Subtension at 300 yards
How much is 1 MOA and 1 mil at 300 yards?
Quick answer
At 300 yards, 1 MOA is 3.14 inches and 1 mil is 10.8 inches. One quarter MOA click moves the point of impact 0.785 inches and one tenth mil click moves it 1.08 inches. The common shorthand of 1 inch per MOA is 0.14 inches short at this distance.
Two different angular units are in daily use and they are not interchangeable. A minute of angle is one sixtieth of a degree, which works out to 1.05 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 at all.
Both scale linearly with distance, so at 300 yards a minute of angle covers 3.14 inches and a mil covers 10.8 inches. One mil is 3.44 MOA at every distance, because both are angles and the ratio between them never changes.
The shorthand that treats 1 MOA as exactly 1 inch at 100 yards is 0.14 inches out at this distance, which is inside the size of a group and nobody will ever notice.
On this page
What does each unit subtend at 300 yards?
The working
MOA inches = amount x 1.047197 x (300 / 100) mil inches = amount x 3.6 x (300 / 100)
Both are exact. The MOA constant comes from 2 x 3600 x tan(1/120 degree) and the mil constant from the definition of a milliradian.
Read across for the amount you are holding or dialling. The third column is the shooter shorthand, included so you can see exactly where it parts company with the real figure.
At 300 yards, 1 MOA subtends 3.14 inches, 1 mil subtends 10.8 inches, and the 1 inch per hundred yards convention gives 3 inches.
Sourced figure
| Amount | True MOA | Mil | Shooter MOA (1 in per 100 yd) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | 0.31 in | 1.08 in | 0.3 in |
| 0.25 | 0.79 in | 2.7 in | 0.75 in |
| 0.5 | 1.57 in | 5.4 in | 1.5 in |
| 1 | 3.14 in | 10.8 in | 3 in |
| 2 | 6.28 in | 21.6 in | 6 in |
| 3 | 9.42 in | 32.4 in | 9 in |
| 5 | 15.71 in | 54 in | 15 in |
| 10 | 31.42 in | 108 in | 30 in |
The gap between true MOA and the 1 inch convention is 0.14 inches per minute at this distance, and it grows in direct proportion to how much you dial.
What does one turret click move at 300 yards?
Every turret value sold, and what one click of each actually moves the point of impact at this distance. The third column is how many clicks it takes to move the impact one inch, which is the number you use at the bench.
A quarter MOA click moves the point of impact 0.785 inches at 300 yards, and a tenth mil click moves it 1.08 inches.
Sourced figure
| Turret value | Moves per click | Clicks per inch | Where you find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8 MOA | 0.393 in | 2.5 | Target and benchrest turrets. Fine, and slow to dial. |
| 1/4 MOA | 0.785 in | 1.3 | The most common hunting and general purpose turret in North America. |
| 1/2 MOA | 1.571 in | 0.6 | Found on some low power and rimfire scopes, and on many red dots. |
| 1 MOA | 3.142 in | 0.3 | Red dots and simple optics. Coarse, and quick to count. |
| 0.1 mil | 1.08 in | 0.9 | The standard mil turret, and the one that pairs with a mil reticle. |
| 0.05 mil | 0.54 in | 1.9 | Fine mil turrets, usually on competition scopes. |
| 0.2 mil | 2.16 in | 0.5 | Coarse mil turrets, mostly on low power variable optics. |
Turrets only move in whole clicks, so the correction you can actually dial is the nearest whole number rather than the exact figure the arithmetic gives.
Ranging a known target size at 300 yards
If you know how big something is, the mils or MOA it covers in your reticle tell you how far away it is. Run backwards, here is what a target of each size looks like at this distance.
An 18 inch deer vital zone subtends 1.67 mil or 5.73 MOA at 300 yards.
Sourced figure
| Target | Size | Subtends in mils | Subtends in MOA |
|---|---|---|---|
| a 10 inch plate | 10 in | 0.93 mil | 3.18 MOA |
| a 12 inch plate | 12 in | 1.11 mil | 3.82 MOA |
| an 18 inch deer vital zone | 18 in | 1.67 mil | 5.73 MOA |
| a 20 inch torso | 20 in | 1.85 mil | 6.37 MOA |
| a 36 inch silhouette | 36 in | 3.33 mil | 11.46 MOA |
The ranging formula is range in yards equals target inches times 27.8 divided by mils, or times 95.5 divided by MOA. Both follow directly from the definitions above.
Why the 1 inch shorthand survives, and when to stop using it
Treating a minute of angle as exactly one inch at a hundred yards is wrong by 4.5 percent. That is a defensible simplification at short range and an expensive one at distance, and the crossover is not a matter of opinion: it is wherever 4.5 percent of your come-up becomes larger than the target.
