Arma 2 Weapon Ranging and Correction Tables

[Daniel_Malloy 10]

EDIT:

For those just now reading this thread, here is the finished guide I have created in the course of this thread. It contains some basic principles of mil-dot ranging and Russian PSO scopes along with ranging tables for the M24, M40, M107, DMR, MK12 SPR, SVD Dragunov, KSVK, and the VSS Vintorez. There is still a lot of useful information in this thread. If you have the time, I recommend you go through it when you can.

Weapon Ranging and Correction Guide

I have been searching the forums for range tables for the various long-range weapons in Arma 2, but to no avail. I have decided to start a thead in hopes that others will post their custom tables.

Here is a range and aim correction table for the M24 sniper rifle. This has been produced with the Steam demo on Regular difficulty (I assume the ballistics model has not changed. If it has, please say so). The following table has been created using the basic mil dot ranging formula, “Size of target in meters times one-thousand, then dividing by size of target in mils to equal range in metersâ€. Target height has been estimated at two meters and target width has been estimated at twenty-five percent of target height giving us a width of fifty centimeters. Range and target height/width was established using an BLUFOR Soldier (unarmed). Target correction was established using the orange lights on the small road barriers located next to the soldier as targets. All shots and ranges were taken in the prone position with controlled breathing.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The space between the end of the last mil dots (the 4th from the center) and the thick black line appears to be one mil, not point-nine mils. Also, the mil dots are assumed to be two-tenths of a mil in diameter.

If no one else posts any tables, I will create some more when I get my boxed copy later this week (work permitting). Also, should I create a guide in this thread for the M16 ACOG and the SVD Dragunov? These two optics are pretty self-explanitory, but I'm wondering if it would be helpful for people new to these optics to have an introduction on how to use them...

Edited October 17, 2009 by Daniel_Malloy
Added link to Correction Guide

[Taurus 20]

Yes definitely!

Also please post screens of the Dot- mil thing explaining what they are.

I'm having issues with the terminology.

Is a "mil dot" the distance between two dots in the scope?

This could probably be found on wikipedia, sorry for my lazyness.

Also the ACOG sight and dragunov needs to be explained.

I can not remember the site name atm, but there's a site where the dragunuv is explained how you'd use the left part to determine distance to target.

And if you or anyone else have time to explain how to aim with the M203 grenade launcher, because I sure can't hit anything with it.

Thanks in advance.

[Daniel_Malloy 10]

First off, mil is short for milliradian. It is a very small angle that is used to find the distance from a target whose size is known. On mil-dot scopes, the distance between the center of two dots is one mil. The following picture shows how you can measure mils on a mil dot scope:

For instance, a target one meter tall will look one mil big at 1,000 meters. At 500 meters, that target would look two mils big. I would reccomend taking a look at the following site for a better look at Mildot ranging:

http://www.shooterready.com/mildot.html

As for the ACOG scope, the following picture illustrates the basic use of the reticle:

In ARMA 2, each thick horizontal line also corresponds to the width of a man's shoulders at a certain distance. at 150 meters, you aim with the center line (the 1st line). At 300 meters, you aim with the 3rd line because that line corresponds to the targets shoulders. Keep in mind that the M16 is not that accurate out past 300 meters.

As for the SVD Dragunov, We will use the following screenshot:

You use the range scale to judge the height of the target just like in the picture. As you can see, there are presets for 200 meters out to 1,000 meters. 100 meters can also be determined by using the horizontal line under the guy's feet to the tip of the large triangle above the center of the reticle. Also, each of the triangles below the center are the aiming points at certain ranges. the first (the center) is for 100-200 meters. the second is for 300 meters. 3rd is 500 meters. the 4th is 700 meters.

Although, the real scope/weapon range finder is calibrated to a height of 1.7 meters, the in-game one seems to match up properly with what the M24 scope reads as 2 meters. I believe this is why the vertical triangles have weird zeros. If anyone knows better than this, please feel free to correct me.

[hoak 0]

Thank you Daniel for the correction table, the mil error was driving me batshit!

:D

[frederf 0]

Might want to include the USMC mildot scope as well as the US Army mildot scope. I don't know what weapons have what scopes in ArmA2 but there's bound to be both types within a few addons. The army one has round dots while the marine one has elongated dots and the dimensions differ.

There should also be a disclaimer that the dots on the scopes in ArmA2 most definately are not correct to their real life equivalents. Besides that excellent work and great presentation!

[hoak 0]

There should also be a disclaimer that the dots on the scopes in ArmA2 most definately are not correct to their real life equivalents.

I agree! Why is this messed up I wonder? It's not even an error of simple scale that's consistent which is rather odd...

Besides that excellent work and great presentation!

I Agree! All we need now is a mod to put it in a notebook in the game, or for BI to take notice and make some corrections.

Thank you again Daniel, and I look forward to anything else you take the time to document!

