MOA?

[Patrick Palmer]

I think I understand what MOA (Minutes Of Angle) means in general or...er...basically. But why do some red dot scopes say that the dot is 5MOA or 2.5MOA or whatever? I don't understand what it means, assuming that MOA is a measurement of angle (scope's angle) and distance (target's location).

Thanks,

Medicius

 

[Chambers]

1 MOA is about an 1" at 100 yds.

A 5 MOA red dot covers about 5" at 100 yards.

Which means it's way too big to be good at hitting smaller targets! If your points of aim covers up the whole target, I call that guessing!

 

[Patrick Palmer]

Lol... That's what I was afraid of. Ok, uber-cheap scopes are out for plinking fun.

Thank you Chambers.

Medicius

 

[Chambers]

2 MOA is the biggest I will go on a non-magnified optic.

The best red dot is an Eotech -1 model with the single 1 MOA dot (no ring).

On the other end there's my personal favorite, the Leupold Prismatic with the DCD reticle.

 

[Patrick Palmer]

DCD?

I just picked up a super cheap (@$50) 4x scope so that I could feel how my AR shoots without the fear of hitting innocent squirrels to the left or right of the 8'x4' sheet of plywood being used to hold targets up. I guess what I don't get is that during a 3-Gun match it seems like there are close and far AR targets in the same stage. Do Red Dots in general give you a chance at the 100yd targets, or Eotech's models in particular? Or are most people running with the side-flip 3x magnifiers?

Sorry, this line of questions went outside the original intent of the post.

I suppose a 2" area covered at 100yds is pretty good. Though, I'm guessing I could use a 10MOA dot at 100yds and still hit with the same accuracy as I did using a 2MOA dot.

 

[twss]

I suppose a 2" area covered at 100yds is pretty good. Though, I'm guessing I could use a 10MOA dot at 100yds and still hit with the same accuracy as I did using a 2MOA dot.

10 MOA is way to big for any type of long shot. That would cover an entire human head at 100yds. Go out to 300yds and it covers what looks like a 30" target. Kinda like aiming at a torso target and having the entire torso covered in a huge red dot. Chambers had it right, 2" is plenty big to see and not give up to much in the way of accuracy. Bigger than that I wouldn't want past 50yds or so, Maybe 100yds.

I don't think you see many flip up magnifiers because it would put you in the magnified optics, and there are way better options for magnified optics than a flip up magnifiier.

 

[Wall]

10 MOA is way to big for any type of long shot. That would cover an entire human head at 100yds. Go out to 300yds and it covers what looks like a 30" target. Kinda like aiming at a torso target and having the entire torso covered in a huge red dot. Chambers had it right, 2" is plenty big to see and not give up to much in the way of accuracy. Bigger than that I wouldn't want past 50yds or so, Maybe 100yds.

I think he was making a joke on himself

You don't see many flip to side magnifiers because you'd have to leave it on for the entire match.
If you flip it to the side for the short range stages it'd be bouncing around all over the place. If you leave it in place, then you are looking at a 7yrd target at 3x (= no bueno).

 

[dennishoddy]

Guess I have to agree that I like the 1 MOA, but prefer the reticle that has the circle around it.
I lose the red dot at recoil. I'm sure its my eyes, but thats what I prefer.

 

[Patrick Palmer]

I think he was making a joke on himself.

I was trying to. It sounded funny in my head... Sorry twss.

Though...it probably wasn't as much a joke as it was foreshadowing (heading out in 9 hours for my first attempt at a 223).

The info about the magnifier is good. I can think of so many questions and now I can see why everyone always says to head out to a meet and watch others, etc. There are probably so many answers obtained just from watching from the sidelines.

Anyway, thank you for the info. It's helpful.

 

[aeropb]

If you like the metric system you could also look into mils.