Thisimage was the best that I could find that illustrates what I’m talking about. In that image, the lines I’m refering to are represented as dots. I’m sure that sometimes these lines are used for range finding or maybe determining relative distance, but there are often no numbers next to the lines. The lines I’m talking about are perpendicular to the crosshairs, and usually toward the center.
I hope I’ve made this clear enough. So, what are these lines used for?
They have nothing to do with distance. You can’t gauge distance through what is essentially a low-powered telescope.
They are, essentially, offset aimpoints for quick adjustment due to windage or elevation. When you zero a scope you do so under ideal conditions for a certain distance, say, 200 yards. If you have to take a shot further you have to elevate the weapon, and those marks are an easy way to gauge elevation. The marks on the sides are for wind deflection and serve the same purpose- if the wind is coming from the left you adjust your aim into the wind and the tickmarks allow you to reference your shot and gauge your offset.
I assume that this is more representative of what you’re talking about?
On preview, what Doors said.
They’re still used for estimating range. Also when you want to aim off a certain bit due to wind or anything else you’d use them as a measurment.
Each tick might be an inch at 100 yards or some such.
They don’t have numbers, but they teach the snipers how to count to four.
Yep.
So it’s just a scale used to correct for abnormal conditions?
More than you ever wanted to know about mil-dot reticles…
I have to disagree. Knowing the approximate size of your target and the spacing of the lines in the reticle will allow you guesstimate distance to a reasonable degree of accuracy. Here is a good page with various types of scope reticles with brief descriptions of their various purposes. The type in question is a variation of the Mil Dot reticle:
Could be, QED, based on your experience with things that don’t shoot back, but I have to go with Airman Doors. I use the dots to locate the target. Generally the crosshairs are enough that you will hit something on the target, but, if not, the dots will help you center in. YmmV
Oh, I wasn’t disputing that they could be used in that manner, by any means. Only his assertion that they couldn’t be used to gauge distance. I have no doubt that if something is firing BACK, I’m not going sit there looking up distance tables. 
The scope on the Soviet Drangunov rifle has a clever range finder built in assuming you are shooting at an average height fellow. It was certainly deployed against things that can shoot back.
So I say you can use a recticle range finder in this way, you just can’t use it too well if the guy you want to kill is 9 feet tall.
Those are Mildots. Their purpose is exclusively for estimating range to your target. They’ve been around since before Laser Range Finders.
Any “quick adjustment” using those dots to aim is just coincidence and not actually what they’re designed for. If you need to shoot further away than your zero, or you’re shooting with cross wind, etc, then you need to adjust your reticle - not use a mildot as a crosshair. That’s some improper “Kentucky Windage” technique or something.
All it takes to gauge distance with mildots is he known size of an object next to your target, or even the target itself. That’s every sniper’s book should have measurements of all kinds of crazy shit. Like doors, phone booths, vending machines, cars, trucks, tanks, you name it. Not to mention the average size of a person from the waist to the head, the knees to the head, the feet to the head, from shoulder to shoulder, from back to front, etc.
Take a known distance, then see how many mils under your scope it appears, then plug into you nifty little equation and bam, there’s your distance.
This range estimation and use of mildots is the hardest part of sniper school and probably causes the most failures.
Sorry, Sgt Schwartz, but Q.E.D. is correct. Do you get many people shooting back at you in the Mental Health Office?
[QUOTE=Bear_Nenno]
Those are Mildots.
All it takes to gauge distance with mildots is he known size of an object next to your target, or even the target itself. That’s every sniper’s book should have measurements of all kinds of crazy shit. Like doors, phone booths, vending machines, cars, trucks, tanks, you name it. Not to mention the average size of a person from the waist to the head, the knees to the head, the feet to the head, from shoulder to shoulder, from back to front, etc.
Take a known distance, then see how many mils under your scope it appears, then plug into you nifty little equation and bam, there’s your distance.
This range estimation and use of mildots is the hardest part of sniper school and probably causes the most failures.
QUOTE]
As someone who is a “wannabe” who can’t afford the training, or even a decent rifle at this time, I just wanted to thank Bear Nenno for always coming in with the good information on these threads.
off to update my range book, as soon as I find a tape measure
They can gauge range from zero, but without knowing what your zero is you can determine range. In other words, the rifle has to be properly sighted in first. You can’t use the mildots (thanks, Bear Nenno) to accurately zero the weapon. I was speaking in that sense.
Also, how do you adjust a sight for a shot in variable winds? It seems to me that you would never stop adjusting the sight. “Kentucky Windage” is obviously not the proper way, but it often is the only way.
Variable Wind? So like the wind keeps picking up and dropping in speed and keeps changing direction? Depending on how drastic the changes, and how far away your target is, the best thing to do may just be to wait for a lull or even wait it out completely.
The further away the target, the more important you get a decent estimate of windspeed and direction at the midrange. But like anything else dealing with weather - it’s never perfect or even prefectly predictable. At least your temp and humidity tend to not change drastically like wind does.
Not to mention the fact that if wind is changing every second around you, it’s also probably changing every second around your target, and Og knows how many different wind patterns between you and your target… (given such a turbulent proposition.)
But the wind near you is more important. The momentum imparted by the wind near you moves the bullet throughout its flight, while the distant wind only affects it for a shorter time.
I don’t know about snipers, but benchrest target shooters also learn to read the mirage, the wavy heat patterns coming off the ground, in order to tell how the air is moving in general. On a moderate day you can’t see any mirage with naked eyes, but you can see it through a high-powered scope.
