Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Mil vs moa and why

If you are not directly dialing range then you are doing it wrong.

Converting a range into mil or MOA drop and then dialing said correction is so 1990s.

Hey Spray Tan, you're back!

Doesn't matter which one you use as long as your reticle and turrets match. Which, of course, if you're not using a freakin' relic of an optic, they will.

There is no math involved either way.

There is no conversion involved either way.

Your units could be in Cheeseburgers. It doesn't matter. If you see your shot missed left by 4.3 Cheeseburgers (using your reticle), you dial right or hold by 4.3 Cheeseburgers. Make your correction, pull the trigger. Done. Nowhere in that scenario was there any math or conversion or inches or centimeters. If I am ranging a target with a laser, I get a reading of 1,028 yards. I plug that into my ballistic solver and it spits out a ballistic solution: 7.8 mil up, 0.2 mil left. I dial my scope to 7.8 and 0.2. Done. Again... zero math. No math. Absolutely nadda maths. And I don't care what the units are. Mil, MOA, Cheeseburgers. Doesn't matter.

You don't spot your shot in feet or inches. That's ridiculous. Nobody looks through their scope and says, "Oh, I missed by 4.7 feet. Ok, now I gotta convert that to centimeters..." No. Doesn't happen. Will never happen if you're doing it right.

If you are RANGING with your reticle, there is math involved. But the formulas are easy. And it doesn't matter what units you're using as their is a formula for each. I use mils. But I measure distance and dimension in feet and inches and yards. Doesn't matter. The formula for that is simple:

(Target Height in Inches x 27.77) / Height in Mils through the reticle = Range in Yards

Not that hard. I'm gonna be using a calculator anyway.

Now go shoot yer sticks!

Anyone have a recco for a Mil/Mill or MOA/MOA, 1" tube scope that's about the size of a Leupy 6x42? The SWFA 6x42 is a beast IMO.

Your right FourT6. Still some like to argue the fact that 1/4 inch MOA is more precise than 1/10MIL. But what the is 0.1 at 100yds? 90 % more use of the military accepted MIL than MOA. I use MOA because every one I know uses it. But I have a few military type buddies and they shoot MIL. They kick my ass at the range but they had all their rifle barrels and 10's of thousand of rounds paid for by taxpayers. LOL

So if you are down 24 inches at 400 yards, how many MIL is that?

It does actually make a difference to some. Sometimes your rifle's zero is between two clicks. A 0.1 mil difference at 1,000 yards is 3.6 inches. Not a lot. But if you shoot competitions, that matters. Some of the matches I shoot have 1 MOA targets. So at 1,000 yards you're trying to hit a 10" target. 3.6 inches is a significant margin for that size of target, at that distance.

MOA is a little more fine for zeroing. But most people won't notice. Some optics, like the Vortex Razor HD, have a click-less zero, letting you zero between whole clicks.

This is all really semantic though, from what I've been told.

Who cares? It doesn't matter and you will never be in a position where you need to figure it out in the field.

I won't? I've had to figure it in the field before, but I was using MOA and it was an easy division in my head. I was just wondering what math you use for MIL, since I don't use it.

24 incehs at 400 yards is 1.667 Mil. The math is pretty easy. But I have no idea why anybody would need to do that conversion. Why did you?

allow me to tackle that math problem. Correct me if I'm wrong.
one mil at 1000 yds = 36"
(72" x 1000) /5 mils= range 0f 14,400 inches, Divide by 36, range is 400 yds

No need to do math. Look through your scope. It has a measuring stick. But you already knew that, so I anticipate a rebuttal. LOL

Cuzz I wasn't shooting from my house or around electronics.

So what is the math to get to 1.667

WTF are you talking about? Around electronics? Dude, you are in a totally different mental spot than what anybody is talking about here.



24 divided by 4, divided by 3.6 = 1.667

Gotcha. So obviously all MIL scopes have MIL reticles then. Thanks.

Ok, more math, gotcha.

This entire conversation/thread was prefaced with the notion that one's reticle and turrets match. That's the standard used today. If you're using a scope from 1983, with an MOA reticle and MRAD turrets then you're are probably a masochist.

If your reticle matches your turrets, there is no math. Jesus. Can you even buy a decent scope these days where they don't match? Maybe some 3rd-world off brand Smut & Linder?

Show up at a competition and ask if anybody is running a mis-matched scope.

Didn't say that either. Wasn't aware that all MRAD turret scopes had MIL dot reticles, cuzz not all my MOA turret scopes have dot reticles.

Or should I say DOT reticles in the MRAD scope, cuzz I know some have been mismatched.

Again, reading comprehension ain't your strong point, but I'm sure you impress the family.