Rifle Scopes New to mil to mil scope

[Deleted member 10043]

I've just mounted and zeroed a mil turret to mil reticle scope, which wasn't difficult because it was 100 yards and standards at that range are commonly known. I'm used to a MOA turret and mil-dot reticle so I'm making an adjustment to the change. If I'm looking at a paper target made up in 1 inch squares and I can tell my group is about 3.5" high and lets say the range is 375 yards what is the math to determine the correction from inches to mils? I realize the reticle will give me the approximation but I'm interested in the converting inches to mils formula. The scope is the SWFA 5-20x.

Wish I could find a conversion app that does all this anyway. Just enter the range and inches of correction and the output can be MOA and Mils and so forth.

 

[Graham]

If I'm looking at a paper target made up in 1 inch squares and I can tell my group is about 3.5" high and lets say the range is 375 yards what is the math to determine the correction from inches to mils?

You don't correct inches to Mils because inches are linear and Mils are angular.

1 Mil = 3.438 MOA:

1 Mil at 100y = 3.6"
1 MOA at 100y = 1.047"
3.6 divided by 1.047 = 3.438

So, in your head if you want to use a quick 'inches to mils':

3.5" at 375y = .93 at IPHY (3.5 divided by 3.75)
.93 divided by 3.438 = .27 Mils


OR:

.1 Mil is .36" at 100
At 375y, .36 x 3.75 = 1.35"
3.5 divided by 1.35 = 2.59
Come down .2 Mils

 

[Landon]

I think this is a strange question. I have never heard of anyone converting inches to mils before.

1 mil=3.6 inches at 100 yards. So I would think you would take (3.6x#yards)/100. Then take the number of inches you want to move and devide it by your result of the first formula. That should give you the number of mills you need to move.

So (3.6 x 375)/100=13.5. So one mil is 13.5" at 375 yards. Then take 3.5"/13.5"= .259. So I would move the turret .3 mils down.

Why would you want to do this when using a mil mil scope? The reticle is as precise a ruler you can get when looking at targets town range.

If you need inches to mil that bad then you probably should have gotten a moa reticle to match the moa turrets.

If there is no app it's because no one wants one. . And if you are using a mil mil scope why do you need adjustments displayed in moa? This all seems so confusing.

Good luck with whatever you are tring to accomplish here.

 

[Shoalwater]

Or you can just measure how far off it is with your reticle and make the adjustment on the turrets. Why make it complicated?

 

[Graham]

Or you can just measure how far off it is with your reticle and make the adjustment on the turrets. Why make it complicated?

Exactly... If you can spot your hits.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Or you can just measure how far off it is with your reticle and make the adjustment on the turrets. Why make it complicated?

I know. That's in my OP. The question was the formula and/or conversion. Thanks, Graham. There is a conversion app that is available which a lets you create your own. So, yeah you walked down to your target as described to see your group and realize something isn't right and you want to know why. The variables help. BTW, have you seen the large plastic reference card that comes with that reticle? It has diamonds instead of lines and/or dots. Lots to study.

Thanks!

 

[Graham]

Thanks, Graham.

You're welcome.

I am fresh from implementing a voluntary one-week ban on myself, the result of new members whining about me not being helpful enough. Lol!

 

[Graham]

[target size (in) * 27.78] / mRads (read) = range (yds)

[target size (yd) * 1000] / mRads (read) = range (yds)

[target size (m) * 1000] / mRads (read) = range (m)

E=MC squared.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

You're welcome.

I am fresh from implementing a voluntary one-week ban on myself, the result of new members whining about me not being helpful enough. Lol!

You're off to a good start!

 

[Mk4]

Tag for future reference.

 

[Lowlight]

You should stop thinking in a linear fashion completely and put it out of your head. Unless you cannot see the impact at all and are physically walking down range and tthen measuring the impacts with a ruler it is completely, absolutely unnecessary.

Even if you know from behind the rifle the impact is 3.5" @ 375 yards, simply stick your head back on the scope and the read the reticle. Then what you see is what you dial. If you know where the strike is, why use anything else, the reticle IS a ruler, measure the distance and adjust accordingly.

If you know the target is 6" big, 400 yards away, unless you are ranging it, who cares. See how big 6" @ 400 yards in your reticle and use that. If you hit 2 target widths right, how that many mils left. You can easily never have to use inches again in the context of shooting and be more successful than the person who thinks in inches. Unless you are milling the target of course, but actually shooting, you never need it again. It does not matter, you don't think, you don't calculate you just read the ruler, or in this case the reticle.

