aaaaaargh mil-dots!

[darren watson 14]

please, someone help! my new 4-16x50 scope's manual says to use the mil-dots for range finding, i have to zero it at 35 yards. I zeroed at 35 yards, which is outside of my usual shooting range and as a result, closer shots were going high, meaning that i'd have to compensate and use an aim point other than the center of the crosshairs if i wanted to hit closer stuff. im wanting to know if there is an alternative formula or method of using the mil-dots as aim points for longer range shots while zeroed at 25-30 yards. Apologies in advance as i realise this is quite a tedious subject.

[andyfr1968 772]

Hi, mate.

 

Download 'chairgun pro'. It's free software and it'll help make sense of what you're asking.

 

Repost this in the airgun section too.

 

Cheers.

[darren watson 14]

nice one, thanks a lot mate.

[HUnter_zero 58]

MIl-dots are SO misunderstood.

 

I'll do my best to describe how to use them!

 

You need to establish the size of the dot, the space between the dot and the size of the dots center to center.

 

Most mil-dot systems will be 1/4 mil sized dot, 3/4 mil distance between the dots and one whole mil center to center. Most systems are based on 10x magnification.

 

I guess it would also be useful to understand what "Mil-dot" means. 1 milliradian equals 1 yard and 1000 yards.

 

Okay so lets presume that your scope is as above, you can judge the range of an object as long as you know the size of the object. I prefer to use standard galvanised farm gates for ranging. These gates are normally 1.1 yards high. You can use any thing, fences, water pots, tractor tyres, anything that you commonly find around the ground that you shoot over. This is why I like to use gates.

 

The maths are simple and most mobile phones have calculators at any rate.

 

The equation is this :

 

(size of the target in yards) x 1000 / size of target in mil-dots

 

By using a standard gate that means :

 

1100 divided by the size of the target in mil-dots.

So lets presume the gate covers exactly six mil-dots, the range would be 1100 divided by 6 or 183.3 yards.

Across the road there is a sign, which I know to be .25 of a yard (3' 3" / 4 = around 9"), the sign covers 13 mil-dots (center of the first to center of the last) which means the sign is ......

 

.25 x 1000 / 13 or 250 / 13 = 19.23 yards away. My laser range finder shows 19.9 yards.

It's complicated because you have to use metric and imperial and have to be very accurate judging the mil-dots.

 

John

[stubby 175]

although the above is the correct way, it confusses the crap out of me Id end up throwing the gun at them

 

set your crosshairs at your reqd distance, then simply put loads of targets down towards and away from your position, make a mental noted of where your aiming at each distance

[markha 99]

Watch Zini's video, better still buy the DVD

http://www.youtube.com/user/Zinaroon#p/u/7/cjLQCojgBgA

[bewsher500 3]

got to ask...if 35 yards is outside your normal shooting distance why zero it at that range?

 

just use the dots as you would with any hold over for longer shots beyond your zero range

[DERBOY 18]

IT got to be said H . Z you know same stuff but then again

you from a great country that god made L.O.L