Cleaning Rifle Scopes

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Sven

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2002
Messages
3,808
Location
Los Gatos, CA
I've tried a quick hit of compressed air, but my scope lens still has some dust - need to get covers.

I'm afraid to breathe on my scope lenses, not to mention touch them with anything - what options do I have to remove small dust particles from the outside of the scope lens?

Scope is a Leopold M8 - Scout 2.5 x 28 Scout.

Thanks,

-s
 
That’s easy. Wash it with warm water. Riflescopes are sealed airtight and there’s no way how water could harm it – unless you use boiling hot water that melts away the wax which is used sealing the threads.

Just rinse the dust away with hand-warm tap water in your kitchen. That should do the trick.

One place where you could ask advice is the local camera shop. They have knowledge, tools and materials to clean delicate optics.
 
Water and a lint free cloth is probably the best. Alcohol or acetone will probably work ok too, but I'm not sure if that will affect the lens coating.
 
Go to a camera store and get a lens cleaning kit. Optics have coatings ,these are fragile ,if you damage the coatings you ruin the lens.
 
As above...

same as camera or expensive eyeglasses

little liquid soap, warm water. Good alternative is camera cleaning kit

Wiping with shirt-tail, etc is a sure way to scratch the coating. NEVER use any type of paper (Kleenex). Paper is extremely abrasive.

Get Butler Creek caps and keep them closed.
 
Yep, you can bet that someone investing thousands in a multicoated phase corrected pro camera lens is going to do it the right way.

1. Canned air to get rid of sand or granules that could scratch. Invert the lens while you blast it, so stuff doesn't settle back on the surface, and don't get too close to the lens. A couple short blasts should do. Some like a camel hair brush, but these can get contaminated. Your call.

2. Lens cleaning tissue, available in photo shops or sections everywhere, usually in little envelopes or booklets, moistened with

3. Lens cleaning fluid (preferably Kodak, Canon, Nikon or other lens maker name brand). Wipe gently in circular motion starting at center and working outward. Repeat if necessary.

Generally, the less you have to touch the lense, the better. We used to put a UV filter over the camera lenses to protect them, but the Butler Creek and other covers do a similar job on my scopes.

Lense pens and microfiber clothes have their fans, but the above procedure, though a bit more labor intensive, is worth the effort to me.
 
Go to your local Wal Mart and check out the Optical Center. Get a bottle of their lens cleaning spray and one of their cleaning cloths. The cloths are some kind of spandex material and are perfect for cleaning coated lenses. The spray is safe on lens coatings.
 
Heres a little trick I learned from paintballing. Get some "No Tears" baby shampoo. Dab just a small drop on your lens, and wipe it around until the scope is clear again.

Move from hot to cold, breathe on it, no matter what you do the lens will NOT fog.

I did this to my glasses, and i can put them right up to my mouth and huff on them, like to clean them, and it does ZIP.

Caveat being if you get it wet, the coating is gone. But a bottle of shampoo should last you about 25 years :D
 
http://forums.delphiforums.com/flahighpower/messages?msg=7885.19

A highpower shooter on the Florida Highpower site advised:

Dennis Selfridge (FLATLANDE1) ___
Feb-21 1:59 pm_
Several years ago, I used camera lens cleaning solution with lens cleaning tissue to clean the objective lens covers on my Swarovski SLC 8x30 binocs. After that, I noticed that the color & contrast through the SLCs was inferior to that of a cheap pair of 8x25 Celestron porro prism binocs. When I called Swarovski to ask about it, they told me never to use alcohol based lens cleaners on their binocs, as that would dissolve the coating. I sent the SLCs back for service (they have a lifetime warrenty), and they were good as new when they came back. So now, I'm slightly more than somewhat paranoid about using anything other than a damp cloth to clean the lenses on my scopes.
Regards,
Dennis
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top