both clean thru 57 and 52 shots for the day at 1k. Guns were hammering and I had 10x’s in row. Wind was 0-3 mph. We then both shot fat 11:00 nines at the same time. No visible change in conditions. We both waited 5 minutes and I shot the same hold assuming the condition was gone and it went the same place. Tim held low and shot another nine also. I went down 1/2 minute and finished the string clean. I’ve had other times where it will drop 1/2 minute so I think it really depends on where you start in the cycle. We used to blame it on flyers or tune or you name it but now just blame the Bayou Bitch and move on.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!