# What is "MIL"?



## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Yes, very dumb question, here... But when I see ads for poly bags, they talk about "MIL" and I'm wondering what this means. Thanks.

-Naomi


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

Specifications determined by the US military for manufacturers and vendors to ensure their products meet are of suitable durability.

Andrew Cribb


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

With poly bags it refers to the thickness of the bag. 

MIL A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch.

Then there is .mil part of the .com, .org .gov and .net top level domains used for the military. 

Another military use MIL, military unit for defining angles. The name derives from milliradian, and they are used because an angle of X mils is X metres wide at a distance of X kilometres. This means that if you drop a shell 200 metres to one side of the target (according to your map) and it's 4 km away, 200 divided by 4 is 50, so you swing your aim by 50 mils. Mils were first used for military purposes by the German Wehrmacht during World War II.


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## www.glass-gardens.com (Jun 3, 2004)

Can you post the link you got that from gnat?


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Definition  of MIL

Top level Domains

Military use of MIL Scroll near bottom of page.


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## www.glass-gardens.com (Jun 3, 2004)

Thanks, I knew the first two applications, I've never heard about the gunnery application and I have a fondness for things WWII.


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Gnat's scored a bulls-eye. And as for mil's in the world of gunnery, you can actually get a number of different rifle scopes that have mil gradations to help with windage and elevation. The mil isn't going anywhere any time soon. The German's had it right.


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## dwhite645 (Jan 9, 2005)

yep, gnat's right for sure. I had a discussion about mil's with a co-worker a while back. We're in engineering, and it's sad to say that he thought a mil was a millimeter! A mil is 1/1000th of an inch. 10 mils is .010", 1 mil is .001" and so forth.
For the scopes, a mil-dot reticle scope is the distance on a target from one dot to the next dot at a certain distance from the shooter to the target. Reloading and benchrest shooting is my other passion!


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Hmmm... I see that Andrew replied just minutes after I posted, yesterday, but I didn't get an e-mail notification until just now. Weird... Anyway, I can assure you that I've never touched a gun, and I don't think I have any intentions to  . But it's an interesting fact, anyway :biggrin: . So if a poly bag is advertised as "2 MIL" then that just means that the thickness is 2-thousandths of an inch? Boy, why don't they just say 0.002"? Oh well... I don't even remember what "slug" was a measure of. I guess that one has a meaning that involves weapons, too. Boy - units of measure can be violent :biggrin: .

Thanks, guys! 

-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

And just add to the confusion, when ordering card stock (as in paper) .001" = 1 point.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Slug - A unit of mass in the "British" system. One slug equals 14.59 kilograms or 32.174 pounds.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Thanks... You brought back the wonderful memories of general physics <<snicker-snicker>>  - the ones that made me wish I could take a "slug" to the head.

-Naomi


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

LOL! Just a little veer in the conversation....

As for mil measurements, I have a micrometer near all the time in my business. But, not all mils are created the same, depending on the blend of the plastic. This is why your "super strong" brand name 4 mil trash bag gives out on you at the most inopportune times..... Grrr!


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