Thread: Mildot help

So I have been helped out by a good bugger on here and borrowed a scope that covers all my bases.
I have never shot with anything other than a standard duplex, previously why my max was 250m for the pointing and the shooting.
Does anyone have a link to a good doc that can easily explain in how to use a mildot reticule? Or can any of you more clever than me people tell me?

Cheers!

It's simply a measurement on given power at given range. Put up target at hundy and see how far the dots are lower than X hair... Double it for two hundy etc.. for arguments sake it's 2" at hundy giving you 4"at 200 etc etc. your drop chart tells you how much drop you need at given range and your dot gives you measurement at known given ranges.

In a word, trigonometry. It's ss simple or as complex as you want it to be, but a mildot reticle is an awesomely useful thing if you know how to use it.

This is a pretty good start point. https://snipercentral.com/mastering-mildots/

Oh boy, Im gonna get crucified for this. But heres my real simple system. I treat my center cross exactly like I would a standard duplex reticle. I sight in 3 inch high at 100, and use that out too about 250. My first stadia I use as a bracket for distances from 250- 350 and as I approach 400 I bring my 2nd stadia into play. At 400 both the first and second stadia will be on the vitals of an animal the size of a red, with the 1st on the spine and the second roughly center mass. Which is the system I use if I dont have a rangefinder with me.

if its proper Mils then one mildot is 10cm at 100m. 10 mils is a meter ect

5cm at 200m

1cm at 1000m

for my 7mm08 using 154sst @ 2730
1mil is my drop at 250m
1.5 for 300m
2 for 350

First, you need to find if your scope is first focal plane or second focal plane.

When looking through your scope, does the reticle change size as you adjust magnification? If not, it is second focal plane.

Why does it matter? With first focal plane, the distance in the reticle is ALWAYS the same, eg 5 mils (random example). So, doesn't matter what magnification it is set at, you can use the reticle and the mil markings.

For second focal plane, you can only use the mil markings on the reticle at 1 specific magnification (usually max).


The mil markings mean thst you can account for bullet drop. Say you are shooting at 500m but you are zeroed for 100m. You know via test shooting or ballistic calculators, how low the impact will be at 500m. You can get this in mils/centimeters. For example you might know that at 500m, it is 15 milirad low.

To account for this you put the 15milrad mark on the reticle (the one below the centre of the reticle) on your 500m target. Now, when you fire, the bullet should impact on the center of the target.

You can use it to help with range estimation too.

As others have stated 1 mil is 10cm at 100m. If you’re like me and your brain works in inches & moa, the 10cm @ 100m converts to 3.6in at 100yds. This equates near enough to 3.6moa, (near enough for distances out to 600 yds or so)
2mildot = 7.2moa, 3rd mildot 10.8moa and so on. Input your bullet, speed, etc into any ballistic calculator and look at the chart to find the range which matches up to 3.6 moa, 7.2moa and so on. From my experience with non magnum caliber 708, 308, 260, 6506ai with a pill with decent BC and a 200yd zero you will end up around 340-350 yds for 1st mildot, 450-460 for 2nd, 550-560 for 3rd & 650-660yd for 4th. You need to check what magnification your scope uses for the mildot settings. Typically this is at max magnification but there are some scopes (eg Bushnell 6500 2.5-16x42) where mildot is set to work at 10x magnification.

can be a mildot reticle in MOA aswell, what's the scope model

Originally Posted by chainsaw

As others have stated 1 mil is 10cm at 100m. If you’re like me and your brain works in inches & moa, the 10cm @ 100m converts to 3.6in at 100yds. This equates near enough to 3.6moa, (near enough for distances out to 600 yds or so)
2mildot = 7.2moa, 3rd mildot 10.8moa and so on. Input your bullet, speed, etc into any ballistic calculator and look at the chart to find the range which matches up to 3.6 moa, 7.2moa and so on. From my experience with non magnum caliber 708, 308, 260, 6506ai with a pill with decent BC and a 200yd zero you will end up around 340-350 yds for 1st mildot, 450-460 for 2nd, 550-560 for 3rd & 650-660yd for 4th. You need to check what magnification your scope uses for the mildot settings. Typically this is at max magnification but there are some scopes (eg Bushnell 6500 2.5-16x42) where mildot is set to work at 10x magnification.

You can, and should, cut the middleman and just get the output from a calculator directly in MIL, and forget that MOA exists.


Holdovers with mil reticles are ok but without finer graduations (e.g .2 or .5mil) and accurate data you will have imprecise shot placement at ranges past 400 or so (or less on small animals). It's ok for "somewhere in the front end" of big animals. Holding over is also suboptimal if you have wind, and need to hold off for that - you rapidly lose precise shot placement.

Along same vein of absolute simplicity... Assuming(which is always problematic) you know your drops at different ranges. If you have a big open area where you can take scope...rifle ok out on country but problematic on sports field lol. Mark your drops for say every 50 yards on tall sheet of cardboard,wooden plank etc.set it upright where can easily be seen and walk away to each fifty yards/meter and turn around.put cross hairs on mark and take note off,write down where your approximate drop mark works out to in scope.go another fifty and look again etc etc etc till your out to your ..now too far for me range. Than when you see staggypooh again at 380 yards you can put your 400 yard aiming point on his middle of shoulder and squeeze one off.

That a guesstimate on BC going from sierra 150grn pills and bit less than velocity on box to account for shorter barrel. You still have to verify its dropping that much to be ethical. Shooting wallabies is good way to do it and still get out for a hunt.

Thanks for the info team. I’m slowly getting my head around it, it’s such foreign concept. All my hunting to date has been at point and shoot ranges. I will get there haha
I should point out that I will be using a range finder to get the precise distance, and using the mildots as holdovers. And I will use my be shooting up to 400m and only need f conditions are optimal. I don’t want to faff around trying to guess wind as well! One day maybe.

Honestly, if you know the range, you'll be better off with a Leupold with CDS to well past 400m, rather than trying to remember where to hold under the stress of taking an animal.

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

Honestly, if you know the range, you'll be better off with a Leupold with CDS to well past 400m, rather than trying to remember where to hold under the stress of taking an animal.

Yeah I am starting to think that keep it simple

A BDC turret is absolutely the simplest way for reasonably precise shot placement, if it is set up with good data. Metres off the rangefinder, metres onto the turret.


Familiarity and proficiency is vital for good success with whichever system you select.


With dialling of any kind it can be easy to lose perspective on what the bullet is really doing and focus on the number on the dial and having it absolutely correct, and lose confidence in shooting other ways. Simple principles still apply for closer range shots - dial to a 200m zero when walking around and point/shoot to 250-300 for "anywhere in the shoulder", but with the option of dialling for precise placement if there's time.