Barrel heat mirage

[Morgan321]

I often have 0 wind when shooting and barrel heat will rise straight up and significantly distort/blur the entire field of view.

I draped a t-shirt over the barrel yesterday and that worked well but is a bit impractical. I can't shoot less or slower. I've seen things that look like a slat from a window blind along the top of the barrel but they look impractical and I think the heat would just rise around it(are those intended to shade a barrel from the sun or what?). I've thought about a cloth tube that slides over the barrel, but it would also greatly hinder cooling. Solutions?

 

[coldboremiracle]

Solutions?

shoot less or slower.

The covers you speak of are to block the heat waves from the sight picture yes, I believe they work okay. But if you shoot quite a bit, as you say, there's not many options given your stated conditions

 

[6brshooter]

Sinclair's sell them. Yes they are nothing more then a slat from a blind with no holes in them. They come with velcro tabs to make them easily removable. They trim up to what ever length with tin shears. I use them on my br rigs and make a huge difference when using a 32-40x scope. I am a runner, so when conditions are right i will send 5 rds in 25-30 sec.

 

[mallrat]

Battery powered fan to both cool the barrel and remove the mirage from the field of view. Admittedly not always practical .

 

[Wannashootit]

Here's one on an SV-98...

I've seen pictures of retractable cloth ones on rifles, but have never been able to find them for sale...

 

[mallrat]

Perhaps an extra long sunshade tube. Perhaps a length of automotive exhaust pipe mounted over the barrel.

 

[6brshooter]

Br shooters tried the long shade method. Aluminum and acrylic tubes were used. They all found that the air inside the tube got hot and looked similar. Also that long of a sunshade really cut the light off on 40x scopes. With a long tube like that u have more leverage on the scope to do damage if the rifle rolls over.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I have used a scope tube, which is a roll of black construction paper held above the barrel spanning from the scope objective to just a smidge short of the muzzle (to prevent muzzle blast damage). I left some clearance around the objective bell so air can flow along the tube's length and prevent warming. I works but it's also kinda clunky.

Now I use a 2" wide mirage band of cloth ribbon that stretches from the bell to just short of the muzzle.

In both cases, support comes from three equally spaced sets of Velcro Stick-On pads. The ribbon rolls up neatly inside a pill container tube inside the rifle hard case while the rifle is being transported.

Greg

 

[gstaylorg]

Here are links to a couple different styles commonly used by F-Class shooters. Firing 15-20 shots during a timed match will usually get the barrel hot enough to throw some serious mirage in front of the scope if you don't have one. If your barrel is black and it's sunny, the problem can be intensified. I use the Shotmaster windowblind slat type, but have seen many with the Champion's Choice as well.


Mirage Shields

Champion's Choice - Detail1 - CCMB20 - CHAMPION'S CHOICE BOLT RIFLE MIRAGE BAND (20") - Shooting Equipment - Champion's Choice

 

[leadbullet]

I use an old camera bag shoulder strap and electical tape, almost no cost, works great and is very light weight.

 

[Sniper260]

I wish I had no wind sometimes... I cant excape at least 10 mph where I live.. best method I was hinted at that I've only used a hand full of times is right before you squeeze the shot exhale through your mouth and blow down the side of the barrel... it gives you a tiny window of obscuring the heat waves off the barrel.

 

[pjparker]

Blind slat velcro'd to top of barrel, diverts hot air to the sides enough to give a window of clear air to see through.

 

[mcfred]

Get weird with it and move the scope/base off to the side. Let the barrel cook and look through clean air along the side. You might get slighted for it being unconventional/ugly but I say function over form.

 

[mallrat]

IIRC, some of the old Mosin Nagant sniper rifles had the scopes offset to clear the bolt handles, and a large offset area on the buttstock to provide a good cheekweld. Could give it a custom benchrest/spacegun look.