This popular video has been viewed over 3.6 million times. It explains what Minute of Angle (MOA), and how it is used. This term is often misunderstood by novice shooters. In this NSSF video, Ryan Cleckner explains the term “Minute of angle” (MOA), and explains the way you can adjust your scope for windage and elevation by using 1/4 or 1/8 clicks. This allows you to sight in precisely and compensate for the bullet drop at different distances.
Ryan explains, to start with, that a “minute” when talking about angular degree is simply 1/60th. A “Minute of Angle”, then, is 1/60th of a degree of a central angular angle measured either up and downward (for elevation) of side to side (for windsage). At 100 yards, one MOA equals 1.0477″ on the target. For simplicity, this is usually rounded up to one inch. For example, you might click up 1 MOA. This is approximately 1 inch at 100 yards or approximately 4 inches at 400 yards since the target area as measured by 1 MOA increases linearly with distance.
More Minute of An Angle (MOA), Explanatory Videos
This Gunwerks Video explains that Minute of Angle is approximately 1″ for every 100 yards (or 1.047″ to be precise). This means that a Minute of Angle will increase in size as the distance between the shooter and the target increases.
This long (24-minutes) video explains Minute of Angle and uses several diagrams to show how MOA angular measurement works. The video explains how MOA-based values of click translate to changes in point-of impact at different distances.