Knowing a mil is 3.6" @ 100 is all well and good, but who cares? It's 1 mil, anything you see in the reticle that is 1 mil away from the center is 1 mil, 300 yards, 555 yards, 839.75 yards, if its 1 mil away it's 1 mil. If you have to walk down range to measure, try putting a spotter in the target you can see from the rifle, measure it the scope and think angles not straight line distances.

 

[melloyello]

You don't correct inches to Mils because inches are linear and Mils are angular.

1 Mil = 3.438 MOA:

1 Mil at 100y = 3.6"
1 MOA at 100y = 1.047"
3.6 divided by 1.047 = 3.438

So, in your head if you want to use a quick 'inches to mils':

3.5" at 375y = .93 at IPHY (3.5 divided by 3.75)
.93 divided by 3.438 = .27 Mils


OR:

.1 Mil is .36" at 100
At 375y, .36 x 3.75 = 1.35"
3.5 divided by 1.35 = 2.59
Come down .2 Mils

You said you don't do it and then showed how to do it?
I do it all the time if I can't see a hit from distance. I will go down and measure the target and then make my adjustment just as you showed.
3.5" high divided by 3.6(inches/mil) divided by the distance (ie: 3.75)
(3.5"/3.6)/3.75= .259mil
Adjust 2 mil down and hold under .5mil if you choose to.
This works good when you are trying to verify adjustments at distance and using paper. My spotting scope won't show hits on paper past about 300yds so at distances over that I will drive down to the target measure it and convert inches to mil. May be a crude way of doing it but it works pretty good. On steel it's a different story. I don't have any problems seeing hits with my 10x scope at 500-600yds.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Thanks!

You should stop thinking in a linear fashion completely and put it out of your head. Unless you cannot see the impact at all and are physically walking down range and tthen measuring the impacts with a ruler it is completely, absolutely unnecessary.

Even if you know from behind the rifle the impact is 3.5" @ 375 yards, simply stick your head back on the scope and the read the reticle. Then what you see is what you dial. If you know where the strike is, why use anything else, the reticle IS a ruler, measure the distance and adjust accordingly.

If you know the target is 6" big, 400 yards away, unless you are ranging it, who cares. See how big 6" @ 400 yards in your reticle and use that. If you hit 2 target widths right, how that many mils left. You can easily never have to use inches again in the context of shooting and be more successful than the person who thinks in inches. Unless you are milling the target of course, but actually shooting, you never need it again. It does not matter, you don't think, you don't calculate you just read the ruler, or in this case the reticle.

Knowing a mil is 3.6" @ 100 is all well and good, but who cares? It's 1 mil, anything you see in the reticle that is 1 mil away from the center is 1 mil, 300 yards, 555 yards, 839.75 yards, if its 1 mil away it's 1 mil. If you have to walk down range to measure, try putting a spotter in the target you can see from the rifle, measure it the scope and think angles not straight line distances.

Got it. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

You said you don't do it and then showed how to do it?
I do it all the time if I can't see a hit from distance. I will go down and measure the target and then make my adjustment just as you showed.
3.5" high divided by 3.6(inches/mil) divided by the distance (ie: 3.75)
(3.5"/3.6)/3.75= .259mil
Adjust 2 mil down and hold under .5mil if you choose to.
This works good when you are trying to verify adjustments at distance and using paper. My spotting scope won't show hits on paper past about 300yds so at distances over that I will drive down to the target measure it and convert inches to mil. May be a crude way of doing it but it works pretty good. On steel it's a different story. I don't have any problems seeing hits with my 10x scope at 500-600yds.

This is what I was inferring in the OP.

 

[Graham]

You said you don't do it and then showed how to do it?

Nope. Placing a phrase in quotes is an indication not to take it literally.

 

[melloyello]

Nope. Placing a phrase in quotes is an indication not to take it literally.

Haha, truth be told I didn't even see the quotes. But just for fun, wouldn't 'inches to mils' technically represent the OP idea/theory in this instance? You then gave him the formula to prove the theory that you said you don't do. I admit that there probably isn't anyone out there teaching this kind of math but either way the formula works for me even though one may be linear and one angular.

 

[scudzuki]

Set the magnification to reference if SFP (the mag where the mil reticle is to scale) or to any magnification if FFP.
Measure the correction you need using the reticle and dial it in using the matching turret.
This is why it is suggested to buy scopes with matching reticle and turrets.
It's also why I only buy FFP; I pick the magnification that works for the given situation and the reticle is always to scale.

Joe