Blurry target at high zoom lvl

[Dylanm1212]

Was at the range today fist time shooting past 200 ( which is they typical full length range in my area.) At 300 I would zoom in to try to see my shot placement but anything past like 8-10x was getting progressively blurrier. At 100yds and 200yds I could go 4x-14x and see other peoples hits on paper crystal clear.

Is this issue Mirage or heat waves off the barrel? And is it a zoom lvl issue or something that was just at the 300 yard mark? When the sun went behind a cloud it wasn't bad but full sun my 6in round target coulda been a square or triangle for all I could tell.

Shooting wasn't an issue I just backed the zoom down but if there's a way to correct for this or if I just need to get a good pair of binoculars to check my shots that would be super helpful info.

 

[WB300]

What scope ?

 

[Dylanm1212]

What scope ?

Nightforce shv 4-14 ffp moa

 

[b6graham]

Did you adjust the parallax as you moved to further targets?

 

[roostercogburn98]

I was gonna say bad parallax, improper ocular adjustment or maybe improper eye relief/ and or scope setup on rifle

 

[acudaowner]

did you have heavy mirage that day ?

 

[308pirate]

Nightforce shv 4-14 ffp moa

Did you adjust the parallax?

 

[Dylanm1212]

I did adjust paralax and it only helped a small amount. But like I said I'm new to longer ranges and some of the other shooters where talking about it to there buddy's or spotters. It was about 2pm in Florida as well. So realy hot out. I just didn't know if it's something you can adjust out or have to fight with.

Iv never seen mirage in person threw a scope so wasn't sure if this was it. I was either short range or dusk and dawn hunting.

I have signed up for a 2 day, long range course in December and will be joining a rifle range/club with 200/300-500/600 yard ranges so hopefully by next year I can learn a lot.

 

[308pirate]

Sounds like mirage. Higher magnification will obviously make it seem worse.

When you say blurry, do you mean like the target seemed to be wavy/moving around?

 

[Dylanm1212]

Sounds like mirage. Higher magnification will obviously make it seem worse.

When you say blurry, do you mean like the target seemed to be wavy/moving around?

Yup. Not blurry like I need glasses but like u described. Guess there's not much we can do about it.

 

[308pirate]

Yup. Not blurry like I need glasses but like u described. Guess there's not much we can do about it.

Within the constraints of your particular scope, lowering magnification is your only tool to deal with this. And with experience and good note taking you'll begin to understand how different intensities of mirage affect your view of the target.

Pro tip: the way in which mirage moves across your scope's field of view also indicates the intensity of the true value (90 degrees to your line of fire) wind. That's an incredibly useful bit of knowledge to have, but there's no formula for it. Only with observation of mirage appearance to other known wind indicators can you teach yourself this.