I've been getting into longer range shooting recently. Prior to yesterday my furthest distance was about 917 yards, which I was able to hit my target and have clarity in scope fairly easily. I am currently using a Vortex Viper HS LR 4-16x44. This is a second focal plane scope. Trying to decide if my equipment is lacking or I just need more practice or a combination of the two.
Yesterday I went out to a place where we were able to stretch out to 1275 yards and were shooting at a silhouette target about 12"x14" This is where my scope began to fail me, I think. We got started fairly early in the morning to help eliminate mirage. Even so, I found at this distance I had a very hard time getting a crisp sight picture through my scope at 16x power. Parallax was adjusted correctly. I did see some mirage in the target but I am not sure that mirage was 100% to blame. I am wondering if I was not getting a consistent hold point on the target since it was not crisp in my glass. I would shoot and just barely miss the target, make a minor adjustment and shoot WAY off to one side or another and the wind wasn't changing really at all.
The buddy I was shooting with is convinced I was having trouble because my scope was under magnified and not first focal plane. He said I need at least 20 power. I don't agree or disagree with him but want to look into this more. For reference, he was running a Bushnell XRS 4.5-30x50 set at 20 power and was banging the steel with ease. Our shooting abilities are the same when it comes to shooting longer range.
For those of you that have experience actually shooting at these distances, what magnification range have you found to be best and are you using FFP or SFP scopes?
Yesterday I went out to a place where we were able to stretch out to 1275 yards and were shooting at a silhouette target about 12"x14" This is where my scope began to fail me, I think. We got started fairly early in the morning to help eliminate mirage. Even so, I found at this distance I had a very hard time getting a crisp sight picture through my scope at 16x power. Parallax was adjusted correctly. I did see some mirage in the target but I am not sure that mirage was 100% to blame. I am wondering if I was not getting a consistent hold point on the target since it was not crisp in my glass. I would shoot and just barely miss the target, make a minor adjustment and shoot WAY off to one side or another and the wind wasn't changing really at all.
The buddy I was shooting with is convinced I was having trouble because my scope was under magnified and not first focal plane. He said I need at least 20 power. I don't agree or disagree with him but want to look into this more. For reference, he was running a Bushnell XRS 4.5-30x50 set at 20 power and was banging the steel with ease. Our shooting abilities are the same when it comes to shooting longer range.
For those of you that have experience actually shooting at these distances, what magnification range have you found to be best and are you using FFP or SFP scopes?