MOA question

KnotRight

Well-Known Member
Charter Member
Benefactor
Life Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
5,468
Location
Savannah, GA
Rating - 100%
4   0   0
If your scope is in MOAs and at 100 yards it is 4 clicks. At 500 yards is it 20 clicks?

Also. does it include the drop at 500 yards? If you are zeroed at 100 and at 500 you have a 47" drop how many clicks down do you have to go to correct for that drop?
 
To begin to answer this question, what scope, mag, reticle type? There are scopes out there with mil reticles and moa turrets and 1 moa isn't exactly 1in at 100yds.
 
In a nutshell, whatever your scope is set up as, they are set up as a certain number of clicks at 100. Yours is a 1/4 inch of adjustment at 100 yards.

When you decrease that distance by half to 50 yds it takes twice as many clicks. When you double the distance it takes half as many.

So it would be 4 clicks to move and inch of impact at 100 yards. 8 to move that amount at 50 yds and 2 to move it at 200.

At 400 yds you’re at 1 click per inch.

Think of it like this, when you’re shooting the further your distance the less you have to move to Effect your impact.

It’s a little more complicated than that when talking minute of angle but that’s the bare bones of it.

Edit to add this is for sighting the rifle. How many clicks you need to go to set yourself up for each distance is part of what is called your dope.

To get that you site in at 100. Move to 200 and resite making a note of how many clicks it takes. Wash and repeat and then tape it to your stock.

As was said it’s still 4 clicks for 1” of MOA no matter the distance. But at 500 yds you’ll move the imact about an inch for every 1/2 a click. So to account for 47 inches that should be roughly 23-24 clicks to get on the paper and adjust from there
 
Last edited:
Chdamn, so at 500 yards, I have to set the crosshair on the left side (edge) of the steel to hit it. I am thinking that the steel is about 30". If these numbers are correct I would need to adjust the turret about 3 to 4 clicks to the right?

Also, if 1/4" MOA would equal 1" at 100 yards, would one click equal 1" at 400 or 500 yards?

The scope is a cheap POS but it holds zero and once I got it figured out I was on the steel at 300, 400 and 500 yards. The scope has the turret caps that you have to unscrew to adjust them. As you can tell I really have not shot pass 100 yards until I joined the new range. Everything was limited to 100 yards.
 
First you need to know your velocity.....then the BC of your bullet.

Then plug in your info at jbmballistics.com

Trajectory and accuracy are not linear.
 
Chdamn, so at 500 yards, I have to set the crosshair on the left side (edge) of the steel to hit it. I am thinking that the steel is about 30". If these numbers are correct I would need to adjust the turret about 3 to 4 clicks to the right?

Also, if 1/4" MOA would equal 1" at 100 yards, would one click equal 1" at 400 or 500 yards?

The scope is a cheap POS but it holds zero and once I got it figured out I was on the steel at 300, 400 and 500 yards. The scope has the turret caps that you have to unscrew to adjust them. As you can tell I really have not shot pass 100 yards until I joined the new range. Everything was limited to 100 yards.

Not sure on the windage or maybe I’m misunderstanding the question.

But at 1/4” moa per click at 100 that would equal 1” of impact adjustment per click at 400.
 
Let me clarify. I’m taking about two different things.

MOA is one thing. It’s a measurement called minute of angle. Sighting in your riffle means adjusting your scope to move the bullets impact on target.

MOA is MOA. It doesn’t matter how far away you are. Your scope is set up to adjust impact at 1/4” at 100 yards.

But a 1/4 inch at 100 yards becomes a half inch at 200 yds and 1 inch at 400 yds.

So even if you’re at 400 yds 1 click still equals a 1/4” MOA but because of the distance that 1/4” of MOA becomes 1” of impact adjustment.
 
But a 1/4 inch at 100 yards becomes a half inch at 200 yds and 1 inch at 400 yds.

This is what I was asking.

MOA is a linear measurement of 1 inch if zeroed at 100 yards (200 yards 2" 400 yards 4 inches).
 
Just cause I feel like being a picky bastard....it's not 1/4Inch (1/4") MOA at 100yds. It's simply 1/4MOA (no inch designation).

1/4 MOA is the same measurement whether you are looking at 100, 200 or 7,235 yards, feet, or furlongs. MOA and MIL are both ways to decribe an angle, not a distance.

As noted above, ballistics (the path your bullet travels) is not linear. So, for new shooters that think in terms of inches, it can be confusing to say "my scope adjusts 1/4" per click at 100 yards" (true statement) and then believe that the same click would be 1/2" of adjustment at 200 yard, or 4" at 400 yards and so on. This would only be true if shot in a vacuum and without gravity.

With new shooters, I ask them to think of MOA as a synonym for "degrees" to get the concept. MOA is, in fact, 1/60th of a degree.
 
MOA is a linear measurement of 1 inch if zeroed at 100 yards (200 yards 2" 400 yards 4 inches).

No, it is not.

MOA is 1/60th of a degree....At 100 yards that's actually 1.047" so many/most shooters find it convenient, if inaccurate, to round off to 1"@100 (aka SMOA or Shooters MOA).

Thinking of it as "1 inch per hundred" takes away the value of using MOA in conjunction with your actual bullet path, which is a curve, not a straight line. This explains why ALL calibers will have a perfect "0" at 2 distances, without touching the knobs on their scope.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom