Cleaning a scope

[abunaitoo]

Has anyone tried to clean the lens of a scope????
I have a couple of older scopes that need it.

[farmbif]

yeah, good issue. I like to keep stuff sprayed down with things like barricade is what I used most recently. the front element on a real nice Nikon got a good bit of the oily blast.
I wet a piece of old cotton tee shirt with 90% alcohol and started wiping gently circular motion very gently on first pass just in case there might be a bit of grit.
back in the era of film, I used to take lots of pictures and would use lens cleaning liquid. not sure what was in it but it would evaporate like alcohol or acetone.
but I think acetone is way too harsh. anyway after about three pieces of old tee shirt I got the oil off.
the coating seems to still be on the monarch and it still doesn't fog so I guess I'm good.
I cut a q tip at angle with razor blade and put piece of that old cotton shirt over it to get into the edges of lens.

[recumbent]

WalMart has Zeiss lens cleaning wipes right now, I bought a box last week and used one to clean 2 scopes lenses yesterday. They work great. Each wipe is individually packaged . If I remember they cost $4.98.

[Winger Ed.]

I use old soft T shirt pieces, a Q tip, and the lens cleaner yo get for your computer screen.

[abunaitoo]

Should have posted it better.
I'm asking about taking it apart and cleaning it.
Sorry

[Winger Ed.]

Should have posted it better.
I'm asking about taking it apart and cleaning it.
Sorry

I wouldn't.
It should be filled with dry Nitrogen and sealed.
That's what keeps them from fogging up when you take them in & out of outside with a temperature change.

[nvbirdman]

I think this is a case of "Kids, don't try this at home".

[kerplode]

Yeah, no. It’ll never be right again if you take it apart.

[MarkW]

I think you are asking on the wrong forum here. I suspect if you find an optical forum and ask if it is possible to reload your own bullets you'd get a similar response. Do a search for "cleaning fungus from optics" and see if you can find a forum that does this stuff. A few years ago I researched cleaning fungus from a pair of binoculars and found quite a lot of articles so I'd try looking in that direction.

[dale2242]

DO NOT take it apart yourself.
You will lose the nitrogen inside and it will fog up.
Send it back to the factory for service.

[owejia]

Have a friend that has a little Scottish 22lr single shot that the scope was sent to someone in Arkansas to disassemble and clean, was suppose to be reset the same as when received. We were trying to check zero at 40 yds and it was completely off the 2'x 2' target. Had to stand a 5' piece of cardboard up to even get it to where we could see where it was hitting. Run out of daylight before we could get it dialed in and had to redo this fall finally got it to about 1.5" at 40 yds and decided that was good enough for 80 year old eyes. So yes they can be cleaned, repaired. Just need to find instructions or let someone with equipment to do it for you. This is a break down rifle ( 1923 mfg) and is put into a wood box made for it so the scope is removed each time it is stored.

[gbrown]

There's Iron Sight in Tulsa, Ok. They have rebuilt a couple of old Weavers.

ironsightinc.com/index

[beemer]

Years ago I was given a Weaver 3 X 9, it was one with a plastic AO. It had leaked and had been sent back to Weaver and leaked again, it was useless as it was. With nothing to loose I decided to take it apart. It was easy, I kept everything laid out as I worked. It was clear and worked great, funny thing was that there were no O-rings or seals anywhere, no wonder it leaked. I used it on a 22 Mag for a while. Most scopes need proper tools to do properly and need to be recharged.

If I had a scope worth cleaning I would find someone that does it for a living or send it back to the factory for service.

Dave

[farmbif]

I ll give an example of why not to take scope apart
I have an old vintage scope with marlin printed on it. its kind of collectable to marlin fans. I found it at a gun show and just could pass it up its looked to be in such good shape. like an idiot I didn't look through it. turns out someone had taken it apart and got the lenses inside mixed up or turned around or something screwed up I guess, no matter what ive tried just cannot get it to focus clearly and now its good for nothing more than being a paper weight.
compared to 30 years ago very good quality scopes are easy to come by and pretty darn cheap compared to the old what it used to be. a modern $200 leupold is as good or better than a baush and laumb from 30 years ago that would have cost $300- or more back then, just my opinion though.

