REALLY dirty scope advice

guyandarifle · December 29, 2006, 08:00 PM

I've obtained a couple rifles that have been in someones closet for, well, obviously a long time. They were sitting on the butt so the objective lenses of the scopes are...and I can't stress this enough...CAKED with closet crud. The scopes themselves seem decent enough but I'm afraid that trying to clean those lenses will scratch them or mess up the coatings from the sheer amount of gunk. Any suggestions?

mete · December 29, 2006, 08:19 PM

Get a camera lens cleaning kit and try that. Remember that part of the efficiency of lenses are the coatings ,scratching or wearing the coatings ruins the lens !!! The crude is probably a mix of mold ,dust ,pollen etc.

Lycanthrope · December 30, 2006, 12:02 AM

Canned compressed air.

Then.......windex with soft cloth/felt.

guntotin_fool · December 30, 2006, 02:02 AM

blow the loose crud out with air. Loosely pack the end of the scope with a damp paper towel and let it sit there for a while, after getting everything soft and damp, rinse with warm water.

sparkysteve · December 30, 2006, 07:53 PM

Get a Lenspen.

Limeyfellow · January 4, 2007, 03:48 PM

Alcohol will also work quite well and evaporates off and doesn't leave a film.

If you are going to use compressed air you can get compressed nitrogen gas thats inert and works quite well at removing particulate matter. Normal compressed gas can be very harmful to some lenses such as a fluorite lens and leads to cracking.

If you want a really good clean and these are really high quality optics I would suggest Collodion USP. It makes a sticky film that you rest cheese paper in and it will take off 99.9% of all matter but leave the protective films on the lens completely intact and doesn't result in any wear or tear like other methods do. I use this on my expensive telescope lenses and it does wonders.

December 29, 2006, 08:00 PM	#1
guyandarifle Junior Member Join Date: November 17, 2006 Posts: 2	REALLY dirty scope advice I've obtained a couple rifles that have been in someones closet for, well, obviously a long time. They were sitting on the butt so the objective lenses of the scopes are...and I can't stress this enough...CAKED with closet crud. The scopes themselves seem decent enough but I'm afraid that trying to clean those lenses will scratch them or mess up the coatings from the sheer amount of gunk. Any suggestions?

December 30, 2006, 07:53 PM	#5
sparkysteve Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2005 Location: Byron Center, Michigan Posts: 418	Get a Lenspen. __________________ I have ADHD........Attention, Defficit, Hey there goes a squirrel! Dont tread on me.

December 29, 2006, 08:19 PM	#2
mete Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2004 Location: NY State Posts: 6,575	Get a camera lens cleaning kit and try that. Remember that part of the efficiency of lenses are the coatings ,scratching or wearing the coatings ruins the lens !!! The crude is probably a mix of mold ,dust ,pollen etc.

December 30, 2006, 12:02 AM	#3
Lycanthrope Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2001 Location: PA Posts: 1,752	Canned compressed air. Then.......windex with soft cloth/felt.

December 30, 2006, 02:02 AM	#4
guntotin_fool Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2004 Posts: 1,446	blow the loose crud out with air. Loosely pack the end of the scope with a damp paper towel and let it sit there for a while, after getting everything soft and damp, rinse with warm water.

January 4, 2007, 03:48 PM	#6
Limeyfellow Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2005 Posts: 1,380	Alcohol will also work quite well and evaporates off and doesn't leave a film. If you are going to use compressed air you can get compressed nitrogen gas thats inert and works quite well at removing particulate matter. Normal compressed gas can be very harmful to some lenses such as a fluorite lens and leads to cracking. If you want a really good clean and these are really high quality optics I would suggest Collodion USP. It makes a sticky film that you rest cheese paper in and it will take off 99.9% of all matter but leave the protective films on the lens completely intact and doesn't result in any wear or tear like other methods do. I use this on my expensive telescope lenses and it does wonders.