Rifle Scopes forcing a mil reticle to moa?

[marduk185]

i read on a different thread here that a second focal plane mildot could be "forced" to moa. this has me thinking and wondered if anyone else here does this and how well it works. i am using a sfp zeiss 4-14 and have scribed a hash where it subtends 3.6" at 100 yards so mildot reticle should read true. is there a similar method use this as moa dot instead so it matches my moa turrets and how advantageous would this be to do so? i learned my math to convert mils to moa dope but would be pleased with any information you experts out there can provide me as im always searching for better ways to employ the modest equipment at my disposal and have very few competent sources locally. thanks for your input.

 

[Ratbert]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

Theoretically you can, but as a practical matter it doesn't really work because to get a SFP scope that subtends correctly with Mils @ (for instance) 10x you would need to increase the magnification to nearly 35x in order for 1 dot = 1 MOA.

Alternatively you could just back it down to 7-8x and have 1 dot = 5 MOA, but really what good would that do you?

 

[Lindy]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

I'm assuming that you have a second focal-plane mildot scope.

Set up a yardstick at 100 yards, carefully measured. Use a tape, or a good laser range finder - most shooting range yard markers are not accurate enough.

You may want to put a 1" Shoot'N'C dot every inch, and two every 5 inches, on the yardstick to make it easier to read.

Adjust the power ring until the mil marks match some number of inches. Since most SFP scopes are accurate on the highest power, that means you'll be turning the power ring down - which is why you may need the dots to read the inches easily.

As you turn the power ring down, you'll get to a point where the mil marks match some number of inches, which will probably be 4, since that's the closest integer number of inches to 3.6.

So, now you'll have to remember that each mil mark is 4 IPHY.

That's not true MOA, but IPHY - but that's about as close as you're going to get, since 4 true MOA will be 4.188 inches.

Nota bene: if the place where your mils are accurate is not at the highest power, you'll have to experiment to find a magnification where the mil marks match some number of inch marks.

That's the procedure. Whether that's a useful thing to do is left as an exercise to the interested reader.

While you're doing that, you might also want to calibrate your click values to see what they actually are. See:

Optically Checking Rifle Scopes

 

[pinzmann]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

I have done this on most of my scopes. I place two vertical 1x3's at exactly 100yds and have them marked with a milliradian scale and a true MOA scale and place a scope on a rail that is rigidly attached to the bench. This way I can check the trueness of my reticles in either mils or MOA. I can also check the turrets to see if they adjust correctly. I have also taken a 22x NF scope with a mil-dot reticle {SFP} and placed it agasinst the MOA scale and adjusted it match. I think it matched at around 19x or so. I guess this is what you would call forcing a MD reticle to a MOA.

 

[marduk185]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

thanks, guys, i ran some math myself and concluded about what ratbert said so in my 14 power maximum scope wouldnt work the way i wanted probably. still may see if i can get it up to 2moa per dot space cuz thatd make it exactly match the spacing of the tick marks on the turrets i.e, every 2moa numbered with only hashes for 1/4 minutes between them. whole thing just seemed like a novel idea when i heard it.

 

[csgw]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

It can be done. I use a Leupold Bore Sight do to it and it works. You make the 1/2 mil lines read 2moa and the full Mil Lines read 4moa.

Mike

 

[dmgreene]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

I like to convert Leupold's TMR to MOA or IPHY's, depending on what the turret travel of the particular scope I'm dealing with. Like Lindy said you definitely need to check to see what the actual travel of the turret adjustments are. I have Leupold's that run anywhere from .98" to 1.05" at 100 yards.

I like for the turrets and the reticle to match. If they are IPHY I make a scale 16". It the turrets turn out to be true MOA then I make a scale 16.75"long. Place the scale at exactly 100 yards and dial the power ring down until 4 mils on the reticle correspond to which ever scale you are using(IPHY or MOA). Mark the power ring. With the TMR reticle this will give 2 IPHY or MOA at every hash mark, kinda like a NF NP-R2 reticle.

David

 

[AXEMAN]

Re: forcing a mil reticle to moa?

leupolds custom shop will make you whatever reticle you want i heard. even custom ballistic matched knobs for any load combo as long as there is known data. no idea the cost though.