[country gent]

Newer scopes are way ahead of the early versions. They can be disassembled , but you will lose the dry charge gas that displaces moisture. this also puts the inside in a positive pressure so out side air cant enter as easily. A lot of the newer seals are a heavy grease on the fine optical threads this provides a good lasting seal with out increased force to move. Special tools may be require to disassemble. Threads are all very fine and hard to start. Its a true labor of love and with the lack of parts availability theres not a lot that can be done, unless you have a second thats damaged in a different area.

One way of assembling that might help with the fogging would be to put the parts in ziplock bags with desiccant packs and freeze for several days ( preferably in dry ice). assembly in ziplock bag with a heavy silicone grease on threads and joints. when the cold dry air warms it should expand and make a small internal pressure sealing the scope from outside humidity. Done on a low humidity day this might gain enough to stop fogging.

The other would be to assemble from eye piece forward to the last objective lenses stand up right an use an heavier than air inert gas, inject down into tube and finish assembling

[popper]

If you are good at doing surgery on yourself, go for it. Or leave it for the pros.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Should have posted it better.
I'm asking about taking it apart and cleaning it.
Sorry

I bought a very old scope, I think it was a weaver? but can't recall, but it was American made. It was small like a inexpensive Rimfire scope, it was about a 20mm tube, but was likely not metric. Also, it was very long, like twice as long as a regular rimfire scope and was about 4 power fixed. The reticle was still good, but there was dust/dirt inside. I disassembled it to clean it, the insides were a series of 7 lenses and 6 spacers. I thought it was quite easy to disassemble and reassemble, but I do have a knack for attention to detail and documenting everything as I disassemble. Back in the day, that type of thing was part of my job/career.
Good Luck

[abunaitoo]

Two that I think would be worth cleaning.
Lyman........ All American....Perma Center...25LWBR
Redfield......RM6400...........Target............. .24X
Two places that do clean scopes, are so far backlogged.
One told me 1 1/2 years.
Other said can't give a time.

[abunaitoo]

At what year did they start to gas fill scopes?????

[Lloyd Smale]

Should have posted it better.
I'm asking about taking it apart and cleaning it.
Sorry

if its dirty on the inside its probably lost it seal and its time for the garbage can or at least if its worth a bit sending back for warantee work.

[jonp]

Should have posted it better.
I'm asking about taking it apart and cleaning it.
Sorry

Not unless you have a clean room and pressure equipment to replace the inert gas. If you tried to do this and got it back together it would fog and generally be useless I'd think

[wch]

WalMart has Zeiss lens cleaning wipes right now, I bought a box last week and used one to clean 2 scopes lenses yesterday. They work great. Each wipe is individually packaged . If I remember they cost $4.98.
That's what I use, they work well and don't seem to harm any coatings.

[zarrinvz24]

There are a number of binocular and optical repair shops that likely can help out. Give Baker Marine in San Diego a call. Another popular repair shop is Suddarth Optical in OK. On top of guns, reloading, and casting one of my passions is vintage Bausch and Lomb binoculars produced in the 40’s for the war effort. The coatings are not up to today’s standards but the quality of optical glass, yes actual glass, was far and above what is used today. The coatings were developed in an effort to give quality image through sub-par glass in an effort to speed production and reduce waste. Truly if you’ve not had the opportunity to stargaze with a quality pair of vintage binoculars you are missing out on one of life’s great wonders. Here is a video that I think you may enjoy discussing the production of optical quality glass.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHG5KYcC2Xs
Quality Binoculars and other optics cost a fortune to produce back in the good old days.

[Bent Ramrod]

Generally a scope fogs up when it’s a cold day in the woods or mountains during deer season. Ambient air from the warm rooms back home, trapped in the scope, has the humidity to condense out under those conditions.

Can’t imagine that happening in Hawaii, unless Al Gore Learjets in to lecture the peasants on Global Warming.

If you know somebody at a chemistry lab, you might be able to cadge a “disposable glove bag” from them, or order a package of them from a chemical supply house. A few dessicant bags and the cleaned scope parts left inside there for a few days ought to give you sufficiently dry air inside the scope after assembly. Some grease on the threads should seal this dry air in well enough to keep it from fogging under normal conditions.

You could even fill it with nitrogen if you know someone with a tank.

[Petrol & Powder]

At what year did they start to gas fill scopes?????

