Mirage in Texas

F

ForneyRider

Guest
Well, my dad and I found ourselves at the range in 100+ heat in Garland this summer.

He was unable to go over 15x on his scope. I was fine at 14x(max) on mine and the compact spotting scope was about the same.

These optics are not premium models...

How much magnification can a high end scope able to go in this environment with the "shutter blind" on top of the barrel?

What else can be done to lessen the mirage?

Is a Weaver 36x usable in these conditions?
 
Move out of Texas.
Not much can be done to remove mirage. I'm in the same boat. I have tried photo polarizing filters helps some, I have tried what the March scopes do is a smaller opening for the front objective by cutting a front cap to about 1/2 open and it cuts down on light entering the front obj. Helps a lot.
 
Forney Rider,

Don't move out of Texas. Wait a while and the conditions will change.

Out here in San Angelo the wind blows the mirage away.

Lew,

It is very interesting that your cutting the opening on the objective lens cuts down on mirage. There is a sound reason for that. By cutting down on the amount of light entering the objective lens you are increasing the focal ratio. You will probably get a sharper image that way. Less light but a flatter field of view and, potently, a sharper one.

I learned this from an astronomical telescope and a camera.:)

Concho Bill
 
I have a sun shade, but I thought that was just for glare. It has cooled down since I bought it and is a non-issue for the 14x max magnification.

What is the max magnification you guys are achieving with better scopes and the mini-blind attached to the barrel?
 
I've found that a straight 36X works find for almost all conditions. I also use a mirage shield over the barrel. :)
 
Most of my friends use a fixed 36 on our 22s and I do too. We would use larger if we were not so cheap.

Concho Bill
 
When it's 95 or 100 degrees in a prairie dog town mirage can be really ugly. I remember having to crank the 6.5-20 Leupold on my rifle down to 6.5 to see if the thing I thought was a pd actually was. When I'd crank the power back up to 12X or so that little sucker was just dancing and boogying around like crazy. I ended up shooting at it three times before I finally hit it - turns out a piece of sagebrush needed pruning so that I could make the shot. Two bullets for pruning one for the pd.

It was about 95° on a 4th of July morning in Eastern Montana, so Texas isn't the only place with mirage. The closer to the ground you are the worse the mirage is in my experience.
 
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