This is a pretty simple scope to make. The scope is made with steel tubing and brass inserts. The bases can be purchased from optic planet. Here is the scope mounts that i used for my rifle (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links).

The scope is made with brass inserts which are called (cells) the outside is made with D.O.M (Drawn over Mandrel) steel tubing. This is tubing that has no seams. the tubing can be purchased from Fastenal by the inch. Here is the page for the correct size tubing (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links).
Make sure you get your tubing before you make any of the cells so you can measure the inside diameter and make the cells fit snugly in the scope. This will help keep the light out. 

Once you get the tubing the cells can be made. there needs to be three cells for the lenses one for a light reducer and one for the cross hairs. 

The three cells can be made at one time. First turn the outside diameter to fit snuggly into the tubing then drill through with a 1/2" drill and bore to to a inside diameter of .520.  Then make a light grove in each cell about 3/16 from one edge. This will help later in assembly. Cut them to 3/4" in length, deburr and then set a side. Each cell should be bored and have a grove 3/16" from one end.The cross hair insert is made to fit snugly into the tubing then drilled with a 5/16" drill bit. deburr lightly as not to round over the hole. Then set it aside make one more insert and drill with a 1/8" drill bit. Deburr the part make sure that the edges are lightly deburred but not rounded. All inserts can be 3/4" long.

The lenses are purchased from anchor optics the size that is used is 14mm for a 3/4" tubing. here is the page that you need to purchase the plane style lenses that are not coated (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) if you want coated lenses they also have them but there is less of a selection of lenses and they will have to be center ground to 14mm. the three lenses that you need are objective, erector, and ocular (eye piece). There is a mathematical formula but i have not figured out all the math yet. The eye piece that I used in my scope had a F.L. (focal length) of 35mm or about 2" from the scope which is fine for a light caliber. but a heavier caliber i would use a higher F.L. of 42 would get your eye farther from the scope. The erector lens has a F.L. of 89 and the objective is a 334. this give about a 15 power scope. Now i have a objective of 279 that will be installed into another scope that will give a total power of about 8 power.

The cross hairs are the hardest to make. well more like the most time consuming. take the insert that was drilled with the 5/16 drill bit. you need to cut a cross on one end. this needs to be cut as accurate as possible. I used a spin indexer on the mill with a 3/8 dovetail cutter. cut the groves to a depth of about .020".

                 To be continued

    O.K.  I follow you so far  (don't know if its true or not  ) , but how long do we have to wait for  " the rest of the story" ??   

The lens are cheap enought,  but are they any good?   Where are the lens made, probably China.

Mr. dead_eye:

That was one of the most interesting posts I have read in a long time. I look forward the the next chapter...

Glenn Fewless

I am in the middle of making a  tang sight a bunch of small parts and fine threads ( plus I have never seen one in the flesh). I would like to try a scope.

I was told to use dental floss and it seems to hold up well and is not easily broke. I never tried nylon. Does it break easily when stretch tight or does it still have some forgiveness?

here are some pic's of the pieces. 
if you like to see any other pics that i might not have taken let me know.
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Yes, more picts are more better.  If you want to build up a pile of them and put together a pictorial essay of this entire project, I'll host them for you, if you don't have space. 

But, more picts are definitely more better.


The nylon crosshairs are stretchy, but they will break.  You can super glue them in place or screw them in (as my feckers have).  Getting the one single strand of nylon is the challenge.  The first time, I thought I had gotten a single strand but in actually, I had about 10-20.  Takes a bit to get it down to one, but it is very doable, even with my gnarly fingers...

After the cells are made and the lenses fitted and each cell has been marked with its own F.L. (Make sure that the convex part of the lenses are facing away from your eye. This can be done by looking through each lens at your fingernail and flipping the lens over to see which side is clearer. Or look across the lens to see which side is rounded.) It is now time to mock up the scope parts. The best way to find the distances between the cells is to use a piece of angle iron or aluminum. A piece can be purchased from home depot or Lowes. If you have a piece lying around make sure it is 36” or more. This is in case you want to make a longer length scope. I took a scrap piece of aluminum cut a v groove to mount the piece of angle and drilled and tapped a screw in the bottom. Then place it on a tripod to hold it steady while the cells are moved back and forth.  A tape measure and a flash light are also needed.
The adjustment has to be done in a dark basement at night. Place the tripod setup on one side of the room and place a table light on the other side of the room. The greater distance between the two the better the scope can be adjusted. If the basement is too full then a hallway or two rooms can be used just make sure to close the blinds to make it as dark as possible. Now with the lights on aim the angle iron in the direction of the light. Turn the light on. Set the shortest F.L. cell which is your eye piece at the end farthest from the light this lens will be stationary. This lens should be set at the edge of the angle iron this is the point from where all the measurements are made from. The next cell to be placed is the object lens which is the one closer to the light this lens will also be stationary. (If you want a 34”scope then the distance from the end angle iron to the front of the objective lens cell would be 34”). The erector lens will be the lens that will be moved to focus the scope on base of the light. Now that the cells are set on the angle iron at the right distance for the scope you want to build turn off the lights except for the one that the scope will be focused on. This is going to take a little time. The first thing is to move the angle so that when you are looking at a bright blur. Once the light has been found tighten the tripod so it does not move. Then start by moving the erector forward by pushing it close to the objective then slowly start dragging it back towards your eye. Take your time. When it starts to clear up the angle iron might need adjusting to find the base of the bulb again. Keep moving it until the details of the base of the light bulb look clear. Mark the spot on the angle where the groove is. Now move the erector farther back it should clear up again and have little to no magnification. If this happens then move the erector back to the place you marked. This is the correct location for the erector. If you mark the location and run out of room to move the erector than you have found the improper placement of the erector and should go through the adjustment process again. If everything looks good then take the cross hair insert and set it just forward of the eyepiece. Look through the lenses again at the light and adjust the insert with the cross hairs and move the insert back and forth until the hairs look nice and dark not blurry. Turn the lights on and measure the distance from the end of the angle iron to each groove make sure to write it down. That is the measurements for each hole that needs to be drilled in the scope tube.
To be Continued:

haven't thought of submitting this to a magazine. how do you do that? 
thanks for the great feed. I'll have some more pics soon.

dead-eye