At 300 yards a 6 MOA come-up already carries roughly 0.8 inches of error from the shorthand alone. Past about 600 yards this is one of the larger avoidable errors in the whole shot.
The cleanest fix is not to be more careful with MOA. It is to work in mils, where the constant is exactly 3.6 inches per hundred yards and there is no approximation to get wrong, or to use a scope whose reticle and turrets are in the same unit so a hold and a dial are the same number.
Optics for shooting at 300 yards
Chosen against the numbers on this page rather than from a general list, so the recommendation cannot contradict the arithmetic above.
Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 Riflescope, Dead-Hold BDC Reticle
$249.00 Full specificationsThe same configuration as the Crossfire II with better glass and a cleaner image at the top of the magnification range, which is exactly where a cheaper scope goes soft and dark.
Best for: the buy-once hunting scope at a sensible price
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Leupold VX-Freedom 3-9x40 CDS Duplex Riflescope
$299.99 Full specificationsThe CDS turret is the point: Leupold will cut you a custom elevation dial marked in yards for your load, so dialling a come-up stops being arithmetic and becomes reading a number off the turret.
Best for: a hunter who wants to dial rather than hold over
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Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10x40 CDS-ZL Duplex Riflescope
$599.99 Full specificationsA genuine step up in low light performance over the VX-Freedom at the same objective size, which is the half hour either side of legal light where most hunting is decided.
Best for: first and last light hunting where the extra glass earns its money
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Burris Fullfield E1 3-9x40 Riflescope
$169.99 Full specificationsA long-running American hunting scope with a forever warranty and a reticle with holdover marks that are actually usable rather than decorative.
Best for: a budget hunting build that still wants a real warranty
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Burris Fullfield 3-12x42 SC Riflescope
$259.36 Full specificationsTwelve power and a 42 mm objective is the sensible ceiling for a walking rifle: enough magnification to read a far shoulder, not so much that the exit pupil collapses at last light.
Best for: an all-round hunting scope with a little more reach than a 3-9x
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Bushnell Banner 2 3-9x40 Riflescope, DOA Quick Ballistic Reticle
$89.00The cheapest scope on this site we would actually mount on a rifle. Bushnell has been making the Banner for decades and will stand behind it, which separates it from the identical-looking unbranded listings beside it.
Best for: the lowest honest price for a working hunting scope
Check price on AmazonHow we chose
We did not test these optics in person and we never claim to. Picks are researched from manufacturer specification sheets, published optical and ballistic formulas, and the recurring themes in verified owner reviews. Every pick is matched to a real objective diameter, a real tube size, a real ring height or a real exit pupil rather than to a price bracket, and it is placed in the tier where its capability actually belongs. Where a figure is shooter convention rather than a sourced number we label it, and where a manufacturer does not publish a figure we leave it out instead of estimating it.
Sources
- Definition of a minute of angle, one sixtieth of one degree
- Definition of a milliradian, one thousandth of a radian
Frequently asked questions
How many inches is 1 MOA at 300 yards?
3.14 inches. A minute of angle is one sixtieth of a degree, which subtends 1.05 inches at 100 yards, and the figure scales in direct proportion to distance. Many shooters round this to 3 inches at this distance, which is 0.14 inches optimistic and is called shooter MOA or inches per hundred yards.
How many inches is 1 mil at 300 yards?
10.8 inches. A milliradian is one thousandth of a radian, so it subtends one thousandth of the distance to the target. At 300 yards that is 10800 inches divided by 1000, which is 10.8 inches exactly. There is no approximation and no trigonometry in that figure.
How many clicks do I need to move one inch at 300 yards?
With quarter MOA turrets, 1.3 clicks move the point of impact one inch at 300 yards. With tenth mil turrets it is 0.9 clicks. Turrets move in whole clicks only, so round to the nearest whole number and accept the small remainder rather than trying to split a click.
Is MOA or mil better for shooting?
Neither is more accurate. They are two units for the same angle, and one mil is 3.44 MOA at every distance. What matters is that your reticle and your turrets use the same one, so a correction you read off the glass is a correction you can dial without arithmetic. Mils are slightly simpler to compute in your head because the constant is a round 3.6.
What does a 1 MOA group measure at 300 yards?
3.14 inches between the two widest shot centres. Group size in MOA is a way of describing precision independently of distance, so the same rifle shooting one minute of angle prints 1.05 inches at 100 yards and 3.14 inches here. Measure centre to centre rather than edge to edge, or you add one bullet diameter to every group.
Does a bigger scope tube give finer adjustment?
No. A 30 mm or 34 mm tube does not change what a click is worth, because the click value is a property of the erector mechanism and is printed on the turret. What a larger tube gives you is room for the erector to travel further, which means more total elevation available before the scope runs out, not a finer increment per click.
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.