Mirage?

[wraithen]

Ok so when I'm out at the range looking through my scope sometimes it looks like the world is vibrating and kinda blurry but then it goes away. I'm thinking this is just seeing the air densities from the firers next to me? I'm not sure what this is but mirage is the only thing that makes sense to me. It's a nikon 3-9 buckmaster matte black.

[bobcat]

Sounds like heat waves. Does this only happen when it's hot and/or the sun is shining?

[204chucknorris]

It may just be heat from your barrel? I have had this happen before. Take note if your barrel temp with your hand and again once it leaves.

[wraithen]

It's a covered area pavillion type so no direct sun. It was cold and cloudy out. And it had nothing to do with barrel temp. Happened when the barrel was cool, warm, and hot. I figured it was from other rifles percussions moving out from their muzzles since it went in and out. It literally never lasted more than 15 seconds, its just kinda annoying while I'm trying to get better at learning to use a scope. Wish my savage came with irons.

[Caseyd]

Prism vibrating around inside scope 

**I have no clue, just a long shot guess

[AWS]

How old are you?  I'm an older shooter and have waves go across my vision when looking through a scope, my optometris told me it was due to the thickenning of the fluid in the eyeball.  It has since progressed to that the point that I see all them time when I move my eyeball to look to the side.  Also floaters in the eye will apear to be cloudy spots that move.

[wraithen]

I'm 26. I have seen the worm shaped floaters since I was a little kid but they are definable and I see them clearly. Prism vibrating around in the scope was my first idea but if I bump my rifle it doesn't cause the condition. My wife sees the same thing when she's shooting. I really hope it's not my scope but I kind of doubt its the problem due to me not being able to recreate it. I'm gathering from the different responses that nobody experiences this?

[quadrafire]

I have had the same thing happen. Not sure what it was, but I would only see it when looking through the scope.

[Steve C]

That does sound like mirage.  The effect looks like shimmering waves, all moving across the view in the same manner.  Increasing magnification also increases the effect.  If the heating and cooling patterns around the range are inconsistent, the mirage will be inconsistent as well.  Tends to happen when there is a distinct difference between air and ground temperatures.

[Rob]

OK, I cannot figure out how to embed a youtube video....

[wraithen]

Rob, not to get off topic but for so many years I thought nobody knew what I was talking about with those things until I saw that episode. It made my day the first time I saw it!

Ok, so it could be mirage even though it takes up the entire view of the scope? It was at 9x because I suck at shooting with a scope right now. I'm wondering if the pressure/temp differences caused by the guys shooting next to me may be causing the mirages. I gotta learn up on how to read mirage to dope wind and everything else. That'll happen after my 200 yard groups shrink enough for me to go out to 300.

[Rob]

I get them all the time!

On the Mirage, is it possible that you are seeing heat waves down range, and then you get a little bit of wind blows it away?  I see that happen a lot.

[Biggerhammer]

Mirage, mirage, mirage.. Watching mirage. Two shots out of any of my rifles today would cause heat waves in my scope for 5 or so minutes. There would be mirage today on our ranges due to the cold evening, thin crest o snow and direct sunlight it's just one of those factors, that really doesn't mean anything at the distances your shooting. If one is just getting used to using a scope, they should be more preoccupied with cheek hold memory rather than mirage.

[wraithen]

Trust me I am working hard on the cheek stock weld. I even put electrical tape on my stock so I can get the muscle memory to kick in for me. The reason the mirage bugs me is I can't see the target very well. It gets too blurry to clearly see. I am fine with it being mirage, just wanted to be sure it wasn't something I should be worried about. Also, if anyone else has the problem transitioning from sights to a scope I have a second piece of advice. Aim smaller. My groups were all over the place at 100 until I realized the scope just made me over confident in being "close enough." You concentrate harder with iron sights because you know that being off a tiny bit is a big difference. It still applies to a scope even if your targer fills the scope.

[FALFire]

For long distance shooting you can use mirage to your advantage. If you take your scope slightly out of focus, you can easily see the mirage which tells you which way the wind is blowing at a given distance. Learn to read mirage and after a great deal of time and practice, you can be somewhat capable of reading the wind in mph, not exactly dead on but close anyway. Scopes that have no parallax adjustment make it much more difficult to shoot accurately at distance on hot days. Mirage can be your friend.