Rifle Scopes Scope lens coatings

[Proarc]

I have broken my flip up front scope covers a couple of times and have quit replacing them.
So today a freind told me that in his military training they were chastized for leaving the caps up because the sun could melt the coating off the lens. I cant buy this, but I have been wrong before. So at the risk of being laught at I will ask the question. Can lens coatings be damaged by sun and what is less prone to breakage than BC covers?

Thanks

 

[doc76251]

Re: Scope lens coatings

Can UV light affect coatings on scope lenses - Yes. You will have to point the scope at the sun ALL day EVERY day for like 2 years to see any effect but YES it can.

The military telling folks to keep their caps down is a simple effort to keep people from cleaning their lenses with t-shirts, news paper, sh!t paper or anything else handy when dust gets blown onto the lenses. Cleaning a lens by rubbing it WILL remove the coatings the more rubbing the faster the coating will go away.

This is similar (but backwards) to the military saying you must clean your rifle every day before and during WWI. With corrosive primers if you didn't the crap you didn't get out would eat your tube. Add 100,000 sargent's that needed to keep their troops occupied and you have a "MUST CLEAN EVERY DAY AND AFTER EVERY FIRING" mentality. After WWI when mercuric primers went away it was not required but it was still a handy drill to keep the troopies occupied.

Fast forward: Clean everything everyday EXCEPT the lenses. "But Sargent there is crap on my lenses." "You dumb SOB if you would have kept your caps down you wouldn't have crap on your lenses! Now how in the name of my beloved Corps do you expect to keep your rifle ready to kill if you can't see out of it because you were to stupid to protect your lenses........."

Or so I was told

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Proarc]

Re: Scope lens coatings

Thanks for a great answer. For what I have invested in scopes I want to keep them running a long time.

 

[doc76251]

Re: Scope lens coatings

Check out an air bulb with a brush at your local camera shop, lens pens are handy for field fixes also.

Compressed air works pretty good too but the extension cord and compressor is a pain to haul around

.

If you HAVE to wipe them then do it.

Personally I like an ARD with a BC cap. Caps are cheap, the ARD you buy once and it gives you 2" of buffer. I've only seen an ARD get clogged up enough to affect shooting once and that was at the infamous, one and only, Winter ASC. There were a lot of lessons learned about keeping your stuff buttoned up there.

You won't kill your coating by cleaning it off unless you grind something into the lens. Blow it out or brush it out as best as you can and wipe if you need to then carry on.

Cheers,

Doc