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making scope article (Read 592 times)

cheatin_charlie Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 389 Location: ohio Joined: Jan 10^th, 2009	making scope article Jun 26^th, 2025 at 12:35pm	Print Post
	Hi guys I want to try to make a 36 inch long rifle scope for my Ballard. Does anybody know of a good article on making one? I read mention of the Black Powder Cartridge News 2008 article by Rich Hicks. Does anybody have that magazine that could scan the article for me? Or any other help? I can construct the scope and mounts but know nothing about lenses, Thanks for looking. Charlie


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nuclearcricket Oldtimer Offline Posts: 804 Joined: Oct 15^th, 2008	Re: making scope article Reply #1 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 1:15pm	Print Post
	Cant help you with the article but can offer up this. For the front and real len's you will want the double lens, and I can't off the top of my head remember what they are called but its 2 len's that are glued together. You will have to go with nothing larger than 20mm to keep things in the legal diameter unless you go to custom ground diameters. The hard part will be getting the focal lengths right so that you get a good picture looking through the scope. The focal length of the rear lens will determine how far your eye will be from the scope. Some place in the 40 to 60 mm range should be good. Good luck. SAm


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jbs4570 Newbie Offline Posts: 2 Joined: Dec 31^st, 2008	Re: making scope article Reply #2 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 1:50pm	Print Post
	cheatin_charlie wrote on Jun 26^th, 2025 at 12:35pm: Hi guys I want to try to make a 36 inch long rifle scope for my Ballard. Does anybody know of a good article on making one? I read mention of the Black Powder Cartridge News 2008 article by Rich Hicks. Does anybody have that magazine that could scan the article for me? Or any other help? I can construct the scope and mounts but know nothing about lenses, Thanks for looking. Charlie Sent you an email. Thanks, Joe


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frnkeore Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 7434 Location: Central Point, OR 97502 Joined: Jun 16^th, 2010	Re: making scope article Reply #3 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 2:17pm	Print Post
	I can probably help. I've successfully built a 28" long, 3/4" scope, with about 14x. I think you could get about 18x or a little more, out of a 36" scope.

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cheatin_charlie Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 389 Location: ohio Joined: Jan 10^th, 2009	Re: making scope article Reply #4 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 3:46pm	Print Post
	Thanks Joe that is the one. I will probably have more when I am done digesting the article. I wish I paid more attention to Larry Thompson when he was building a scope years ago. He only lived a few miles from me. Charlie


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Schutzenbob Frequent Elocutionist Offline Rheinisch-Westfälisc hen Sprengstoff-Fabriken Posts: 2140 Location: Nightingale, California Joined: Oct 24^th, 2005	Re: making scope article Reply #5 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 4:20pm	Print Post
	This may help a little bit


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 16856 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: making scope article Reply #6 - Jun 26^th, 2025 at 11:24pm	Print Post
	Or you can do as Gil Parsons did with the Lyman Centennial scopes when he worked at Lyman and built them. Use a tube as long as you like, but setup the optics in a standard short length of 20"-24". If you ever put a rod down the objective end of a Lyman Centennial it's empty for about half of the scope tube.

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texasmac Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1995 Location: Central Texas Joined: Aug 16^th, 2004	Re: making scope article Reply #7 - Jun 27^th, 2025 at 12:33am	Print Post
	texasmac wrote on Jun 27^th, 2025 at 12:21am: cheatin_charlie wrote on Jun 26^th, 2025 at 12:35pm: Hi guys I want to try to make a 36 inch long rifle scope for my Ballard. Does anybody know of a good article on making one? I read mention of the Black Powder Cartridge News 2008 article by Rich Hicks. Does anybody have that magazine that could scan the article for me? Or any other help? I can construct the scope and mounts but know nothing about lenses, Thanks for looking. Charlie Charlie, did you run across the following? To use the YouTube links go to YouTube & search the ones listed below. Here are some references for making your own. 1. Black Powder Cartridge News, summer 2008 in the article by Rich Hicks. 2. Single Shot Rifle Journal, Jan/Feb 2009 or Vol. 62 number in an article by John Arrowood. 3. John's videos on Youtube, he has 3 total and they are 8dHk3MCLSew, 65Q-2E6Tz7M, jQO5zpybsAY. 4. ASSRA Forum, post by "Dead_Eye" for "Scope Design" and starts at number 1204825111/0 (this John's original post) 5. Anchor Optics for the lenses, focal lengths are: 42mm, 97mm and 411mm all are 14mm diameter type 1 coated lenses. Wayne Another source: In 1955 Popular Mechanics put out a compendium of articles called the "Do it Yourself Encyclopedia". These covered many subjects, and in volume 9 there is an article (by Sam Brown) on making rifle scopes. 8 designs are given, with information on design principles. It's listed on eBay for $6 + $6 shipping. Wayne


