Advanced Marksmanship Mirage and Milling - Share your tricks and tips?

[rkgsmith]

I have a two part question, nothing in the search engine seemed to catch my eye.

#1. When reading mirage thru a spotting scope is there anything specifically that your looking for?. Higher/lower to ground, midrange or closer to target, focusing clockwise or counterclockwise, etc. Would you shoot in a boil, or where is your cuttoff point if you were or were not going to fire the shot. What is your gut telling you if the wind is right to left at the firing line, but opposite at the target.

#2. Has to do with milling. Anything that you do or do not do in specific circumstances? Myself I tend to over mill a lot of targets, mostly beyond 500 yards. I usually counter this by backing off my reading just slightly. It seems to be more pronounced when conditions are bright and sunny, hence my question on mirage. Do you read, or maybe more importantly try to see something differently depending on the weather/light conditions. Does your way of looking at targets very depending on their color or reflective nature. What are some techniques to help when mirage is washing out the edge of the target.

I know that all seems like a tossed salad of questions, but I'm just looking for a few nuggets that guys find work for them.

 

[CarolinaExPat1]

Re: Mirage and Milling - Share your tricks and tips?

To post a quick answer, both these issues are separate, but your eye's own perspective is what I believe you are questioning.

For the mirage, it is simply another tool you can use to gauge wind. Although humidity increases its effects, the reason you are trying to focus on the mirage is to estimate the wind. Ideally, you would do this in addition to several other indicators. Flags, vegetation movement, weather reports, and if you have one, a kestrel. When looking at a mirage, a trick we were taught is to focus your scope somewhere between halfway and two thirds downrange to your target. Once your scope is focused there, direct it towards the target, but keep it out of focus (it was focused closer). You should then be able to clearly see the mirage and the angles produced by any wind. As for your cutoff point, the mirage will go flat around 8-10mph, so if your wind is beyond those speeds, you will have to use other methods to verify it.

Now, for light conditions, you should shoot on various days, recording both your point of aim/point of impact, as well as the direction and intensity of the light. If you make your own data book, place a block for light conditions, similar to your wind clock, and record it all the time. Your target will change in perspective based on different conditions, so once again, verify with other methods. Is the target near a vehicle, use it to range out... Is your target clearly halfway from something easier to range, or is something halfway between you and the target...do you have a laser range finder...can you estimate, do you have a topo map that you could identify where the target is in relation to you? All of these are good methods for verifying a targets range, so as for the milling errors, simply perform more estimations and see what your variations are. I hope this helped.

 

[Sterling Shooter]

Re: Mirage and Milling - Share your tricks and tips?

Regarding mirage, I focus the spotting scope on the target and then turn the focus knob counterclockwise about a quarter of a turn. That makes mirage at mid range observable. Looking at direction and velocity I counter by favoring or making a windage adjustment for the prevailing condition. Folks have notions about reading wind but reading it at mid range is a proven method.

 

[Guest]

Re: Mirage and Milling - Share your tricks and tips?

#1, same as SS
#2, Bright or shiny colors, will always subtend larger than they really are, for me at least. Best to test yourself on bright days as well as duller.
Some colors are as much as 12% different on bright days for me. If I don't remember an counter that fact, I can get out of my personnel error range with a .308 real quick.

 

[Trapshooter12]

Re: Mirage and Milling - Share your tricks and tips?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sterling Shooter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Regarding mirage, I focus the spotting scope on the target and then turn the focus knob counterclockwise about a quarter of a turn. That makes mirage at mid range observable. Looking at direction and velocity I counter by favoring or making a windage adjustment for the prevailing condition. Folks have notions about reading wind but reading it at mid range is a proven method. </div></div>

Sterling thats what a friend told me to do. Dial the Parallax to mid range to read the wind just before the shot. It works.