Comments on: Mirage Shields — Not Just for Benchresters Anymore

By: Gabe

Gabe — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:02:15 +0000

I use one out in the varmint field without problem. It definitely helps on calm days.

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:09:02 +0000

I use 1.25″ wide elastic strap material I bought from a sewing store. I used to use Velcro to keep them on, but I just use an elastic band at each end and it works fine. I use them for varmints and for F-Class shooting.

By: patrick kennedy

patrick kennedy — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:13:45 +0000

Just watch scoremaster 10x, I tried to order a couple of Mirrage shilds, some time back, and they wanted to charge me a ridiculus amount of money for shipping. If memory serves me right it was $18 bucks. I contacted them, and they was able to drop the shipping to $10, and I thought that was still too high for a couple of pieces of plastic, or aluminum.

By: Boyd Allen

Boyd Allen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:10 +0000

By way of explanation I will mention a couple of points. Wind blows barrel mirage (and downrange mirage for that matter) away, and that for it to become a factor, several shots would have to be taken in a short enough period for the barrel to heat up a little. For varminting, the primary situation that I was addressing was when someone is at a location where a lot of shots are taken on a relatively still day.

From my conversations with prairie dog shooters, I have learned that they commonly will set up some sort of shooting table and shoot fast enough that rotating rifles is often required, to allow barrels to cool.

These varmint “safaris” are often elaborate, expensive, and involve taking shots at distances where scope image quality is a real issue. Also, I have met many shooters that did not realize that barrel mirage, not down rang mirage, was causing their problems.

By: axlenut

axlenut — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:19:13 +0000

Well, I have been hunting varmints for about 50 years, and never used a mirage shield. Very rarely miss a shot unless a nasty little gnat flies up my nose just as I squeeze off. Mirage shields are fine at the range, or for the benchrest segment, but out in the varmint field they would be a nuisance.

By: Mr Bill

Mr Bill — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:40:19 +0000

Make your own: x-ray film and velcro

By: Dave White

Dave White — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:53:14 +0000

Has anyone done a comparison of the effeciveness of these mirage “shields” vs. the traditional elastic mirage “bands” that have been used on match rifles in High Power shooting for many, many years?

They do work, and also provide a matte surface to cut the glare from what are typically bright stainless barrels too.

Editor: Dave, a while back Jerry Tierney made a superwide mirage “barrier” with cardbord and thin plastic (for stiffness). It was ugly, but Jerry said it worked much better than the “venetian blind” type mirage shield he has used before.

See: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2007/10/oversize-mirage-shield-works-well/

By: Dennis B.

Dennis B. — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:20:45 +0000

I’ll need a mirage shield for rimfire with optics? Or it is not heated like centerfires?

Best regards

Dennis

By: Norman Goelzer

Norman Goelzer — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:28:24 +0000

Long range shooters use barrels up to 32 inches in length. These companies need to offer a universal heat shield that can be cut to fit the barrel length.

Editor: Norm, you raise a good point, but keep in mind that the mirage shield does not need to run the full length of the barrel, as long as it begins a few inches back from the front objective or front of sunshade.