Mil-Dot One-Step... a one-step path to firing solutions! In 2005 I introduced my Sniper Flash Cards, which are really a zero-step path to firing solutions. They help one memorize holdover and windage information so no steps are needed, which is a great help if you are aiming for a Kord gunner who is actively trying to kill you. This is really the wrong time to put your rifle down to dink around with a slide rule. If one has trained relentlessly with Sniper Flash Cards, it is possible to just reach up with ones right hand, dial in windage and then hold on the appropriate mil-dot and fire without ever taking ones eyes off the target all in about five seconds. This is vastly faster than using a slide rule. However, Sniper Flash Cards do not compete directly against the Mildot Master because they are only for objects of certain sizes, while the Mildot Master can range objects of arbitrary sizes. Also, Sniper Flash Cards are calibrated for a typical deer rifle and, while people often have inflated ideas about just how special their rifles ballistics are, it is still true that there is some round-off error in using the same system for everything from a .25-06 to a .308 rifle. Most foreign snipers operate alone, but for snipers operating in two-person teams as U.S. snipers typically do, or for crew-served weapons such as the Ma Deuce, I now have a product that competes directly against the Mildot Master, beating it soundly at both accuracy and speed: The Mil-Dot One-Step! The Mil-Dot One-Step can be custom made for any rifle, heavy machine gun or cannon. I have graphs available at half price for several common calibers, including the typical deer rifle graph shown above, which are not as accurate as a custom-made graph for ones particular rifle and cartridge, but good enough for people on a budget. Also available is a graph for the .308 168-grain OTM and for a typical magnum rifle. The small-arms graphs are two-sided, with small 15 to 60 objects on one side and large 60 to 120 objects on the other side. They have holdover information out to 1000 yards. The .338 Lapua, .50 BMG and other powerful weapons are also two-sided but with 60 to 120 objects on one side, which are useful for aiming at military vehicles and trucks; and 120 to 180 objects on the other side, which are useful for aiming at boats, box cars etc. They have holdover information out to 2500 yards. I also have a short-range graph specifically designed for police snipers to make very precise shots with an AR-15 or other .223 caliber rifle out to 340 yards. The other side of the police sniper card is for the same rifle fired at a 15° grade. Observe that a firing solution is reached in exactly one step. The user simply places a straight-edge on the graph between the size of the object in inches on the left-hand scale and the number of milliradians it subtends on the right-hand scale and then reads the correct holdover in MOA off the middle scale. A clear plastic strip like a large book mark is included with the Mil-Dot One-Step to use as a straight edge. It works well because it is transparent and one can see the graph through it, though one may use a machete or any other object with a straight edge. The adjustment for a 10 mph crosswind can be read off the same scale. For a 5 mph wind, one would halve the reported adjustment and, for a 15 mph wind, one would add half again. Once one has learned to read the wind in 5 mph or 2½ mph increments, it only takes a few seconds to adjust ones scope for windage. This is a great help for match shooters who are trained to read the wind at 600 yards but are at a loss on how to adjust their scope at arbitrary distances. The Mildot Master provides no help whatsoever with windage. A man is six feet tall but only one foot wide, so it is much more important to get windage correct, and that is exactly where the Mildot Master leaves the shooter helpless. Compare the Mil-Dot One-Step to the complicated five-step procedure needed to operate a slide rule. They call it three steps but conceal four by describing two distinct steps separated by the word and. Worse, they omit mention of a very difficult fifth step, the mental interpolation of drop data, by conveniently and suspiciously giving only examples of targets at exact integer multiples of 100 yards. How devious Bruce Robinson is! Has nobody noticed that his slide rule works like (*)(*)(*)(*) for targets at arbitrary distances? Unless you are planning on texting the BTR-80 driver to ask him to kindly re-position his vehicle at an exact multiple of 100 yards before you shoot him, I suggest that you learn how to range targets at arbitrary distances. I challenge anybody who currently owns a Mildot Master and operates in a two-man team to duplicate the above calculation for a 15-mph wind. Time oneself with a stop watch. With the Mil-Dot One-Step, the shooter can hold his sights on the target while his partner takes five seconds to position his straight edge on the graph and report the holdover and windage to within the nearest eighth of an MOA. It takes another five seconds for the shooter to reach up with his right hand, twist his dials, return his hand to the trigger and Bang!!! Thus, with the Mil-Dot One-Step, it takes a total of ten seconds from when an enemy soldier is spotted to when your sniper team grants him martyrdom. A sniper team with a Mildot Master would take at least two minutes to calculate holdover, could not get it to within the nearest eighth MOA and would be at a complete loss for windage information. Pathetic!
