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Angular mil
*** Shopping-Tip: Angular mil
:''This article describes "mil" as a unit of angle. For alternative meanings, see
Mil (disambiguation).''
The '''mil''' (in full, '''angular mil''') is a unit of
angle angular measure.
Origin of the name
All versions of the mil are approximately the same size as a
radian milliradian.
Use
The mil is commonly used by military organisations. Its relationship to the radian gives rise to the handy property that object of size ''S'' that subtends an angle ''A'' mils is at a distance ''D'' = 1000*''S''/''A''. Alternatively, if the distance is known, we can determine the size of an object by ''S'' = ''A''*''D''/1000. The practical form of this that is easy to remember is: 1 mil at 1 km is about 1 metre. Another example: 100 mils at 2 km is about 200 metres.
However, military mils are fixed angles not based on the above formula.
In the general case, where neither the distance nor the object size is known, the formulae may be of little use. In practice, sizes of observed objects are known with reasonable accuracy since they are often people, buildings and vehicles. Using the formulae, distances of the objects can be readily calculated without a calculator. In military terms, distances are of course essential for
artillery bombardments and estimations of journey times.
Many
telescopic sights used on
rifles have
reticles that are marked in mils, and these are generally called '''mil dot scopes'''. The mil dots serve two purposes, range estimation and trajectory correction. By determining how many mils an object of known size subtends, the distance to that object can be estimated with a fair degree of accuracy. Once the distance is known, the drop of the bullet at that range (see
external ballistics), converted back into mils, can be used to adjust the aiming point. Generally mil dot scopes have both horizontal and vertical crosshairs marked; the horizontal and vertical marks are used for range estimation and the vertical marks for bullet drop compensation. Skilled shooters, however, can also use the horizontal dots to compensate for bullet drift due to wind. Mil dot scopes are most suited for long shots under uncertain conditions, such as those encountered by military
snipers and
varmint rifle varmint hunters. In both of those cases, the range to the target is not fixed and shots are taken at extreme ranges, so accurate compensation for bullet drop is required.
The three definitions of the mil
There are 2000×
pi milliradians in a circle. So a milliradian is just over 1/6283 circle. Each of the definitions of mil are similar to that value but are easier to divide into many parts.
* 1/6400 circle in
NATO countries.
* 1/6000 circle in the
Soviet Union
* 1/6300 circle in
Sweden. The Swedish term for this is ''streck'' literally "line". Sweden has not been part of NATO or the
Warsaw Pact
Category:Units of angle Mil
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