:)

[fincuan 0]

Nice effort

About SVD's PSO-1: Under 1000 meters you'd basically adjust the scope to the correct range and aim with the top triangle. The triangles under that are for 1100, 1200 and 1300 meters. At least that's how it should go with the real one. I have no idea if this is the case in Arma2. The reticle they've used is a bit weird, because the ones I've seen looked like this:

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSO-1_reticle_Romanian_2.JPG

Edited July 20, 2009 by Fincuan

[An-225 0]

Brilliant guide! Any chance we can get a breakdown of the M107 scope, as well as the PSO on the VSS and the KSVK?

Like Fincuan, I've only ever seen a PSO-1 with a center chevron, with no chevrons above it.

[walker 0]

Hi al

Great work Daniel_Malloy

If I might suggest you should put this in the BIS Wiki ArmA II perhaps a page off the hints and tips section.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_II_Hints_and_Tips

Kind Regards walker

[Daniel_Malloy 10]

As soon as I get the boxed game, I'll work on breakdowns for the other scopes. I will also add a thread to the WIKI like Walker suggested when I get some more weapons done and my estimates can be confirmed. If you use these estimates and find them off, please let me know so I can correct them.

Here are two links to explain the difference in the Army and USMC Mil dots for those interested. I figured links would be better than writing what has alread been written again (and better than I could have done too):

http://www.boomershoot.org/general/TruthMilDots.htm

http://www.snipersparadise.com/training/mildot2.html

As for the SVD scope and the top chevron, I believe that they added it purely for the sake of ranging targets at 100 meters. I have also confirmed that the distance between the last mil dot and the thick line is 1.1 mils on the M24 if anyone is interestead.

Also, here is a ranging guide for the M203 grenade launcher. The left numbers show the zero point for a ground explosion at that distance while the right numbers show how to measure targets. The measuring line is for targets at 150 and 200 meters. To measure 100 meters, line up the target like in the picture. I have not included any further ranges since trying to aim farther and still kill a man-sized target with this unadjustable sight cannot be accurate past 200 meters.

Again, hopefully other people will get the same results as I have.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Daniel_Malloy
Forgot links

[alext223 0]

Very useful! Thank you.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

The M16 is accurate well beyond 300 meters if you have an optic. Plenty of competitive shooters fire their AR-15's accurately to 600 meters. It's trying to do the same with iron sights that is an almost impossible feat. (I can rarely hit a 300 meter target with a higher-caliber rifle with iron sights in WW2Online, but many players in that game have no problems sniping from long distances with iron sights.)

U.S. Army soldiers in the 80's, firing from the prone supported position, were only supposed to hit the 300 meter target about 15% of the time with iron sights.

[AndreAce 10]

Good work @Daniel_Malloy - very useful guide,thx a lot :)

[galzohar 31]

IRL It's really not that hard to reliably hit a target at 300m with iron sights when you're in a comfortable prone position and taking your time. Add a bipod to your weapon and it becomes incredibly easy and fast, too. In-game, though, due to visibility/pixelation problems, it's pretty hard to hit stuff above 200m without magnifying optics or spray&pray (though with spray&pray I did hit targets at 500~600m with an M2 hummvee).

[An Fiach 10]

Great job Malloy

On a side note I believe the scaling is off on the M107 so the aim point changes between the standard scope view and the zoomed view. Will have to verify though.

[KeyCat 131]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing Daniel_Malloy!

/KC

[An Fiach 10]

actually I guess I was mistaken, further testing has shown no such discrepencies.

[Nazul 10]

Thanks for this, I had become proficient at guessing ranges and firing accurately without any understanding of the scopes. This explains it nicely.

[galzohar 31]

Yes, it seems like the M107 is zeroed to 300m (or 250m?) unzoomed, and 500m zoomed.

[This is Bosnia 10]

Thx Daniel for the info.

[BC. 10]

Hello and thank you Daniel_Malloy !! This is absolutely a must read and a great help!

Peace.

/bc

[An Fiach 10]

Yes, it seems like the M107 is zeroed to 300m (or 250m?) unzoomed, and 500m zoomed.

Maybe there is just inconsistent results or maybe atmospheric modifiers we are not aware of? I recall one day getting variable accuracy with it in regard to aim point but when I tested today I was able to score head shots at 500m aiming with the first mil dot in other words, consistent.

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

Thank you for explaining this so well! Are you planning to make this info available in a printer-friendly format? I think it would be great to have this information available as a reference while playing the game.

[fincuan 0]

Whoever said the M017's zero-point varies with zoom is correct. A few other weapons also have same "feature", and out of the top of my head I'd say they were the DMR and SPR. It's easy to fix from the configs, and I believe I already posted the needed config file in another thread on the subject. I'll try to look it up.

edit: Found it

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1355681#post1355681

Edited July 21, 2009 by Fincuan

[zezzi 10]

http://www.termiitti.com/kuva/v.php?img=388

Here is my test results of the PSO sight (with SVD) in Arma 2. I think that the last triangle is aiming point of distance ~950 meters.

Edited July 21, 2009 by zezzi