stupid question
- Thread starter iceboxx7
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kilotanker22
New member
moa is minute of angle.
pretty much one inch at 100 yards although that is not a perfect measurement
pretty much one inch at 100 yards although that is not a perfect measurement
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
360 degrees to a circle. 60 minutes to a degree. So, 21,600 minutes of angle to a complete circle.
For 100 yards: Circumference = Pi x Diameter. So, 200 yard diameter x 3 ft/yd x 12"/ft x 3.1416 = 22,619,52.
Divide that by 21,600 and you get 1.0472 inches of width at 100 yards. So we just call it an inch per 100 yards.
Since it's an angle, it's 2" at 200 and on and on.
For 100 yards: Circumference = Pi x Diameter. So, 200 yard diameter x 3 ft/yd x 12"/ft x 3.1416 = 22,619,52.
Divide that by 21,600 and you get 1.0472 inches of width at 100 yards. So we just call it an inch per 100 yards.
Since it's an angle, it's 2" at 200 and on and on.
iceboxx7, your question shows your intelligence; you want to know something and that's good.
Minute of angle (MOA) was established over a hundred years ago in the USA for shooting sports' bullseye targets. Target scoring rings for both smallbore (.22 rimfire) and big bore (30 caliber) competition were spaced on even inch increments. Sights were made that with standard spacing on rifles would change increments one inch for every hundred yards of range. The standard was 1/3600th of the distance; there's 3600 inches in 100 yards.
While the USA system is not exactly the trigonometric value of 1/60th of a degree which is about 1.0472 inch per hundred yards, it's close enough to make things easy but some "purists" insist on the trig system be used in the USA. Those purists haven't ever used targets at 100 yards with scoring rings matching their 1/60th degree standard nor even put standard 100 yard sight-in targets at 95 yards 17.74682 inches so their 1-inch spaced sight adjustment lines coincide with their standard. And I'm not aware of anyone making 100 yard targets with 1/60th degree subtended lines on them spaced about 1.0472" apart.
The European system was metric based and originally was 1 cm for every 50 metres of range. Sights on rimfire rifles used in 50 metre matches had 5 clicks on their sights moving it 1 cm; 2 mm per click on target.
Minute of angle (MOA) was established over a hundred years ago in the USA for shooting sports' bullseye targets. Target scoring rings for both smallbore (.22 rimfire) and big bore (30 caliber) competition were spaced on even inch increments. Sights were made that with standard spacing on rifles would change increments one inch for every hundred yards of range. The standard was 1/3600th of the distance; there's 3600 inches in 100 yards.
While the USA system is not exactly the trigonometric value of 1/60th of a degree which is about 1.0472 inch per hundred yards, it's close enough to make things easy but some "purists" insist on the trig system be used in the USA. Those purists haven't ever used targets at 100 yards with scoring rings matching their 1/60th degree standard nor even put standard 100 yard sight-in targets at 95 yards 17.74682 inches so their 1-inch spaced sight adjustment lines coincide with their standard. And I'm not aware of anyone making 100 yard targets with 1/60th degree subtended lines on them spaced about 1.0472" apart.
The European system was metric based and originally was 1 cm for every 50 metres of range. Sights on rimfire rifles used in 50 metre matches had 5 clicks on their sights moving it 1 cm; 2 mm per click on target.
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MOA is an acronym for Minute of Angle. The "distance" or "adjacent" side of a right triangle is not considered in the acronym. 1 Minute of Angle is what it is. When considered at 100 yards it's 1.0472 inches. But 100 yards is never a perfect distance so consider that it's 1 inch at some distance very close to 100 yards. We worry about the wrong side of the triangle to much.