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frnkeore Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 7434 Location: Central Point, OR 97502 Joined: Jun 16^th, 2010	Re: making scope article Reply #8 - Jun 27^th, 2025 at 2:32am	Print Post
	Schutzenbob wrote on Jun 26^th, 2025 at 4:20pm: This may help a little bit Yes, this is my picture of the way the Mossberg, Wallensack and Stevens/Lyman 438 is made. But, that only gets you 1/3 of the way. You have to connect this lens cell to the X hairs and then the objective lens.

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cheatin_charlie Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 389 Location: ohio Joined: Jan 10^th, 2009	Re: making scope article Reply #9 - Jun 27^th, 2025 at 6:16am	Print Post
	I am reading the Rich Hicks article but cannot seem to find the lenses online. I plan on calling Edmunds and see if they have the lenses I need. Anchor was bought by Edmunds. So the journey begins. Charlie


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oneatatime Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 4050 Location: Rocky Mountains Joined: Oct 30^th, 2011	Re: making scope article Reply #10 - Jun 27^th, 2025 at 1:34pm	Print Post
	Did you look at (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) ?


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Chuckster Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2260 Location: Colorado Joined: May 15^th, 2008	Re: making scope article Reply #11 - Jun 27^th, 2025 at 11:31pm	Print Post
	Charlie, Have designed and built several three and four lens scopes that worked out pretty well. Long scopes are difficult due to the availability of small diameter long focal length lenses and narrow field of view. Usually end up with compound objective lens or submarine periscope technique. Will take some drafting skills to lay out the lens. Best of luck with the build and if I can be of help let me know. Chuck


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db Participating Member Online Posts: 37 Location: Northern Indiana Joined: Dec 26^th, 2011	Re: making scope article Reply #12 - Jul 1^st, 2025 at 8:59pm	Print Post
	This book has some details on building a scope.


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condorsc Full Member Offline NRA Life/Benefactor, ASSRA, SCV Life Posts: 174 Location: Beaufort, S.C. Joined: Nov 13^th, 2021	Re: making scope article Reply #13 - Jul 2^nd, 2025 at 2:42am	Print Post
	oneatatime wrote on Jun 27^th, 2025 at 1:34pm: Did you look at (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) ? I have dealt with Surplus Shed a few years ago. They have a lot of U.S. military surplus lenses, binocular bodies, etc. They floated a series of Wollensak (Which they now own) lens offerings. I bought a 200 mm FL lens for the objective end of a spotting scope. They are small enough that you can talk to a person. My first MOS in the Army was an optical instrument repairman. Anyone contemplating building a scope should first learn basic optics and then copy an existing scope. If you can cultivate an old timer with knowledge, that would help a ton. Tinkering with existing scopes and building from scratch are worlds apart.Passing that on from a friend.


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cheatin_charlie Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 389 Location: ohio Joined: Jan 10^th, 2009	Re: making scope article Reply #14 - Jul 2^nd, 2025 at 6:22am	Print Post
	Thanks for everybody's help and ideas. I am going to try to copy the scope in Hicks article. I ordered lenses from Edmond Optics 15mm x 50,100,250 mm FL. the closest they had to what Rick used. By the way I plan on using the scope at this falls Richard Hicks memorial shoot we have at Canal Fulton every Sept. I find it ironic that I did not know Mr. Hicks but did know and shot with Larry Thompson back in the day and he showed me a long scope he was working on making but at the time I had no interest in building one. It just goes to show that you never know when you may need knowledge on some subject in the future. So never pass up the opportunity to learn something new. Charlie


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