Mil-dot Reticles
If the helmeted head of a man (≈ 0.25 m tall) fits between the fourth bar and the horizontal line, the man is at approximately 100 meters distance. When the upper part of the body of a man (≈ 1 m tall) fits under the first line, he stands at approximately 400 meters distance.Many modern reticles are designed for (stadiametric) rangefinding purposes. Perhaps the most popular and well-known ranging reticle is the "Mil-dot" reticle, which consists of duplex crosshairs with small dots at milliradian (Mil or 1/1000 of a radian) intervals in the field of view. This reticle has gained significant acceptance in NATO and other military and law enforcement organizations. Training and practice will enable a user to measure the range to objects of known size, the size of objects at known distances, and compensate for both bullet drop and wind drift at known ranges with reasonable accuracy. To promote methodological uniformity, (mental) calculations and communication between spotters and snipers in sniper teams, the elevation or vertical adjustment and windage controls of Mil-dot reticle equipped telescopic sights are usually adjustable in (decimal) 0.1 milliradian increments. There are, however, (military) Mil-dot equipped telescopic sights that use coarser or finer reticle adjustment increments.
This is what a Netherlands Army sniper sees through his Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM II telescopic sight. The Mil-dots can be seen on the cross hairs. By means of a mathematical formula – (width or height of the target/ number of mil of dots) x 1000 = distance – the user can measure the range to a target. An object of 1 meter tall or wide is exactly 1 Mil tall or wide at 1000 meters distance. If the user sees an object of 1.8 m tall for example as three mil dots tall through the riflescope the object is at 600 m distance – (1.8 / 3) x 1000 = 600.
The four horizontal bars over the horizontal line are also intended for (quick) ranging purposes.