CaliberAtlas › Guides › MOA vs MIL: Scope Adjustments Made Simple
MOA and MIL are just two units for measuring angles through your scope. Once you see how each one translates to inches at distance, choosing and using them becomes straightforward.
By Preston Willis · Published June 30, 2026 · Last updated July 18, 2026
A riflescope adjusts your aim in angular units, because the same angle covers more physical space the farther out you go. Both MOA and MIL describe how much your point of impact shifts per click of the turret or per mark on the reticle — they are simply different rulers for the same job.
A minute of angle is 1/60th of a degree. Conveniently, 1 MOA subtends very close to 1 inch at 100 yards (1.047 inches, to be exact), and it scales linearly with distance:
Most MOA scopes adjust in 1/4 MOA clicks, so each click moves impact about a quarter-inch at 100 yards. If you are 3 inches low at 100 yards, that is roughly 12 clicks up.
A milliradian (mil) is 1/1000th of a radian. One mil subtends 3.6 inches at 100 yards, or — more naturally — 10 centimeters at 100 meters. The metric tie is what makes mils elegant:
Most MIL scopes adjust in 0.1 mil clicks, each moving impact 0.36 inches at 100 yards (1 cm at 100 m).
The unit alone does not determine precision. Click increment, tracking accuracy, reticle design, and the use case determine the practical resolution; a common 0.1 mil click and 1/4 MOA click are not identical. What matters most is a consistent system.
Match your turret to your reticle: the single biggest mistake is a MIL reticle with MOA turrets (or vice versa). If you measure a miss in mils through the reticle, you want to dial mils, so buy a scope where both are the same unit. Think in your preferred system — MOA feels intuitive if you reason in inches and yards, while MIL is cleaner for base-10 math and meters. Also match your shooting community, since spotters calling corrections in the same unit as your scope makes communication instant.
Sight your rifle, note your drop at each distance, and convert it to clicks: clicks = drop divided by value-per-click at that range. Many shooters build a simple dope card listing the dial-up for each distance.
The CaliberAtlas ballistic calculator outputs elevation in both MOA and MIL and the click count from entered load assumptions, so you can print a card and verify it at the range.