To answer this question you need to understand that the math of snipers goes past training and remains

during operations. This answer is going to be somewhat basic due to the fact that if I were to teach it to you it could take hours of lecture. First, if you have seen a military rifle scope, you would recognize the dots on the reticle, or "cross hairs." These dots are called Mil-Dots and work off of Milliradians. These can be used for ranging a target, calculating holdover for this distance, as well as leads for moving targets or wind corrections. Next, shooters need to know conversion of their data into scope adjustments. While the current USMC Scout Sniper Day Scope, made by Schmidt and Bender, works off of Milliradian adjustments, the current US Army scope on their M24, the Leupold Mk 4, works off of minutes of angle, or MOA. A somewhat incorrect term, Minutes (a minute of a degree), relates to the angle of the scope to the intended target, in relation to the flight path of the bullet. This sounds confusing so I'll use an example... The path of the bullet is on an arched path, due to gravity, drag, and the corrections of the shooter to counter these issues. Next the wind is pushing the bullet in whatever direction. Wind is measured by direction, speed, and effect on the bullet based off of the direction in relation to the bullet. Look up "Clock System" for more on this. After the shooter calculates the drop on the bullet and the drift, he inputs the corrections on the scope. If the bullet drops 36", he must increase his elevation knob on the scope to 36" up. In MOA, an angular measurement, this changes based upon range. One MOA is 1" at 100yds, 2" at 200, 5 at 500, etc. Calculate accordingly. Wind is no different. If the drift is 10" and your range is 500 yards, you need 2 MOA of wind adjustment in the direction the wind is coming from. The next is the inclination angle of the shot. Picture this: Target Base of Hill............................Shooter If you the shooter ranged the target at 300 yds, you need to calculate for the angle. Gravity works vertically to the ground, but the flight of the bullet at this angle has less of an effect from gravity. This is a trigonometry problem. You need the horizontal range to the target, which would be the flight path with gravitational correction. I know this is a lot but I'll give you some formulas. If you need more info, just post your question. Ranging the target: Known size of target (in yds) x 1000 % by mil dot reading of target= range in yds Known size of target (in inches) x 27.7778 % by Mil Dot Reading=Range in yards This works the same in metric though the centimeter conversion is 25.4, not 27.778: Known size of target in meters x 1000 % Mil Dot Reading = range in meters Wind Formulas: Range to the target in yds x wind speed in MPH % Range Constant =Wind Changes in MOA for a full value wind. Divide in half for half value, ignore for N/V wind at distances less than 1600 yds. Inclination Angle Formula: Range to the target x cosine(angle to target)= horizontal range. I hope this post helped. Creek, Fmr. USMC Scout Sniper, 1/8 2 MarDiv Fmr. Blackwater Sniper Instructor, Afghanistan