Is mildot reticle supposed to be that tiny???

[svt-40]

My kids got a Stevens 200 for the end of school year and we were not sure which scope with what reticle to buy, so I ended up buying a Tasco 6-24x40 with illuminated red dot, as that was the reticle everyone seemed to praise for the ease of use at various distances. I just wanted to get something rather on the cheap side just to see if we liked it, before committing to buying something good quality and lasting.

I am very satisfied with the reticle design, but what is surprising, is that the mildot part occupies only about 20% of the FOV, the rest being just black lines which form regular plex, i.e. something like this

as opposed my expectation of getting something like that

How large is the mildot portion of the reticle supposed to be?

 

[prosper]

You're aware the the 'mils' aren't actually one mil at all magnifications, right?

 

[Juster]

Depends on the Field Of View. With a small FOV the dots look bigger compared to the view.

 

[misanthropist]

You're aware the the 'mils' aren't actually one mil at all magnifications, right?

Unless the reticle is in the first focal plane that's irrelevant to this question.

SVT-40, yes, that's a normal looking mil-dot reticle. All my mildot stuff looks like that. I don't know why they are always shown in pictures as taking up the whole space, but while they might on some scopes with a narrow field of vision, in my experience, they look like what you're seeing.

 

[platnumbob]

Ive found that guesstimating where the next mil will be on the line (after you run out of mils) still gives a good measurement for distance. My mildot also looks similar to that one and i have at times wished that the mils went all the way up the FOV.

 

[eltorro]

If your scope was set on the intended magnification for ranging with the mil reticle... (usually the red number on the dial) ... then I'd say that the horse is about 250m away.

Am I wrong?

 

[Dr.Lector]

^
He wasn't aiming at the horse, but at the post in the fence.
The horse is livestock (property), one is not supposed to aim at it


Me, personaly, if (theoretically) I would be given the choice between the 2 reticles in the pix, I would choose the "tiny" one (given that its dimensions have a significance, you know the deal, diam of the dot, distance between the inner edges, etc).