Rifle Scopes How do you protect steel rings?

[radmcg]

I have always cleaned my rings with denatured alcohol mounted the scope then wiped them down with a cloth soaked with clp. How do you prep your steel rings and what do you do to keep them from rusting after you have cleaned them up? It just seems if you oil them before mounting in protects better but gets in the main journals and threads. If you do it after there mounted you really can't get between the ring halves where most of the rust I find is. I guess this also brings up the question: How are torgue specs done? Dry, oiled or loctited?
AHA
Rad

 

[Sniper6]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

I have soaked them in Acetone, cleaned them real good and then painted them, 2 -3 coats with Krylon. This works best for me.

I have also used the Teflon bake on paint, it works good but I like the simple Krylon better.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[JelloStorm]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

I just Krylon'd my 17 HMR and to be honest, I'm kinda regretting it. While cleaning it tonight, any amount of shooters choice solvent immediately made my Krylon camo job stick to my fingers where I had gotten solvent.

 

[Magnumdood]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

DuraCoat, once cured, is essentially solvent-proof, and with a short learning curve you can apply the DuraCoat yourself. I've been applying it to firearms, scopes and other things I want to protect for years now.

 

[Turk]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

A friend of mine turned me on to a thin film of silicone RTV; also grips the scope.

 

[radmcg]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

Thanks for the input. I'm already set up to spray GunKote so maybe I ought to just try that on a set.
Thanks
Rad

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

I just mount the scope up, then krylon the whole package. Seems to work pretty well. If you get a spot of rust, hit it with some steel wool and krylon it all over again.

If you are asking how to keep it pretty....I dunno.

 

[LibertyOptics]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

I would not torque scope screws with the threads oiled, you have a chance over over-tightening the rings or snapping a screw head. Thread cleaned with alcohol and then dry are GTG or add a drop of loctite blue for peace of mind if needed.

Just my .02

Scott

 

[locked&loaded]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

DuraCoat or Cerakote. You won't have to worry about solvents messing with your finish.

 

[Aries64]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: locked&loaded</div><div class="ubbcode-body">DuraCoat or Cerakote. You won't have to worry about solvents messing with your finish. </div></div>
The same goes for <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Birdsong Finishes</span></span> which were developed by the late Walter Birdsong, Dr. to protect his rifles and tools in the damp and humid Mississippi wather. Birdsong finishes are virtually impervious to any solvent, protect the gun inside & out, are self-lubricating, and beautiful as well. Birdsong is applied extremely thin (.0002-.0003") and "sticks" well, so it is applied to all parts inside-and-out providing extreme weather resistence and smooth operation. Only the bore is left uncoated.

Birdsong-finished weapons are used by the Navy, FBI, LASD, USSSD, USDOE, (and lots of other alphabet agencies as either the agency or department's de facto finish or through Tac Ops weapons). Below is a photo of my personal X-Ray 51 with metalwork finished in Tac Ops traditional contrasting color scheme of <span style="font-style: italic">"Tac Ops OD"</span> Green-T & Black-T. Also pictured is an internally-suppressed Tac Ops Green Hornet .22 in the same "colors".

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Tac Ops X-Ray 51 (.308) with Tac Ops Heavy Contour barrel in "Tac Ops OD" Green-T w/contrasting Black-T:</span></span>

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Tac Ops Green Hornet .22 with integrally-suppressed barrel in "Naval Special Warfare" Green-T w/contrasting Black-T:</span></span>

Keith

 

[Sandbogg]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

I also use black rtv silicone. So far so good. My scope was shifting in the rings until I did the silicone treatment, and as a bonus I guess it would keep my steel Badger 50 max rings from rusting. I have not taken a scope out of the rtv yet but cant imagine any issues(cleanup ,scope discoloration, or stuck scope.) ask me in a couple days!!

 

[radmcg]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

sandbogg hoe did you apply the rtv? Thin even coat? A bead an let it spread? Seems like it would make a mess if it oozed out from the ring? Let me know
Rad

 

[radmcg]

Re: How do you protect steel rings?

You guys that ceracoat and especially Duracoat I assume do not do the inside the scope ring journals due to film thickness? It sounds like birdsong is thin enough to use inside the ring journals. I wonder if you could use gunkote as its film thickness is pretty thin and aply it to the inside of the rings as well?