MIL or MOA? MOA Sucks And Here's Why. Part I

I understand the idea that MIL is better than MOA, especially from former military that has used it all over the world, and I agree, for most of the world, MIL would be better, since it is based on the metric system and easily multiplied or divided by 10. Here are the issues, though. First, it doesn't matter if you get more "MIL" adjustment than "MOA" adjustment. The actual distance you are going to be able to adjust the same scope in different formats is the same. It is just using a different nomenclature, and in reality, you get a finer adjustment out of MOA than MIL, .25 vs .36, respectively. Second, in this country, the vast majority of people THINK in inches, not decimeters. When you say, "You're an inch left, everyone knows that you are 4 clicks out, because each MOA is approximately 1" at 100 yards. That doesn't noticeably change until you get out to 1000 yards. Now you get to MILs. Same scenario, and how many MILs in 1 inch. Well, 1 MIL at 100 yards is approximately 3.6 inches. 1/10 would be .36 inches. So now you have 3 clicks, or 1.08. now extrapolate that out to 200 or 300 yards, and the math starts to gets progressively more complicated, when with MOA, you are dividing inches (what you think in) by quarter of inches, which is much easier and faster to do. Just my .02.

I'm an old hunter, you didn't convince me. But then my shots are almost all well under 300 yards

I, by no means have your level of experience, but to me the 2 are equivalent. The one argument I agree with is the sharing data portion if you're around others who are using mils. Your analogy of dialing 8 mils vs. 24 moa, you are basically dialing ~80 clicks for both so I don't see an advantage for either. It, more than anything, else comes down to personal preference or what you have experience with. Coming from your military background and a desire to only have to deal with one in your classes, I can see that you would prefer mils because that's what you have the most experience with.

As a civilian shooter? All I know is MOA and Kentucky Windage. I sight my rifle into 100 yards using three shot groups and adjusting the scope onto bullseye using my choice bullet weight that I am going to hunt with. Once zero’d to 100 yards? I am done. I memorize my bullet drop of my cartridge and bullet weight and if the animal is 300 yards away? I will hold over as a guesstimate based on the size of the animal. If I am in wind? I will hold accordingly based on the size of the animal. Deer are this tall and this wide so I will hold here. This is how my father taught me how to do it. That’s how his father taught him how to do it. And it’s tough to walk away from something so old and tried. But I welcome it. Thank you for this video!

As a new shooter, I went directly to a mil scope. I’ve always hated fractions, but I could always work with decimals. I also convert yards to meters to make the math much easier. I can calculate the distance of a mil at any range in about 2 seconds, and I can ascertain the range in about 5 to 10 seconds if I know the size of the target.

Just found your channel. I am wondering if you cover any .22LR long-range shooting? I would like to start shooting rimfire long-range. If you do talk about rimfire, have you done any videos for good rifles to start with and a scope to go with it? I am a long time Bulleyes shooter looking to switch to long-range rimfire because it seems that Bullseye as I have known it is fading away. Thanks.

Another outstanding video. Keep up the good work. If you don't mind me asking, what is the material you have in your background your rifles mounted on? I will never clean my gun like I used to after watching your video. You definitely have it dialed in

Your videos are very helpful, and insightful.

I liked the vid. You were also right on the money when you talked about why a lot of people - myself included - went to MOA rather than MIL for my first bigger scope. It was what I was already kind of familiar with. The more I delve into this subject, the more I see that I should buy MIL scopes from this point forward.

Good video. My friends and I always have this same argument. AAANNNNNNDDDDDDDD, I still shoot with MOA. Lol. One funny thing is when we are all shooting and I make a good wind call, when someone ask what my hold was and I reply 1 3/4 MOA, they hate it. But they do it to me to. To me, it is six on one, half a dozen on the other. You can use the reticle to hold over on both of them. You can estimate range with both reticles. You can use the reticle to correct your miss. And there are certainly some times when the one inch = one MOA is very handy. You may not always know the size of your target, but there are times when you will know.

Thank you for all your content. Starting my 12 year old off with a ruger precision .22 rifle and a vortex diamond back 4-16x44 ffp in MRad. Dude can shoot very well. Would you recomend a diffrent optic or will this work well to move to a larger caliber latter? Thanks Gary

Thank you for explaining the wheeler equipment and how to use it. Feels great! Its no longer a mystery. William

Great explanation. Like you discussed, I was introduced to rifles by my roommate in college. Growing up hunting, using MOA, he convinced me that’s the way to go. 5 MOA scopes deep, I have no qualms switching to MIL after heeding your advice. I swore there was too much math with MIL scopes. Myth debunked. Appreciate it.

My first long range scope is the Arken EP5-5X25 in mil. I couldn't be happier and just felt like it was the right choice.

Thank you for the tutorial... I am going to a Precision Weapons course and this is helping me understand more

Kinda related question - today, when communicating with a spotter, when you stop going by eye and then go to glass and when target is confirmed and told to adjust parallax and mil target, do you still give a mil reading to make sure you are both looking at the same target (in the past it was for ranging) or do you skip that step and just receive your elevation?

I didn't get a whole lot of time with either but I'd been introduced more to MILs while in the corps. I went with that in the first place for that reason. I'm not a christmas tree reticle guy, but the explanation of the typical use makes absolute sense. Adjusting the turrets is not a fast process so quick follow up shots are going to be dependent on the reticle. I've got some stuff to think about.

Tremor 3 is only in mil too. Of course you need to have the self discipline to be able to handle the busiest reticle on the market, but built in wind holds, moving target holds, and so much more once you learn how to use it. It's amazing.

Well lm back and saving up for my first scope so I was wondering if buying a scope in mill using a break barel pellet gun would be a good choice I'm planning on getting a arken scope my budget says this is a very high end scope what do you think

This is the most concise and helpful explanation of MIL of all the videos I’ve watched. Thanks very much!