Poll: Preference: MIL or MOA?

[BDA.45]

Just for the sake of curiosity, which do you prefer in a rifle scope reticle, MIL (milliradian) or MOA (minute of angle)? I'll add a single-choice poll with this thread so people can see how it shakes out with the NWFA membership, the three choices being MIL, MOA, or Either One/No Preference.

For reference, a Minute in MOA is 1/60 of a degree. Since there are 360 degrees in a circle, there are 21,600 minutes (60 X 360 = 21,600). In practical terms, one minute of angle roughly equals one inch at 100 yards, or 10 inches at 1000 yards (more exactly, 1.047" and 10.47" respectively). MILs* are another unit of measurement for a circle, but based on the metric system. One radian is equal to 57.3 degrees of a circle. Do the math and you'll see that makes a full 360-degree circle equal to 6.2827 radians. As most of you are probably aware, as a prefix "milli-" means one-thousandth, so a milliradian is one-thousandth of radian, or 57.3 degrees divided by 1000, which is close to half of a degree for each milliradian (.0573 to be exact). Practically speaking, this means one MIL at 100 yards is roughly 3.6" inches, or more appropriately in metric terms, 10 centimeters at 100 meters.
*Sometimes you'll hear "MRAD" used instead of MIL, but the two terms are completely interchangeable. MRAD is just another way of shortening the word milliradian.

You hurt my brain.....but MOA...

 

[TTSX]

I can think in both metric and "standard" so it makes no difference to me at all. I just need to know which one I'm using.

I have noticed pensioners can get a little grumpy if you speak in foreign measurements.

 

[Member 34319]

It's hard to switch from 1" to 1/10 of 3" in my head. 1" increments are what I started off with and have always known.

With that said, after shooting a competition where dialing your scope in to a certain distance is involved, I can see why Mil scopes are so popular. 10 clicks for 1 Mil is a lot easier to the brain than 10 clicks for 2.5 MOA. Having things calculated in 1/10s is also a lot easier. Versus 1/4s.

 

[P7M13]

Don't care, use both, plus MIL/MOA mix.
I avoid BDC if I can.

But, if I'm a "minute of barn", I'm happy.

 

[rjmt]

I prefer MOA, but have several MIL scopes, including a NightForce
I built ballistic charts for each individual rifle/scope/ammo configuration
since I shoot different ammo in the same rifle, I built charts for each round
being old, I rely on my charts and not memory of rifle DOPE

 

[VanceInWA]

It's hard to switch from 1" to 1/10 of 3" in my head. 1" increments are what I started off with and have always known.

With that said, after shooting a competition where dialing your scope in to a certain distance is involved, I can see why Mil scopes are so popular. 10 clicks for 1 Mil is a lot easier to the brain than 10 clicks for 2.5 MOA. Having things calculated in 1/10s is also a lot easier. Versus 1/4s.

You got that right Reno. Personally, I have a mix between MOA and MIL scopes, but MIL does seem much more logical. Take a typical reticle with dots for holdover and windage (example shown below). With MOA those dots would be, say 3.6" at 100 yards, 10.8" at 300 yards, 21.6" at 600 yards. That's just not intuitive. A MIL reticle, however, would be in increments of 10 centimeters. So 100 meters might be 10 centimeters, 30 centimeters at 300 meters, 60 centimeters at 600 meters, and so forth. At 1000 meters you know without doing any math that it is a one meter holdover. Much, much easier. A complicating factor to all of this, however, is whether the scope is FFP or SFP. Most scopes, especially lower end scopes, are SFP, and in that case MIL measurement accuracy is typically based on maximum scope magnification level, meaning lower powers may not be as accurate.

 

[Mono1]

Don't care, use both, plus MIL/MOA mix.

I really admire people who have brains that can switch back and forth like that.

Kinda like being Ambidextrous. Also which I am not.

 

[Reacher]

Mils seem easier to me, although I have both, and I lean toward FFP
My mil scopes are roughly 1/3 inch adjustment at 100, My moa scopes 1/4 inch at 100
If I was shooting a benchrest comp it may make a difference, but shooting steel at mid ranges 500-800yds mils are faster with less turret clicks to count
6.5 creed at 625 yds:
Mils = 4.2
Moa = 14.5

 

[rjmt]

Mils seem easier to me, although I have both, and I lean toward FFP
My mil scopes are roughly 1/3 inch adjustment at 100, My moa scopes 1/4 inch at 100
If I was shooting a benchrest comp it may make a difference, but shooting steel at mid ranges 500-800yds mils are faster with less turret clicks to count
6.5 creed at 625 yds:
Mils = 4.2
Moa = 14.5

FFP vs SFP was not mentioned in the original post
I have both and for long range, I prefer FFP, one in MIL and one in MOA

I like an old fashion post and cross hair....what is commonly called a "German reticle " or a " European reticle".
Andy

like this

 

[VanceInWA]

FFP vs SFP was not mentioned in the original post
I have both and for long range, I prefer FFP, one in MIL and one in MOA

Okay rjmt, you've provided inspiration for another poll...

 

[Whisky Tahoe]

I'm shooting known long distances mostly so for me MOA preferred though I have a few Mildot reticle scopes.
I also prefer 1/8 MOA scope clicks on large scope turrets. Multiple rotations on a smaller cap is a pain

Mildot reticles make a lot of sense for military applications. Either reticle works once you are past the learning curve.

 

[3MTA3]

No preference and have both, but since my first exposed turret longer range scope was MIL the rest are as well. For scopes with covered turrets I zero for max point blank range or they have some sort of BDC so it doesn't matter.

 

[rjmt]

I'm shooting known long distances mostly so for me MOA preferred though I have a few Mildot reticle scopes.
I also prefer 1/8 MOA scope clicks on large scope turrets. Multiple rotations on a smaller cap is a pain

Mildot reticles make a lot of sense for military applications. Either reticle works once you are past the learning curve.

I had one Mil Dot scope, but retired it
I use a Bushnell Z6 Golf laser range finder, good out to 1000 yrds
I then refer to my ballistic tables for each rifle and round
if it can identify a greens flag at 1000 yrds, it can range in on anything I wish to shoot at

 

[ilikegunspdx]

For me it's mil dot just cuz that is what I use for airguns. Airgun pellets have gigantic drops and dramatic sensitivity to wind compared to real guns. So it is great fun to learn how to shoot them well at distance (See video example below from the excellent tedsholdover video guy). U have to get everything under your control perfectly consistent first such as trigger control etc and then figure out the holdover/windage. If u have everything consistent for every single shot (trigger control, hold etc) it almost comes down to math if u use a calculator like the free ChairGun program from hawke optics. If u do it often enough it becomes almost automatic in knowing where to hold for that particular gun.

FullSizeRender.mov

• ilikegunspdx
• Feb 27, 2022