NOMR & Donut, Brownells Exclusive Reticles

Non-Obscuring Milling Reticle (NOMR)

The MPO's Non-Obscuring Milling Reticle was designed for competition shooters who need to make precise shots, spot their hits (or misses), and make quick follow-up shots under a time constraint.

The main hurdle we found in designing a first focal plane reticle was having useable crosshairs at mid-power that don't grow too thick at higher magnification or become too hard to see at low magnification. Our solution is the Non-Obscuring Milling Reticle or N-OMR. The N-OMR's main feature is crosshair lines that are open in the center so the shooter can see through them at high magnification. At lower magnification, this makes the lines appear thicker.

The intersection of the crosshairs is left mostly open, except for a small 0.05 MRAD dot. This dot helps the shooter easily center targets and still have a precise aiming point at high magnification. Both the vertical and horizontal crosshairs have a section dedicated to measuring to 0.1 MRADs. This portion is close to the center of the crosshairs so users can get accurate measurements at high magnification.

The main crosshairs are graduated in 0.5 MRAD increments, which minimizes clutter on the reticle while still allowing easy holds down to 0.25 MRADs. The top of the reticle is left open so shooters can spot their own shots (or misses) without obstruction. The lower “Christmas Tree” portion has 0.2 MRAD holdover dots for fine aiming in windy conditions or when the shooter is “on the clock” in competition. Full MRADs are marked with a thicker vertical line.

How To Use This Reticle - An Example

Let's say the shooter is engaging a target at 1,000 yards with a 10 mph crosswind. The shooter determines he needs 10 MRADs of elevation and 1 MRAD of windage. The shooter has three options for achieving the correct hold:

• Dial the windage to 10 MRADs and the elevation to 1 MRAD into the wind and take the shot.
• Dial 10 MRADs with the turret and hold 1 MRAD into the wind using the horizontal crosshair increments.
• Decide speed is of the essence and don't dial at all. Instead, hold 10 MRADs of elevation and 1 MRAD of windage using the reticle alone.

Close Quarters - Non-Obscuring Milling Reticle (CQ-NOMR)

The MPO's CQ-NOMR was designed for the tactical shooters who primarily needs an open field of view for fast, close range shots, but with the ability to extend the effective range of their rifle platform to make precise shots out to 600 yards.

Like the Long Range MPO optics, the CQ-NOMR features hollow crosshair lines that help pull your focus to the center aiming point while keeping the reticle from obscuring your target. To improve the NOMR for low power variable optic use, the hollow portion has been opened up from 0.05 MRAD on the NOMR, to 0.15 MRAD. The crosshair lines have been made thicker due to the lowered magnification range.

To get as close to the usefulness of a red dot at close range, the center portion of the reticle has been left wide open with a center dot. At 1x power, this dot is roughly 2 MRAD (6.8 MOA) and provides a good size aiming point for quick close range shots. At the max magnification of 8x the center dot shrinks to 0.25 MRAD to provide a sub 1 MOA dot for precise long range shots.

The main crosshairs are graduated in 0.5 MRAD increments, which minimizes clutter on the reticle while still allowing easy holds down to 0.25 MRADs. To prevent clutter, the Christmas Tree reticle of the standard NOMR was removed, leaving you with a relatively minimalistic reticle that still gives you precision holdover points.

"Donut" Reticle

The 1-6x24mm MPO's "donut" reticle is our homage to the original Austrian Stg 77 1.5x reticle.

We took the basic design of the original reticle and optimized it for LPVO use. Luckily, the original reticle lends itself easily to use with MRAD subtensions. Instead of a very thick ring, we've hollowed it out to provide the same measurements on the inner and outer circle rings. At 1x the inner circle measures 6 MRAD in diameter, and the outer ring measures 12 MRAD in diameter. At 6x those change to a 1 MRAD inner circle diameter and a 2 MRAD outer circle diameter. We have added some thicker horizontal lines to help you keep the optic level and help draw your focus to the center.

The center dot was specifically designed to be very small and only provide a passive aiming point to help center the circle reticle. When additional focus is applied, the center dot is noticeable and will help when zeroing the rifle or placing precise shots. However, during normal use, the dot nearly disappears allowing the Donut reticle to be used for quick target acquisition and transition from target to target.

Like the original Stg 77 reticle, the Donut can be used for hasty holds out to several hundred yards. We suggest zeroing this optic at 25 to 50 yards.This will allow a center hold on most targets out to 300 yards.