Understanding Minute of Angle can be a lot to take in. It is important for hunters, shooters, and any other avid gun enthusiast. With so many different types of rifles available on the market today, knowing what your rifle specs are before buying is essential.
Why Do We Need To Measure Shooting In Minutes?
The most common unit of measurement for the accuracy of a rifle is MOA or Minute Of Angle. It describes how far your bullet will land off from its point of aim at 100 yards distance.
To put it simply, one minute is an angle that can be covered by something as small as a dime viewed from 100 feet away (a half-foot wide circle). This means if you are shooting with centerfire rifles and have sights set to hit dead on target at 200 yards but miss just slightly, then your shots would fall somewhere within two inches above or below where they should have been hitting. If you were using 22LR caliber rimfires with iron sights, then this shot could be anywhere up to six-inch high or low – depending on the distance.
The Relationship between MOA and Distance
A Minute Of Angle is a unit of measurement that describes how far your bullet will land off from its point of aim at 100 yards distance. In terms of minutes, one inch subtends approximately one minute at 100 yards which roughly equals to an inch circumference around the target.
To put it simply, if you are shooting with centerfire rifles and have sights set to hit dead on target at 200 yards but miss just slightly, then your shots would fall somewhere within two inches above or below where they should have been hitting. If you were using 22LR caliber rimfires with iron sights, then this shot could be anywhere up to six-inch high or low – depending on the distance.
- Distance in Yards 1 MOA Change in Size (Rounded Off)
- 100 1 inch
- 200 2 inch
- 300 3 inch
- 400 4 inch
- 500 5 inch
How MOA works
If you’re shooting with a rifle that has an MOA of ¼ inch per 100 yards, then your point of impact will change by one-quarter inch on the target for every 100-yard distance it travels. This means if you are aiming dead center at 200 yards and miss just slightly, then your shots would fall somewhere within two inches above or below where they should have been hitting. If you were using 22LR caliber rimfires with iron sights, then this shot could be anywhere up to six-inch high or low – depending on the distance.
Determine the Bullet Drop
If you know that a rifle has an MOA of ¼ inch per 100 yards, then what its actual size is at any distance can be determined by using the following formula.
All you need to do is multiply your desired inches (the target height) by the number of feet it will fall from the center of aim and divide this figure into one hundred. This result should be multiplied again for every additional 100-yard increment beyond the first 100, or if you are working with meters, simply square root If after these calculations there appears to be a fractional remainder remaining – either over ½ or under ½ – round down to avoid unnecessary confusion when calculating drop in minutes.
Calculating the Bullet Drop
If you know that a rifle has an MOA of ¼ inch per 100 yards, then what its actual size is at any distance can be determined by using the following formula.
All you need to do is multiply your desired inches (the target height) by the number of feet it will fall from the center of aim and divide this figure into one hundred. This result should be multiplied again for every additional 100-yard increment beyond the first 100, or if you are working with meters, simply square root If after these calculations there appears to be a fractional remainder remaining – either over ½ or under ½ – round down to avoid unnecessary confusion when calculating drop in minutes.
Translating the MOA on Turrets
Riflescopes come with the following specifications:
- 1/8 MOA turrets
- 1/4 MOA turrets
- 1/2 MOA turrets
- 1 MOA turrets
The size of the click is determined by how many MOAs it takes to move a riflescope’s point of impact one inch at a 100-yard distance. For example, if you have your rifle zeroed in and all set up for shooting with four inches high or low from the dead center – and then notice that when pushing them over ¼ MOA they only cause the bullet to go down two inches instead of correcting half an inch as expected – this could mean there was some sort of mistake made during the sight-in process so it would be best to start again. If not done correctly, windage can result in such problems especially if using heavy calibers which require strong holdover corrections once dialed on target.
Formula to Calculate MOA at any Distance:
For those who like equations, here is the formula to use for determining how many minutes of angle are required to move a bullet one inch.
If you know that your riflescope has ¼-inch adjustments per 100 yards and it takes ½ minute of angle to cause an inch drop in point of impact at 100-yard distance, then just plug these two figures into the equation below – which would be 0.005 x 26 inches = 0.0104 or rounded down this equals one full MOA. So if shooting with a .308 caliber rifle using 168-grain round nose projectiles having MV velocity of 2850 feet/second from muzzle out to 500 yards, what should your turrets settings need to be?
Conclusion
we hope that you have found this article helpful and that it has provided a better understanding of minute of angle.
Thank You for Reading!
