Replacing scope crosshairs

[texasmac]

I just finished replacing fine crosshairs in a 10X Fecker scope (very similar to a Unertl). It was a pain working with wire that thin and fragile but I got’er done. Rather than send the scope off & wait several weeks to a few months, I figured I’d replace the crosshairs myself & also save the expense. So I bought 0.0005” diameter tungsten crosshair wire from a guy on eBay.

BTW, don’t get any ideas that I’m willing to work on replacing crosshairs for others. But if you’d like to try it yourself, here’s the link to the eBay wire supplier. You get 3ft for $10.


For more details on scope repairs and replacing crosshairs, see my article at
http://www.texas-mac.com/Wm_Malcolm-Style_Scope_Adjustments_and_Repairs.html

Wayne

[dbosman]

First, congratulations. That is quite an accomplishment.
At that diameter, is it hard to keep the wire from shaking apart?
Thanks.

[Alstep]

Some crosshairs were made of spider webs. My Dad was an instrument maker, and I remember him getting fiber from a web out in the barn. I knew of an old transit repairman who had some WW2 surplus spider web fibers, came in a beautiful wooden box. When looking inside, it appeared empty, until you took a magnifying glass and saw the fibers wound around special frames. Was selected from a certain species of spider (long forgotten)

[texasmac]

Black widow spider web was a well-known source. Read the following:
https://owlcation.com/stem/The-patriotic-black-widow-spiders-of-World-War-II.
I wonder if anyone has used silk worm thread.

Wayne

[M-Tecs]

One did one myself but the wire is thicker than I like so I will order some from your source.

[Frankz]

If you run a search on ebay for tungsten wire there are quite a few sizes available. I just ordered some 0.0012 for mine. I think the 0.0005 would be little to fine for my old eyes.

[Drm50]

When I was young and dumb I replaced cross hairs in a scope. I thought I was real smart and made a jig on a 3/4" board to hold the bushing and screws to keep wire under tension. I tore apart a transistor radio and removed a small coil. Copper thinner than hair. I carefully cleaned off wire in acetone and straightened gently between round pencils. Got everything line up and soldered wire to bushing. Put scope back together and cross hairs looked like shagbark logs. Later reading Jack Os book the section on scopes, he said there are two kinds of people who take scopes apart, experts & fools. I ain't no expert.

[Wayne Smith]

When I was young and dumb I replaced cross hairs in a scope. I thought I was real smart and made a jig on a 3/4" board to hold the bushing and screws to keep wire under tension. I tore apart a transistor radio and removed a small coil. Copper thinner than hair. I carefully cleaned off wire in acetone and straightened gently between round pencils. Got everything line up and soldered wire to bushing. Put scope back together and cross hairs looked like shagbark logs. Later reading Jack Os book the section on scopes, he said there are two kinds of people who take scopes apart, experts & fools. I ain't no expert.

Yeah, but I think an 'expert' is defined as a persistent fool!

[Texas by God]

I have a well house full of crosshairs if anyone needs some!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[waksupi]

Some of the local guys here used to make their own long range scopes. Only thing they found thin enough was cat hair.

[FerricOxide]

I made a crosshair eyepiece for a telescope with my own hair. If your old or your hairs short your SOL but mine worked fine.

[samari46]

Had a buddy that I used to work with. used to take a quart mason jar and go down into the valve pits and snag a few black widow spiders ever so often. His uncles and dad owned a instrument and optics company and used the webs for cross hairs. Summer was the best time for spider hunting. Frank

[DocSavage]

Curious as to how you purge the scope of air and replace it some type of inert gas,better yet where would you get nitrogen to do it though you might get away with helium it's an inert gas and would attack/ degrade any thing you would use for crosshairs.

[beemer]

Years ago my buddy and I need a scope for a 22. We had an old K-Mart scope with no crosshairs. His daughter had fine blond hair, worked perfect.

I was given an old Weaver 3 X 9 that had been caught in a rain storm, the lens were very dingy. With nothing to loose I managed to take it completely apart. I cleaned it up and polished the lens and put everything back together. I don't remember what I put it on but it worked fine. What surprised me was that the scope wasn't sealed, no O rings or anything. I have no clue when it was made but it had the plastic AO bell.