Reticle and turret units
MOA or Mil: Which Should You Buy?
Quick answer
Neither unit is more accurate: 1 MOA is 1.047 inches at 100 yards and 1 mil is exactly 3.6 inches, a fixed ratio of 3.43775 MOA per mil at every distance. The only real decision is matching your reticle to your turrets, not picking the supposedly better unit.
Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 First Focal Plane Riflescope, EBR-7C MOA
$999.00 Full specificationsAn EBR-7C MOA reticle paired with MOA turrets, so a hold read off the glass and a correction dialled on the turret are already the same number.
Best for: a precision rifle that will be dialled hard and often
Check price on Amazon
Arken Optics SH4 GEN2 4-16x50 FFP Riflescope, Illuminated VPR MIL Reticle
$299.99 Full specificationsA VPR MIL reticle paired with mil turrets, using the round 3.6 inch per hundred yard constant that makes wind and drop math easier to run in your head.
Best for: maximum internal elevation travel per dollar
Check price on AmazonA minute of angle and a milliradian are both just units for measuring an angle, the way inches and centimetres both measure a length. Neither one is inherently more precise, and a scope dialled in mils does not shoot any tighter groups than the identical scope dialled in MOA. The argument that persists anyway is really an argument about convenience, and it has a clear answer once you separate the exact math from the shorthand shooters use to avoid doing it.
A minute of angle is one sixtieth of a degree, which works out to 1.047 inches at 100 yards by plain trigonometry. A milliradian is one thousandth of a radian, which is exactly 3.6 inches at 100 yards by definition, with no trigonometry involved. Both scale linearly with range, and the ratio between them never changes: one mil is always 3.43775 MOA, whether you are holding at 100 yards or dialling at a mile.
These figures are researched from the published definitions of both units and standard optical formulas, not from a side by side test of any particular scope.
How much is 1 MOA and 1 mil, exactly?
The working
MOA inches at 100 yd = 2 x 3600 x tan(1/120 degree) = 1.047197. Mil inches at 100 yd = 3.6, exactly, by definition of a milliradian. 1 mil = 3.6 / 1.047197 = 3.43775 MOA, at every distance.
The MOA figure comes from trigonometry and the mil figure comes from a definition. Neither is an approximation, and neither is more correct than the other.
Both units scale in direct proportion to distance, so the inches each one covers simply multiplies with range. The table below reads the two side by side at the distances shooters actually work at.
At 100 yards, 1 MOA is 1.047 inches and 1 mil is 3.6 inches, and both figures scale linearly with range with no change to the ratio between them.
Sourced figure
| Distance | 1 MOA | 1 mil | 1 mil in MOA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 yd | 1.05 in | 3.6 in | 3.44 MOA |
| 200 yd | 2.09 in | 7.2 in | 3.44 MOA |
| 500 yd | 5.24 in | 18.0 in | 3.44 MOA |
| 1,000 yd | 10.47 in | 36.0 in | 3.44 MOA |
Every row is exact arithmetic from the two definitions above. The 3.44 MOA per mil ratio is constant at every distance because both units are angles, not lengths.
Why the shooter MOA shorthand costs you at distance
A separate convention exists alongside true MOA: the shorthand that treats 1 MOA as exactly 1 inch at 100 yards, sometimes called inches per hundred yards or IPHY. It is not a different unit, it is a rounded approximation of the real one, and it is 4.5 percent small: 1.000 inch against the true 1.047 inches.
At short range that gap is invisible. Past a few hundred yards it compounds into a real error. At 1,000 yards the true figure is 10.47 inches per MOA against the shorthand's 10.00 inches, a gap of 0.47 inches per minute. On a 30 MOA come-up, that is roughly 14 inches of accumulated error, which is comfortably the difference between a hit and a clean miss on a torso sized target. See the full subtension and click values at 1,000 yards for every amount worked out in both conventions.
Mil has no equivalent shorthand in common use, because the exact figure of 3.6 inches at 100 yards is already round enough that nobody bothers approximating it. That is one real, practical point in mil's favour rather than a claim about accuracy.
Is a 0.1 mil click or a 0.25 MOA click finer?
A 0.25 MOA click moves the point of impact 0.262 inches at 100 yards. A 0.1 mil click moves it 0.36 inches. In their most common factory form, a quarter MOA turret is the finer adjustment of the two, though the gap is small enough that it rarely decides a purchase on its own. The full breakdown of click values, including the eighth MOA and twentieth mil options some scopes offer, is on the mrad against MOA turrets page.
So which should you actually buy?
If you already think in one unit, whether from a ballistic app, a shooting class, or a group you shoot with, buy the scope that matches it and stop there. If you are starting from nothing, mil has a mild practical edge: the constant is a round 3.6 rather than 1.047, it is the standard in competition and among most professional shooters, and most modern ballistic engines and drop charts default to it. Neither choice is wrong, and neither one will shoot a tighter group than the other.
Sources
- Definition of a minute of angle, one sixtieth of one degree
- Definition of a milliradian, one thousandth of a radian
- Arken Optics published specifications
- Vortex Optics published specifications
Frequently asked questions
Is MOA or mil more accurate for long range shooting?
Neither. They are two units for the same angle, related by a fixed ratio of 3.43775 MOA per mil at every distance. A scope dialled in mils does not group any tighter than an identical scope dialled in MOA. The only real advantage either offers is convenience: matching your reticle and turrets to the ballistic data you already use.
How many inches is 1 MOA at 100 yards?
1.047 inches, from the exact trigonometry of one sixtieth of a degree. Many shooters round this to 1 inch, a convention called shooter MOA or inches per hundred yards, which is 4.5 percent small. That gap is invisible at short range and grows to roughly 14 inches on a 30 MOA come-up at 1,000 yards.
How many inches is 1 mil at 100 yards?
Exactly 3.6 inches, by definition, since a milliradian is one thousandth of a radian and 100 yards is 3,600 inches. There is no rounding involved and no shorthand convention competing with it, which is one of the practical reasons mil has become the default among competition and professional shooters.
Should I buy a scope with MOA or mil turrets?
Buy whichever unit your reticle already uses, so a hold you read off the glass is a number you can dial without converting it first. If you have no existing preference, mil has a small edge because the 3.6 inch constant is easier to compute in your head than 1.047, and it is the standard most ballistic apps and drop charts default to.
Can I convert between MOA and mil in the field?
Yes, by multiplying or dividing by 3.43775, but doing that under time pressure is exactly where mistakes happen. A scope with a mil reticle and MOA turrets, or the reverse, forces this conversion on every single shot. Buying a scope where the reticle and the turrets share one unit removes the conversion step entirely.
Why do the military and competition shooters use mils?
Mostly for the round constant. A milliradian is exactly one thousandth of the range, so mental math in the field uses clean numbers like 3.6 and 7.2 instead of 1.047 and 2.094. MOA remains common on hunting rifles and older American optics, where the tradition predates the widespread military and competition shift to mil.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, published optical and ballistic formulas, and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Figures described as a rule of thumb are shooter convention rather than sourced numbers, and they are labelled that way wherever they appear. Ballistic figures come from a point mass model using the ballistic coefficient the maker publishes, so treat them as a starting point and confirm them on paper at a measured distance. Confirm your firearm is unloaded with the action open before you mount, level, torque or bore sight anything. Verify a zero only on a supervised range or a safe, legal backstop, know what lies beyond your target, and follow the law where you hunt and shoot, including rules on land access and permitted cartridges.