Cleaning scope glass

[ClaytonT88]

Hi guys,

I've inherited a bunch of shooting gear from my uncles passing (and my poppa before that). Shooting mats, rifles, scopes, ammo, spotting scopes, range finders, wind meters. I'm looking to get into the sport as I've got a pretty massive leg up that I'm really appreciative of.

My Poppa and Uncle were pretty competent match rifle and target rifle shooters before they got older and sick.

For the last 3-4 years the gear has been fairly neglected as they battled health issues and whatnot, I've cleaned the rusty bolts up pretty well using some penetr8, g96 and inox with rags, steel wool and the odd ultra fine diamond file here and there.

Next to tackle is the scopes, there are 3 or 4 target scopes, leupold 6.5-25X, tasco 5-25X (around 1990 from the looks of it) and a nikko-stirling 6-24X (1990 also). They all have grubby (like they've been moist and dusty and stored like that) lenses.

Any advice on giving them a clean up or am I better off sending the leupold in to get serviced (lifetime guarantee?) and then giving the tasco and nikko a soak in some lens cleaning spray and a really soft brush like a toothbrush or pain brush to try and clean them up?

Cheers all!

[Lazarus]

G'day Clayton
I avoid "lens cleaners" unless absolutely necessary.

I use distilled water and microfibre cloth, one for wet, one for dry.

[No1Mk3]

G'day ClaytonT88,
Drop into your nearest camera shop or Optometrist and get a lens blower, 2x proper lens brushes, some lens cleaner (recommended by Leupold if you don't want to wait for pure water to dry, alternatively Leupold recommend 90% iso-propyl alcohol) and specific lens tissues. Leupold also recommend NOT to use micro-fibre cloth until after removal of all grit by blowing and brushing with water or cleaning fluid.

[Oldbloke]

G'day ClaytonT88,
Drop into your nearest camera shop or Optometrist and get a lens blower, 2x proper lens brushes, some lens cleaner (recommended by Leupold if you don't want to wait for pure water to dry, alternatively Leupold recommend 90% iso-propyl alcohol) and specific lens tissues. Leupold also recommend NOT to use micro-fibre cloth until after removal of all grit by blowing and brushing with water or cleaning fluid.

IMO this is good advice

[ClaytonT88]

Thanks No1, I'll give that a crack, I'm a glasses wearer and have lens cleaner/lens cleaning tissues on hand, I wasn't sure if scope glass is less resilient than optical lenses....probably a brain fart moment there!

I've got a little bulb for blowing off camera lenses so I'll give that a go too.

Just need to put a heater in the shed so I can tinker away, it's getting bloody cold now!

[Die Judicii]

Thanks No1, I'll give that a crack, I'm a glasses wearer and have lens cleaner/lens cleaning tissues on hand, I wasn't sure if scope glass is less resilient than optical lenses....probably a brain fart moment there!

I've got a little bulb for blowing off camera lenses so I'll give that a go too.

Just need to put a heater in the shed so I can tinker away, it's getting bloody cold now!

The worst possible thing you can do (for any optical glass) is wipe the lens when there is debris/grit still hiding on the lens,,,, regardless of whether you use lens cleaner or water.
Some specialist lens (ie: good scopes etc) have multi layers of treatment/coatings,,, as you may already be well aware of.
But any amount of debris or grit will act like sandpaper and cut through those special coatings causing irreparable damage.

[JohnV]

My method is - first I use a fine makeup brush to flick off any dust from the lens . Then I spray on lens cleaner very sparingly let it soak for a minute or so . Then using "Clearwipe " lens cleaner wipes . I gently dab at first , not wipe around , just dab away at the lens soaking off any crud a bit at a time using multiple wipes . Then I get a cotton bud and go around the inner edge . Then I just wipe around with a clean wipe because all the crud and dust is gone anyway and they come up as clean as new .
I have cleaned quite a few scopes for other people over my life and had no problems with this method , does not scratch anything . Using just water will not remove grease and grime that holds the dust .

[Oldbloke]

Cheap as chips on ebay.

tempFileForShare_20230519-221849_505349731295351.jpg (96.03 KiB) Viewed 1460 times

[flashman]

Yes gun oil is my pain ,some cleaner only spread it around , dont want to scratch the lenses

[JohnV]

Cheap as chips on ebay.

tempFileForShare_20230519-221849_505349731295351.jpg

That will do the job I reckon . Plus get these wipes https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/buy ... lsrc=3p.ds I get mine from Costco and they are cheaper . Ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/38559191087 ... %3A2047675

[ClaytonT88]

Cheers guys, got all (but 1) of the rifles inherited picked up yesterday so I'll have a play this week and follow No.1 and John's advice, those little blower/brush things look neat.

thanks Die, yeah I always blow off the dust then wash my glasses under running water, then blow as much water off I can then use lens cleaner, killed my first set of glasses pretty quick back in the day and learnt the lesson!

[ClaytonT88]

Thanks for all the advice guys, used a mini duster/blower and got a couple of little lens cleaning brushes from the local chemist, gave it a blow, didn't do much, then a gentle brush, swapping out the brushes as it cleaned up to make sure I wasn't putting too much debris back in, then I got a damp cloth and soaked the debris without moving it around, this removed 90% of it, then once more to soak it/sop it up, looked pretty good from there, let it dry, gave it a brush again with a clean brush and then gave it a gentle wipe with warm water. Then a polish/dry with a clean cloth.

It came up a treat, much clearer sight picture in this compared to my 3-9X40 VX Freedom I bought a couple of years ago. focuses down nicely to the lemons on the tree at about 8m away.