Here is a good example of the effects of mirage at our range and possibly others as well. I was shooting at 200yds with my 28-35SS with a dead wind zero so having to hold off. The flags were showing the wind coming from 10:00 o'clock with the mirage running right and just when the trigger broke the wind remained the same but the mirage turned to running hard left. Hopefully this might help to show how important it is to always keep a close eye on both the wind and the mirage. It is one of the challenges we always face at our range where the mirage can typically change from running soft to hard in one direction and then just the opposite in what seems to be in just a matter of milliseconds. Some might look at that this shot or one of their own as just being one of those uncalled for shots we all typically experience from time to time. When it was actually caused by a very quick change in just the mirage condition and what I am wanting to point out should it be somehow helpful to others. 

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JLouis

That's ok, JL, it happens to me, too.

Frank

Nice response and input Hepburnman mirage can at times be a bit hard to see or for one to fully understand the ill effects from it. Since my stroke and permanent partial vision lose it is the direction that has now become difficult for me to recognize. I now typically get burnt from it quite a bit thinking I see it running one way when it's actually running just the opposite. If one pays enough attention you can actually watch the image move from its true position, return and stop before it can move off again and use that stopping point to reference where the actual true image actually is. 

JLouis

It's a tough uphill range to shoot from what I hear with really no place to put out wind flags. I try avoid boils if possible hard to get a real good handle on as the image keeps bouncing up and down. Again real nice targets and hope you have an enjoyable time along with some real nice weather and do well Frank.

JLouis

j louis,
i would suggest you copped a double whammy.
if the mirage runst the other way, so does the wind, even if only for a short time.
sometimes too short to change a flag.
when this happens, the image of the target moves left to right or vice versa.
then there is wind deflection added to this.
a killer if you miss it.

my own take for long range shooting is to use the mirage to say when a condition changes, and the flags to say what the change is.
after a few shots you can work out if the mirage is honest that day, and if it is what it is telling you.
if the wind is flicky, the quicker reacting mirage might well be your friend.
in that case shooting on a condition can help if time permits.
i suspect that 10 moa windage also equates to approx 1 moa elevation, but cannot shoot well enough to prove the exactness of that.
of course shooting at 40 rods , while having the same ruls as long range, is an art unto itself.
good bullet stability can help minimize deflection, but cannot tell when the target image goes left or right, up or down, or a combination of both.
disciplines that allow a sighter target make some of these issues easier to deal with.
where you focus your spotting scope can also be critical.
keep safe,
bruce.

In Light wind conditions mirage is the most effective wind gauge . 

Boats

Art I would love to hear your thoughts and what you might have to share as well as those from others. My problem is now recognizing the direction through my scope with my partial lose of eye sight not in shooting it. I can see it cleary in my spotting scope with my good eye but more times than not it will change before I can get back down on my scope as the target shows. I was thinking of trying to come up with a way to see it on a screen sitting on the bench out of my good off eye I use to watch the wind flags. Not sure if it would even be legal as I believe mirage boards are not. Has anyone tried doing such a thing or if the rules would even allow it being used. 

JLouis

I think those socks are Schuetzen Dave's.  I do have some similar that I copied from his.  I also have a pin wheel flower on a bearing pivot that I use up close.  I found a condition last May in Spokane that used my close pin wheel flag and the closest 100 yd flag that proved to work well for the second half of the week.

Jack