what is MOA??

1

1000yrd ringer

Guest
I know that moa means minute of angle. But what I dont understand is how to make the adjustments on my rifle. I hear people saying they are at 23 minutes of angle or w/e when they are shooting what does that mean? Like if I am zeroed at 200yrds and I have 1/4MOA adjustments. How do I know how many clicks to make at 600?? Anyways I am lost any help would be great. I jsut dont understand the whole thing. thanks
 
Imagine two lines that are connected at one end and form a small angle between them. If the distance between them is one inch 100 yards from where they intersect, then they will be 2 inches apart at 200, 3 at 300 and so on. It is the same thing with your scope adjustments. If one "click" is worth a quarter inch at 100, that translates into one half inch at 200, three fourths 300 and an inch at 400. From this, I hope that you can see that at 600 a click that is worth one quarter inch at 100, is worth six times as much...an inch and a half. It also works the other way. At fifty yards, that same click is worth an eighth inch, and at 25 a sixteenth.
 
1000yrd ringer said:
I know that moa means minute of angle. But what I dont understand is how to make the adjustments on my rifle. I hear people saying they are at 23 minutes of angle or w/e when they are shooting what does that mean? Like if I am zeroed at 200yrds and I have 1/4MOA adjustments. How do I know how many clicks to make at 600?? Anyways I am lost any help would be great. I jsut dont understand the whole thing. thanks
Click to expand...

The explanation Boyd gave is spot on except I should mention that true MOA is 1.0472" at 100 yards but is rounded down to 1" for ease.

Now, how do you figure MOA for your drop of your particular rifle? Well, the easiest way is to get a ballistics program, input all your data (including most importantly bullet ballistic coefficient, muzzle velocity, and zero) and let the program figure which MOA marker you turn your adjustment on your scope to. If you don't have a ballistic program, you can do it long hand by figuring out your actual drop by firing at different ranges and then converting the drop into MOA using the math that Boyd provided. Obviously, the program way is much faster!

In your scenario of 23 minutes, that sounds like about a 1000 yard dial in. Most cartridges no matter what they are, if they're zeroed at 200 or 300 yards will drop between 20 and 27 minutes at 1000 yards. Of course, elevation, temperature, wind direction, mirage, MV, and a billion other things affect this number.
 
Last edited:
Ringer ...

1000yrd ringer said:
I know that moa means minute of angle. But what I dont understand is how to make the adjustments on my rifle. I hear people saying they are at 23 minutes of angle or w/e when they are shooting what does that mean? Like if I am zeroed at 200yrds and I have 1/4MOA adjustments. How do I know how many clicks to make at 600?? Anyways I am lost any help would be great. I jsut dont understand the whole thing. thanks
Click to expand...

Most of the shooters who frequent this forum make scope adjustments in one eighth inch increments and predominantly shoot at 100 and 200 yards ... sometimes 300. It sounds like you're a real long range guy. We have a forum dedicated to your sport called the 600/1000 Yard Benchrest forum that you may not have discovered yet. I'm sure you will find other super long range shooters there that will have a multitude of answers for your 600/1000 yard questions. You might give it a try. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Art
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top