How to use the MIL DOT Reticule for Range Estimation
Here is a good example of what a mill dot scope is all about, and some of the ways it's used.
Marine mill dots are egg shape (oval ) and Army dots are round.
I will try to explain the way I was taught in sniper training. it's been a while but I think my facts are still worthy.
If you clicked on the link you will see pictures of what you see through a mill-radiant reticule.
Looks like a bunch of dots going up and across right ?
Here is one of the ways to use it in order to get the distance from the muzzle to the target up to 1,000 yards. Using yards as the distance indicator.
I will try not to conflict with whats in the text shown in the link.
Mill-rads are a form of measurements like the degrees in a circle, to simplify, one mill is 3.6"
The dots in the scope are 1 mill apart from center to center of each dot. and broken down into 1/10 mills in-between each dot. so the spot exactly between each center of one dot and the center of the next dot is 1 mill.
A dedicated Mill scope will have 1/10 mill hash marks in-between each mill dot. half way between each dot is .5 mills.
Yes it can be a confusing picture to look at but it helps with ranging your target.
The center of the reticle does not have a dot, but the intersecting lines of the cross hairs represent the center of an imaginary dot that is not there. if it were exact aiming would be difficult.
So from the intersecting cross hair to the center of the first dot going up or across is 1 mill with the 1/10 mill increments in-between. If the scope does not have the hash marks the 1/10 measurement must be done accurately, A miss calculation of 1/10 mill can give a target distance that is incorrect.
From the center of the cross hair to the center of the second dot is 2 mills the spacing between the dots is always 1/10 of a mill. and so on.
The article explains this well in the link
There is no guessing when using a mill dot scope, but certain things are done before they are used correctly. Also keep in mind all this works at ten power, with ocular lens focused for the clearest picture. Sun shades and anti glare devises help to give a clear true picture of you are seeing.
OK, the only way a mill dot scope can be used properly is if you know your target size.
It will not work any other way, period. there is no other way to make it
work in order to use it as it's intended purpose.
So one has to gather battle field measurements, or exact paper or steel target size, when hunting the size of the game animal. Remember the target can be milled up and down (vertical )
or horizontal ( across )
So in combat depending on what the A O ( area of operation ) is we must know the size of our target, if the target is a human, they may have a different average size than our country or origin.
We also take measurements of as many thing in the environment as possible as they my be substituted for target size if close by the intended target or if the target is partially obscured.
Windows, hub caps, door sizes, car fenders, anything we can depend on to be of a constant size.
We shouldn't need any help hitting a target out to 100 yards, so the rifle is sited for exact point of aim at 100 yards ( dead on hold ) with the center of the cross hair. The rifle is then checked at 125, 150, 175, 200 and so on for the max distance we expect to shoot. remember the scope is zeroed
to hit point of aim at 100 yards. The scope adjustment for a POA hit are recorded for each different distance, (example=) 4 clicks up for 150 yards, 9 clicks up for 200 yards and so on.
(and Known as turret come ups) we don't worry about going back down cause after each shot the scope turret is returned to zero ( 100 yard POA --dead on hold ) 100 yards is always the go back to point for the turrets. so now we know how our bullet reacts in relation to bullet drop for each different distance. But we don't know the distance do we ?, just saying that Wood chuck is way out there is not going to cut it. So lets use the mill dot scope to tell us how far away that wood chuck, paper target, gong, or human target is from us. Remember you can use indicators of a known size if you are unsure of the exact target size.
I hope somebody reads all this stuff, I'm tired of typing but if one person learns one thing it's worth it to me.
Well we shot from a good rest and now we know how to adjust our scope turrets for the different distances. ( right ? you did do that right ) hope so. OK lets check things out and see if it all works.
Lets do a little range work. Remember a mill is 3.6" and the distance from the center of one dot to the next dot is one mill. the thick part of the cross hairs after the dots end at the intersecting part of the line and the thick area is seen as the center of another dot if needed.
(it's not there it's imagined )
So we draw 2 lines on our target that are 3.6" apart, to indicate one Mill, now we move back to 100 yards and rest the rifle on a steady, stable sand bag rest, front bag ans a squeeze bag under the stock behind the trigger guard. We site the scope on the target with the cross hair on the bottom line and find the top line intersects with the middle of the first dot, that is one mill. it didn't ? is your scope on ten power and the picture clear ?. if not clear up the site picture with the ocular lens and put the scope on 10 power and try again.
Here is one of the formulas:
Target size X 27.8 divided by the number of mills. = distance in yards. Lets try it out.
We know our target ( the lines we drew ) are 3.6" apart so it's 3.6 ( the size )
times 27.8 (the constant) and that's 100.08 that # is divided by 1 mill cause that's how much the two lines occupied in the scope and the distance is 100.8 yards, close enough for a clean kill.
What if the target took up 2 mills in the scope ? the bottom of the target rested on the cross hair and the top of the target lined up with the center of the 2nd dot going up. that would be 2 mills and look like this. target size is still the same 3.6" times 27.8 =100.08 but this time it's 2 mills, the answer would be 50 yards, if the target was milled and shown to be 1/2 a mill it would be 200 yards away. the scope is adjusted for the distance with the pre determined turret come ups and then returned to zero for the next shot.
Mann that's a lot to remember. Still think you understood Mill dots and how they work ?
Sure hope it helps, someone should do a sticky on mill dot scopes.
and that is
