Budget spotting scope to learn about mirage?

[Sawin]

Shift the focus of your scope off a quarter turn one way then the other and see how the mirage changes.

[bellavite1]

Shift the focus of your scope off a quarter turn one way then the other and see how the mirage changes.

What am I looking for?

[Sawin]

What am I looking for?

The mirage can shift a lot at different distances between your shooting position and target. Shifting focus closer in, as well as at the target or beyond can provide some insight into swirl effects or opposite conditions at different distances during flight.

In other words, the mirage at 200m might be left to right, the mirage at 400m could be right to left and then at the target nonexistent. When flags aren’t available, this trick can help a little.

[XC700116]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but honestly if you want to learn to read mirage, the single best thing I can recommend is to volunteer to RO a major 2 day precision rifle match. You'll spend 2 solid days on high quality glass watching targets, mirage, wind, and some of the best long range shooters in the country dealing with it. You'll watch bullet trace in the glass, and see actual effect on the bullet. After they are done shooting your stage, just ask them what kind of wind they were holding for, you can learn a ton. (protip, don't ask if they just got worked by the stage, they will be frustrated and probably take it as something other than your asking for the sake of learning).

I've spent a lot of time and energy learning this exact thing and simply put, your investment in traveling to and RO'ing a match will FAR outweigh anything you'd get for sub $1000 invested in glass. It's something I do every year as both a refresher course, and to give back to the sport that I have gotten so much out of.

High quality glass is imperative to learning and understanding reading wind via mirage and honestly don't waste your money until you can save up for good high end glass like Swaro, Zeiss, Leica, etc. It's worth it and a lifetime investment.