Mil-Dot Reticle: Get the Most Out of It

[EJR914]

There are a couple of permutations of the mil relation formula floating around. At first look most of them strike fear in the hearts of most of us Neanderthal, knuckle dragger types, but they are really quite user friendly. Granted the formulas require you to use more than your fingers and toes, but we Marines can handle it! Well, here we go. The basic one is:

Height of item in yards (meters) x 1000/Mils read = Distance to item in yards (meters)

This formula is good when the sniper knows an item's size in yards. My only problem with this version is that cops often have to deal with small items such as vehicle wheels, small stickers on windows, headlights etc. This requires the officer to convert a 7" headlight into a decimal equivalent in yards before they can work the formula. And since most cops are fellow Neanderthals and are usually under a fair amount of stress to begin with, I prefer to teach the formula:

Height of item in inches x 27.8 (25.4)/Mils read = Distance to target in yards (meters)

The formula can be worked backward in training so that if the distance to the target is known we will know what the mil reading should be. This is handy for beginners learning to read mil dots. The formula for this is:

Size of item in inches x 27.8 (25.4)/Distance in yards (meters) = Mils

Knowing the sizes of items being measured is a matter of knowing your prospective area of operation and making a list of the sizes of standard items. Make sure you get both height and width of objects as you can mil both dimensions but the largest dimension mathematically will usually give the most accurate answer. Military snipers should have sizes of enemy vehicles, enemy weapons, average heights of soldiers, etc. An LE sniper should have sizes of traffic signs, bricks, license plates, etc. So carry a tape measure and a notebook with you and prepare to have people look at you funny as you measure curbs, traffic lights, mailboxes and other commonly found objects in your area of operation.

So much more information here:  http://www.mil-dot.com/articles/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-mil-dot-reticle

[Kentactic]

good post EJR, and remember if your guessing the size of the object your milling then you might aswell just guess the range instead. "hes about 5'6'' tall" is gonna be likely less accurate then "thats about 410 yards". Thats why its good to try to guess ranges and then use a range finder to see how you did. me and a friend do it a lot and we are usually quite close, especially when we put our heads together to decide on a range.