It’s not uncommon for a shooter to boast that their rifle is “sub-MOA” or for companies to offer a sub-MOA guarantee. But what exactly does this mean?
MOA stands for Minute of Angle, a tiny unit of measurement that helps shooters gauge accuracy and adjust their sights. Imagine it as a small slice of a circle—just like how a clock is divided into minutes, a circle is divided into degrees, and MOA is 1/60th of a degree. At 100 yards, one MOA is about an inch on your target. Move back to 200 yards, and that MOA grows to about two inches, and so on.
When someone says their rifle shoots ‘sub-MOA,’ they mean it can group shots within an area smaller than one MOA, or about an inch at 100 yards. But be careful—distance matters. A rifle that’s sub-MOA at 100 yards may not hold that accuracy at longer distances.
Industry standard is to give MOA statistics at 100 yards. Also be wary of how many shots make up that “sub-MOA” group. Three-shot and five-shot groups are common, though a three-shot group isn’t always trustworthy. The greater the number of shots in the group, the better indication you will have of the rifle/ammunition’s performance. A larger sample size gives a better indication of true performance.
Not all rifles are created equal. Neither is all ammunition. Saying something is sub-MOA can be misleading as a rifle that may shoot less than an inch at 100 yards will not necessarily shoot than an inch at 600 yards. If you’re thinking about buying a new rifle, be sure to ask the right questions about sub-MOA accuracy.
