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Minute of angle question

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MichaelK

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Oct 27, 2009
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I know that a minute of angle at 100yards is 1.04" and target shooters reporting their results usually calculate what their MOA is at 100 yards.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever bothered shooting at the distance that 1.000MOA=1.000"?

Taking the tangent of 1/60th of 1 degree I get a distance of 3434.75"/286.47'/95.5 yards where 1.000MOA=1.000". Did I get this calculation right?

I wonder if anyone ever bothered to shoot at that distance before?
 
I, myself laid out three T-post target stands with a 150 foot roll-up tape, so they're a foot or so from being right on 25, 50, and 100 yards.
 
I have been known to measure the distance with a tape if there isn't anyone around. I often mark, 25, 50, 75, and 100 yd distances so that I can move my target stands accordingly.
 
Yes, 95.5 yards is right.

No, I've never bothered to shoot at that distance. Since most scopes are only adjustable to .25 MOA, its kinda pointless to worry about a .04MOA difference. Just remember 1" = 1MOA at 100 yards, much easier to caculate. You will only be about .4" off at 1000 yards
 
No, I've never bothered to shoot at that distance. Since most scopes are only adjustable to .25 MOA, its kinda pointless to worry about a .04MOA difference.

Exactly. I've got a few that click 1/8th minute, but even at that smaller incriment.....

And as far as 100 yard targets being off by a few feet, once more, does it really matter much?
 
Since the difference between a true minute and an inch per hundred yards is about half an inch at 1000 yards, I don't worry about it much. Maybe I need a more accurate rifle like I read about on the Internet.

Most BPCR shooters just take the .010" graduations on their vernier tang sights to be a MOA or an inch per hundred yards. Long Sharps barrels get you pretty close to a 36" sight radius.
 
Somewhat-unrelated question: is MOA stated as the diameter of the group, or the radius of the worst round in the group from the center of the target? Also (this is nitpicky, of course), which part of the bullet hole do you measure from: the nearest edge, farthest edge, or center of the bullet hole?
 
MOA is minute of arc or minute of angle; one in the same. If your gun or you so good that you need to be concerned with .04 inches at 100 yds your name must be Carlos Hathcock. I've been know to shoot kids glass marbles from the top of fense post at 25 yds and I thought that was pretty good. At a hundred yards if I can stay within 3 or 4 inches I'm pleased as punch. I can remember hitting a quarter with .22 at hundred yards one time. The guys with me just walked away. :what: I've never been able to do it again.:eek:
 
Somewhat-unrelated question: is MOA stated as the diameter of the group, or the radius of the worst round in the group from the center of the target? Also (this is nitpicky, of course), which part of the bullet hole do you measure from: the nearest edge, farthest edge, or center of the bullet hole?

Minute of angle does not indicate a group size by itself; To calculate that, you need a known distance to the target, and it is a ratio. 1 MOA= 1.046" @100 yards, 2.092" @ 200 and so on.

I know there are several threads with the explanation, but I'm not gonna link them when it is so easy to explain MOA;

Remember, you have 360 degrees is a circle. If you extend each of those degrees in a straight line out to 100 yards, there will be about 62.8" in each degree. Degrees are further divided by Minutes, of which there are 60 per. So one minute of one degree is just over an inch at 100 yards (1.046").

The SI unit for such accuracy measurements is milliradians, but that's another conversation.
 
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You guys keep forgetting that arc measurements are NOT linear. :banghead:

The distance you are trying to measure (group size) is a secant line segment, arc measurements are measured along the perimeter. :cuss:

When talking about 1 inch @ 100 yards the error is insignificant, but try the same measurements at large angles (ie... try 90 DOA = .5 pi (r) when the linear distance is actually (square root of 2) (r) ;)

Besides, "real men" use radians. :neener:
 
Somewhat-unrelated question: is MOA stated as the diameter of the group, or the radius of the worst round in the group from the center of the target? Also (this is nitpicky, of course), which part of the bullet hole do you measure from: the nearest edge, farthest edge, or center of the bullet hole?

When people refer to their groups in terms of MoA, what they usually are doing is measuring the widest part of the group from the extreme edges of the bullet holes, then subtracting by the bullet diameter. Then divide that number by the range/100.

For example a 1.5" group at 300 yards:

1.5" extreme spread - .308" bullet diameter = 1.192 / (300 yards/100) = .4 MOA

This is not exact, but that is the most commonly used formula
 
1 minute of ANGLE @ 100 yards =1.047197581. This has nothing to do with arcs or radians or anything round. There is no compelling reason to call it anything other than 1" at 100 yards. Should you be good enough to discern the difference you'd be posting on the God thread and wouldn't/shouldn't even talk to us mere mortals.
 
1 minute of ANGLE @ 100 yards =1.047197581. This has nothing to do with arcs or radians or anything round. There is no compelling reason to call it anything other than 1" at 100 yards. Should you be good enough to discern the difference you'd be posting on the God thread and wouldn't/shouldn't even talk to us mere mortals.
Bingo. :D
 
1 minute of ANGLE @ 100 yards =1.047197581.
Actually, its 0.087266'. You silly inch people. Dont you know a foot has ten parts? You measure in feet, tenths, and hundredths. :)
 
Besides, "real men" use radians

Only if they want less precise incriments. HA!

Seriuosly, though, it makes sense to use radians in higher math, but like other SI units, they're difficult to relate to when you've spent your whole life using SAE. I have to convert millirads to arc minutes before I can approximate the size of the group at a given distance. Same goes for judging distances and weight; convert km to mile, kg to pound, and so on. And I know I'm not alone here.
 
MOA was started many years ago by a magazine to sound really technically savvy. I don't know anyone who goes out and measures the angles and do all the math to figure out what their MOA is. I believe most shooters use 1" at 100 yards. :what:
 
looks like AK103K is either a civil engineer or a surveyor, nobody else measures in decimals of feet.

there are 2PI radians in a circle, but I try not to use that information often.
 
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