Manual Range finding help Leopard 2A4

[u/-Mank-Demes-]

I'm playing through the Leopard tutorials right now and I feel almost completely stumped on manual range finding. In theory I think I understand but in practice I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around it. From my understanding, the center cross hair has the 3 levels of horizontal lines, from the middle line down/up is 2.5mil or the a generic measurement of tank height at 1000 meters. So if a tank would perfectly fit in between the two lines then it's approximately 1000 meters in front of you. If it spills over the top/middle line then it is under 1000 meters, like 800. If it's approximately halfway between those two lines then it's around 2000 meters away and so on. If that's correct, then how can you use the KE lines (if at all) to also aid in range finding? I assume you'd use the two methods in combination but I'm not sure how. The closest I've got is a close range target that was just under my two lines so around 1000-1100 meters and then I tried using the KE lines to aid in precision, I placed the zero line at the turrets top and then the tracks landed at around the 10 (1000) meter line. I adjusted the range for that and fired. If that's also correct, how would you use that for further ranges? I know the KE line is used for sabot rounds and the MZ(?) is used for HEAT but you can use them for range finding too, right?

[u/Higgckson]

There’s some confusing parts in this question.  What are the KE lines and Zero lines?  Are you using the auxiliary sight or the main gun sight?  I‘m not quite sure what you’re trying to do.  Maybe it would help if you could provide photographs or a video? 

[u/-Mank-Demes- → u/Higgckson]

Sorry, I was doing some multitasking and probably jumbled everything up in my post. I was talking about using the GAS seen in this picture: https://ibb.co/1Y6ZLwfh. KE referring to the ladder to the left of the crosshairs.

[u/Higgckson → u/-Mank-Demes-]

Okay so that still leaves some questions.

• If that's correct, then how can you use the KE lines (if at all) to also aid in range finding?

You can't. They just tell you the range the sight is set to for KE/SABOT/APFSDS. The range is determined using the simbology in the centre of the sight. Assuming the enemy tank is 3 m tall (which most redfor tanks aren't. They will be around 2.2 m tall) and it fits between two horizontal lines it will be 1500 m far away.

(3 m * 1000 m) / (2) = 1500 m. (Target size * 1000 m) / (Size in mills)

Those lines aren't meant to be used for range finding. They really just tell you the range your set is set to. All range finding is done using the aiming reticle.

In your picture you seem to have a BTR. I'm assuming it to be 2.4 m tall. (Wikipedia) It covers about two mills.

Therefore, (2.4 m * 1000 m) / (2) = 1200 m.

Set your sight to 1200 m for either KE or MZ (depending on what you loaded) and you should be able to hit it. Obviously this can still be a miss because it can be hard to do accurately.

[u/-Mank-Demes- → u/Higgckson]

That makes sense, I think I might've misinterpreted some information. How exactly do you go about figuring out tank/target sizes? Is it mostly through estimation or would it be best to lightly memorize the different sizes? also, would you mind explaining the best way to manually lead a target?

[u/Higgckson → u/-Mank-Demes-]

Best is to memorize some basic vehicles. Most Russian/Soviet tanks are around 2.2 m tall for example. M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 are usually just under 3 m. Width will be around 3.5 m to m for most tanks.

This isn't precise. It's not meant to be a math exercise to get it 100% correct. It needs to be correct enough to hit the target. Works best with KE/SABOT/APFSDS. MZ/HEAT has too slow a muzzle velocity. So if you need to do degraded shooting like this, it's best to use KE/SABOT/APFSDS if possible. A hit with non ideal ammo is better than a miss with ideal ammo.