Help Needed - Understanding Mils

[Lethal_Chica]

Hey all! I am going to sight in my new GA Precision 6.5 SAUM. I loaded rounds the other day and plan to follow the barrel break-in procedure. But I realized that this scope is in Mils, and does not have the usual adjustments found on my VX 6 Leupolds. I have the Bushnell XRS II with the G3 reticle. I printed the manual, so I have a rudimentary understanding. Anyone have a good reference guide for me to use to better understand Mils and figure out exactly what I need to do to zero the scope. It is bore-sighted. Tomorrow is just barrel break in and get it on at 100 so any references you can give are appreciated! Thank you!

 

[SteelBanger]

Just to get sighted in at 100y isn't really any different than a MOA scope. 1 MIL = 3.6" at 100 yards, .1 MIL = .36 inches at 100y. Once you're on paper getting zero'd in should be pretty easy using those numbers and you can use the reticle to measure the MILs you need to adjust (I'm assuming, I'm not familiar with the Bushnel G3 retc

 

[dfanonymous]

I personally start at 25 yards to get the windage correct regardless of boresighting, and make sure my elevation is about a 1.5 inch above my one inch square. Set it at 100 and I've never been off the paper.
Anyway to the question at hand, use the reticle. Shoot, see the impact on the paper, measure with the reticle, say about 2.7 mils left, high .4 mils.... you'll spin you windage 2.7 right, and .4 down to get your zero. Shoot again to verify your reticle reading was correct....fine tune from there you should be at least .1 mil using this method, and most people that do this a lot get zero'd in about 3-5 shots.

 

[Lethal_Chica]

I personally start at 25 yards to get the windage correct regardless of boresighting, and make sure my elevation is about a 1.5 inch above my one inch square. Set it at 100 and I've never been off the paper.
Anyway to the question at hand, use the reticle. Shoot, see the impact on the paper, measure with the reticle, say about 2.7 mils left, high .4 mils.... you'll spin you windage 2.7 right, and .4 down to get your zero. Shoot again to verify your reticle reading was correct....fine tune from there you should be at least .1 mil using this method, and most people that do this a lot get zero'd in about 3-5 shots.

Thanks. I need to read up and better understand Mila and how much a turret turn is in mils.

 

[SteelBanger]

Thanks. I need to read up and better understand Mila and how much a turret turn is in mils.

Most MIL turrets have .1 MIL clicks and it looks like your Bushnell does as well. So to adjust 2 MIL would be 20 clicks. Take a look at the manual for your reticle, it should show you how to use it to measure your impacts and once you have your measurements you just adjust your turrets accordingly. So if you measure up from your POA to your POI 1.3 MILS you would run your turret down 13 clicks. If you measure right .7 MIL you would run your turret 7 clicks left.

 

[User4302021]

A little advice:
Using a different system is like driving a car in a foreign country...

It doesn't matter how the speed relates to speeds you are used to seeing back home. What matters is that the speedometer in the car matches the speed limit signs you are passing.

So, if you are going to run a mil scope, then do your drop in mils and your wind charts in mils. Don't try to hang on and extrapolate from moa. Just run mils the same way you ran moa, as it's own independent system.

It works the same anyway, you just get easier math to do...
What's easier figuring in your head, 17 quarters (1/4 moa's) or 17 dimes (1.7mils)?

 

[Ranger Rick]

I just checked the XRS II manual and pages 4-5 will get you there. To get going, you can do a rough bore sight at a 25 yard Target = remove the bolt, be sure your rifle is steady ( I prefer a front bipod and a rear squeeze bag), sight down the barrel to the bull's eye cross, sight through your scope and adjust elevation to be ~1" above the cross's center (your scope is ~ parallel (or dropping your nnMOA rail). Fire three shots aiming at dead center. Use your scope to estimate ~ how many 1/10ths" your bullet holes are off target's dead center. Adjust elevation & windage via 1mil = .9" at 25 yards Move target to 100 yards. Fire three rounds aiming dead center. Adjust elevation and windage after the three shots via 1 mil = 3.6" => 0.1mil = .36". Fire three more shots with new elevation and windage. Adjust if necessary. Once you are hitting dead center, go to page 5 in the manual and follow the steps to set you elevation & windage to 0 & 0 on your turrets.

 

[aushunter1]

Technically speaking you can zero a scope in 2 shots as per this video once your on paper


These guys also do a variety of great vid on understanding how to work out any scope, MILS or MOA

 

[ShtrRdy]

Mils, is short for milliradian. This is a measure of angle. Much like MOA is a measure of angle. These two measures of angle basically mean a different amount of distance moved at a particular range distance.

MOA scope adjustments are typically 1/4 moa per click.
MIL scope adjustments are typically 1/10 mil per click.

What this means at a target range, of say, 100 yards is:
1/4 moa at 100 yds is 0.262"
1/10 mil at 100 yes is 0.36"

But when you're actually using these different angle measurement means you would have your ballistic calculator to tell you how much to adjust YOUR scope. In this case it will tell you how many mils to set the scope to for a long distance shot. For example, to shoot a target at 1000 yards the ballistic program would tell you to come up 8.7 mils. (this is an example so your actual "come up" will likely be different)

You can sight in the scope like you would any scope. Then when you get the rifle/scope zero'd you can reset the turret to zero and set the zero stop, if the scope has this feature.

update - fixed 1/4 moa distance per erikbc7. Thanks Eric

 

[ericbc7]

1/4 moa = .262 in @100yds

 

[BallisticsGuy]

It's just another unit of angular measure. What do you not understand?

 

[misterc01]

See Ryan Cleckner's video in this post. Even more fun - having a MIL reticle with MOA turrets!

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Everything has been stated as far as the definition, and what MILs mean. What really helped me was not thinking in inches at all. Just think mils. You can measure group size in inches, but when making adjustments use your reticle and make adjustments accordingly. So when my buddy says move 1 mil right, I move 1 mil right. I don't care about how far that is in inches since mil is just another unit of measure.

Shooters, like myself, get confused in the beginning because the MOA crowd thinks inches since 1 MOA is roughly 1 inch at 100 yards. You don't need to do that with mils.

 

[7magcreedmoor]

Everything has been stated as far as the definition, and what MILs mean. What really helped me was not thinking in inches at all. Just think mils. You can measure group size in inches, but when making adjustments use your reticle and make adjustments accordingly. So when my buddy says move 1 mil right, I move 1 mil right. I don't care about how far that is in inches since mil is just another unit of measure.

Shooters, like myself, get confused in the beginning because the MOA crowd thinks inches since 1 MOA is roughly 1 inch at 100 yards. You don't need to do that with mils.

No matter whether you have MOA scope adjustments or MIL scope adjustments, they key to happiness is not thinking about anything other than your MOA or your MIL. No inches, no centimeters, no cubits, no paces, no chains, no roman miles, no pyramid inches or any other form of linear measure. I had the hardest time getting one of my friends to stop asking "so what is that in inches?" Two rolls of duct tape later, he just turned the dial however many minutes I told him and then hit the target. As long as your scope's turrets and reticle use the same unit (this was a problem with early mildot reticles in scopes that still used MOA turrets) zeroing is simply bore-sight, shoot, measure from impact to point of aim with reticle, dial whatever the difference is , shoot again, done! Set dials to zero reference, adjust zero-stop if equipped, enjoy the rest of your day.