I can't give you an exact date but even as far back as WWII, some optics had nitrogen purge fittings, so I'm going to guess the practice has been around for some time. The higher the quality, the more likely you would see it. And by the way, it's not just nitrogen; it's DRY nitrogen. The key is an inert gas with NO water vapor. This is not something done in someone's garage or back room.

I think that for your two scopes, you need to do a cost verses benefit analysis.

If the scopes are currently unusable, then sending them off to have them properly repaired makes sense - assuming the repair cost (plus shipping) is lower than the replacement cost. It is HIGHLY likely that when you look at the numbers, you will find that it is cheaper to simply replace those scopes. You can likely obtain a better new scope for less money than fixing those old scopes.

Unless you need to maintain some period correct museum piece, it's probably not worth fixing those.

[abunaitoo]

Back in the day, these scopes were top of the line.
Not so much now.
They are good scopes, if they are clear.
Seen them on evilbay going for $300 to $500.
But I'm sure those were clear.

[Petrol & Powder]

It may be time for one of those difficult decisions about what to do with old equipment.

Spending more money to repair an old scope than it would cost to replace it with a new (and likely better) scope; doesn't make much sense.
If the scope was needed for some period correct rifle, it might be worth the effort and expense but outside of that- probably not worth repairing.

I try to be pragmatic when money is involved.

[Winger Ed.]

A buddy has a old Weaver K4 that came on a early 50's era lever action Marlin .30-30.

Its got some dust or something floating around inside it, but otherwise works fine.
We just use it like it is.

[Pressman]

I had an old Weaver 3/4" tube scope follow me home this week. It was foggy from a sort of film that forms on the inside of the lens, on both ends. These old scope may have been filled with nitrogen at one time, there was some kind of dries and caked sealant on the threads. Simple to remove both lens and clean with eye glass cleaner and reassemble.
I won't be using it in winter, cold or harsh conditions, just summer fun on a Savage single shot.

Newer Weavers, I like the K series Weavers, require a special made spanner tool to get the objective lens out, the eye piece simply unscrews and clean then put back on.

Ken

[zarrinvz24]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I vastly prefer the older USA made Weaver, Redfield and Lyman scopes. They were made in a time before plastic had become the "ultimate" solution, and likely will keep on running forever with proper care and feeding. Personal favorites are the Lyman Super Targetspot externally adjustable scopes made in the late 50's-early 60's.

[ascast]

not sure if your gas filled or not, but I have done a few old scopes and field glasses. Nothing gas filled, so.. aside, you may find "O" rings broken or needing replaced that may be very hard to track down, maybe impossible. The more modern, the more complicated as a rule. You might try on an old junkers from fleabay or LGS or shop. You must have a lockable drawer with trays for parts, little plastic foam boses are good. You pull stuff out and lay it up side up. If the cat or grandkids knock that on the floor to scatter- your about done. Take copious notes and pics. Do not break the cross hairs-reassemble. The worst is you'll get fogging when you come indoors. Can you live with that? good luck

ps you will need to get the correct lubrication. traditionally -fish oil. I would not be surprised to learn of a modern synthetic that is in widespread use today.

[abunaitoo]

I'm guessing these scopes were made in the 60's.
Were the lens coated?????

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm guessing these scopes were made in the 60's.
Were the lens coated?????

The answer is "maybe".

Every glass to air surface will lose light due to reflection (some of the light that strikes the surface will be reflected instead of being sent through the lens). So optics engineers developed lens coatings to reduce that reflection. The types of coatings used have changed over the years. The technology existed in the 1960's but it has always been a bit expensive, so it wasn't always used.
A device that proports to have "multi coated lens" means that some (but not all) of the surfaces are coated (often just the two outer surfaces).
A device that claims to be "fully coated" has anti-reflective coatings on all air to glass transitions. Because of the expense involved, a lot of older equipment did not include lens coatings.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Didn't read all the posts.

I would find a window place or see what and how they fill the windows and go for it. If you have the tools. What do you have to loose?? If scope is cloudy, has junk growing in it. Someone has to have some idea of how to do it your self. Even if you have a do it in a sealed bag of some type has to be a way.

I would start with a cheap junk scope and play.

[abunaitoo]

I might just do that.
Unfortunately all my cheap scopes are clear.
What do they call the place that makes eye glasses????
Thought I'm look some up to see if they could clean/coat the lenses.