Seeing a bullet's shock wave at long distance...

[ChristianHE]

Some buddies and I were out shooting at a 600 yard range last weekend, in FL, it was about 76 degrees, and we had a 75x Meade spotting scope. We backed it off to about 50x and we could see each other's shots arcing in, the shock wave of air or whatever when hitting the targets, it was awesome.

I was shooting a 6.5 zeroed at 200 yds and the ballistic calculator was right on, I used a 5 MIL DOT hold over and was consistently hitting a 10" plate. My buddy's AR-10 was plinking a 5" spinner! Just gotta love being able to reach out that far!

[Patrick Sweeney]

Some buddies and I teach LEO patrol rifle classes. We get to go to a National Guard range and shoot on the 300 meter popups.

If you sit right behind the shooter (they are in concrete pits) and view the targets just over their heads with binos, you can watch the bullet wake.

Once they finish a run, we tell them sight corrections: "give it two clicks right, and stop holding high on the long targets, and you'll be fine." The next time you walk down the line, they look at you like "How does he know this stuff?"

[ChristianHE]

Some buddies and I teach LEO patrol rifle classes. We get to go to a National Guard range and shoot on the 300 meter popups.

If you sit right behind the shooter (they are in concrete pits) and view the targets just over their heads with binos, you can watch the bullet wake.

Once they finish a run, we tell them sight corrections: "give it two clicks right, and stop holding high on the long targets, and you'll be fine." The next time you walk down the line, they look at you like "How does he know this stuff?"

I saw guys like you on the "Top Sniper II" yesterday... the were shooting a .50 to damage artillery at 1200M with the MK 211 round, and the instructor told the shooter "low, add two" and next shot... Hit!

Can you see the "wake" when it's a cold, cloudy day?

[Dan Sierpina]

They were probably watching the bullet itself. Try shooting a highpower match sometime. At 600 yards, while watching the target for scoring purposes, you'll see the bullet come into the view of the scope, from 12 oclock.

[JKSNIPER]

Its called a "Vapor Trail" and yes its VERY common to see when shooting long range.

Also if the lighting conditions are right you can follow the round by the reflection of sunlight off of it as it zips toward the target.

Fun stuff.

JK

[Leozinho]

In the Army we call it "trace." One trick I was taught was to back off the focus of the spotting scope so the target is just a bit fuzzy. It seems to make the trace stand out. Once you get the hang of it then you can go back to a crisp focus on the target and you'll likely still be able to see it. I seem to be able to pick it up around 250m and lose it at 800m ( for 7.62).

Rather than having the spotting scope even with the shooter, I like to be behind him and just off to the side, as close to his line of sight as possible. (Usually set up right off his right thigh.) (If you can be right behind the shooter it's even easier to call the shots.) Being just two feet off the line of sight seems to make it more difficult, as the bullet enters the field of view later and it's harder to call the shot.)

As you might guess, it's really easy to see with a .50 cal.

I also swear I have seen the copper color of the bullet, too. Again, when the light is right. That's pretty cool.

Edited March 27, 2009 by Leozinho