BASICS: Mil/MOA the unknown beings

We have all heard the abbreviations mil and MOA many times, especially in connection with telescopic sights. But what is behind these acronyms? We will tell you: both are angle measures.

MOA stands for Minute of Angle, which is 1/60 of a degree. A circle has, by definition, 360° or 21,600 MOA when converted. One MOA covers a height of 1m at a distance of 3.44 km.

Mil or mrad is the abbreviation for Milliradian, another unit for measuring angles, also referred to as a mil or strich, which is not quite correct. One milliradian is approximately 1/1000 of a radian (rad). A rad corresponds to the angle where the length of the associated arc equals the length of the radius. Since everything is just angles, 1 mrad = 3.44 MOA or 1 mil/strich = 3.38 MOA. Now the fun back-and-forth calculation can begin.

The great advantage of mil is that 1 strich (or 1 mil) covers an arc length of about 1 m at a distance of 1 km. This allows distances to be easily calculated using the strahlensatz. An angle is always just the ratio of a distance to height, to put it very simply. Distance calculation in Germany is done using the MKS formula and in Austria using the BÜSTE formula.

The calculation also works with MOA, but the formula is not quite as handy in our regions (K = (M x 3.44)/MOA). However, the unit is very popular in the USA, as 1 MOA at a distance of 100 yards corresponds to about 1 inch (see header image).

Having fun with angles and units, that's how mil and MOA could also be described. For those who want to calculate in meters, we recommend a telescopic sight in strich or mil.

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