05-31-2011, 10:47 PM
Nimrod Wrote:Well I was only shooting at 100 & 200 yards, there was a boiling mirage, kind of made things ripple and I had about a 10 mph head wind. I didn't really think much of it until my load that always shoots good was giving me spread out groups. Maybe just a rotten day but it got me to wondering.
NR:
Could well be a combination of factors contributed to you having problems. The mirage distorted your sight picture so you really didn't know where the middle was. Don't discount barrel mirage either as that will really give you fits. However, given a 10 MPH wind, most likely you were having problems with ground mirage.
Guys sometimes crank down the magnification and even try to use their focus to get a confident sight picture. If they are having problems with barrel mirage, they will use a mirage screen over the top of their barrel.
If you have the option, you may find that waiting until you get a cross wind may be your best option. A cross wind will tend to blow out the mirage so your sight picture may be better. At least a cross wind blows the barrel mirage to the side and away from your objective lens and or iron sights.
Understanding that the conditions were not ideal is also a good thing as you aren't automatically blaming your equipment or yourself but are considering other factors that you have no control over.
LR1955