Whatever happened to those long clear screw in mirage tubes?

T

tricrown

Guest
Maybe 30 or so years back a good many shooters were using a long clear plastic tube that screwed into the scope front. Pretty sure I bought mine from Sinclair. Why have they fallen out of favor? Nowadays most everyone uses a mirage shield that attaches to the barrel. Usually with Velcro.

And how heavy can one go with a mirage shield before it affects tune &/or accuracy?

Thanks,
Bill
 
wouldnt it also add weight which is bad for a registered match>
What about leverage pressure to the scope tube as well?
 
There still used often in rimfire benchrest when shooting inside and shooting out of window ports from a heated building,,if you wish to try one contact me and i can forward to one of the fellows that makes them......lwmoore@wirefire.com
 
I have two of them one for Leupold and one for Weaver, They were made by a Company named Saunders, at least that's what's on the boxes.
 
Somebody said those things caused problems.....and that was that.... we moved on to a venetian blind slat attached with velcro.
 
Certainly when you get to shooting 1000 yards & beyond, they can do strange things to wind zeros in gusty conditions.
 
Dick Thomas told me, years ago, "Don't ever hang anything off the front of a scope". I figured he knew more about Leupold, and other fine scopes, than anyone I ever knew.
 
Eddie Harren said:
Dick Thomas told me, years ago, "Don't ever hang anything off the front of a scope". I figured he knew more about Leupold, and other fine scopes, than anyone I ever knew.
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Do ya think that would include Leupold's 4" sun shade? Not much weight there, being thin walled aluminum.

Also, I remember guys rolling targets into a tube to extend the length of the barrel. Would that collect heat too?
 
tricrown said:
And how heavy can one go with a mirage shield before it affects tune &/or accuracy? Thanks, Bill
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Bill, Don't know of any studies done on mirage shield weight and its affect on tune or accuracy. They're pretty light weight. A person could always attach one, prior to tuning, if they felt is was necessary or ... for piece of mind.
 
The reason I asked the original post is because after trying all kinds of mirage shields I’m going to try using Velcro and a rubber band to attach a Sinclair shield onto the bottom of my scope. I figure since they used those tubes a mounted shield shouldn’t cut down on the scope and the Sinclair shield is much lighter.

Last year I used pieces of clear plastic from a cheap picture frame. But it wasn’t stiff enough and needed 4 spots of Velcro to keep from lying loose on the barrel. But at 2 ¾ wide it seemed to work pretty well. Unlike a 2” barrel mounted Sinclair that on some days just doesn’t do the job. I tried other shields, but always felt uncomfortable with putting all that weight on the barrel. So now I’m hoping the light Sinclair will work better with an extra high scope mount and being attached right onto the scope instead of onto the barrel. That should give the heat some time to dissipate and with the shield being attach right onto the bottom of the scope instead of a half inch under it on the barrel, the heat waves shouldn’t be causing as much trouble. That’s the hopeful plan anyway.

I did some weighing of different mirage shields and some sun shades that I have. Here’s what I got:

A 3 ¼” plastic blind slat weighs 43.1g per inch making 20” = 862g.

A 3” soft aluminum shield .010 thick weighs 21.6g per inch making 20” = 432g

A 3” hard aluminum shield .020 thick weighs 40.3g per inch making 20” = 816g

A 2” Sinclair aluminum shield .010 thick weighs 12.1g per inch so 20” = 242g

A 5” 2.2” OD sun shade weighs 1318.3g

A 4” 2.0” OD sun shade weighs 968.2g

I’d imagine those old clear screw on tubes must weigh a lot. I got rid of mine a decade or more ago.
 
No, that sun shade won't hurt a thing and don't leave home without it. The simplest shield is made of a strip of target and taped to the barrel. The only downside is that you have to make another next time out.
 
tricrown said:
I’m going to try using Velcro and a rubber band to attach a Sinclair shield onto the bottom of my scope.
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ATTACH IT TO THE BARREL.

Two or Three [I use three] small squares of Velcro, attached to the barrel and the shield, are sufficient to hold it in place.
 
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