How to clean a Warner & Swasey Musket Sight

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To start the whole story, I took off all W&S Musket Sights from the rifles I have them with, I took all of the spare ones I had around (including the damaged ones) to make comparisons. Therefore I also gathered all additional stuff I had, including the carrying cases, adjustment tools, mounting rails and screws. So this was the result:



As some of you might notice, there are three different models visible in the pictures. The ones on the left side are Model 1908 scopes, while on the right side you can find Model 1913 scopes. Plus the second from the top is the Canadian version of the M1913 scope, lacking the dialing plate and the heigh adjustment scale only up to 2400 yards.



Secondly, to the carrying cases. Again different models. Most commonly found is the later model with the extra flap for the adjustment tool on the outside. But also notice the second from the right, this one is for a M1908 scope and marked "14TH CAV" for 14th Cavalry both in front and on top of the cover:



This one also differs from the other M1908 bag with not having a buckle. Plus once again the one on the left side, the Canadian bag which is also of Canadian manufacture and besides bearing the C with the broad arrow in it and the manufacturers full name also carrying the rifle number and serial number of the scope itself. Of course the US carrying cans also have inspectors cartouches, but I didn't picture those.

The next interesting thing worth mentioning would be the mounting rails. Here they are:



First: all of the rails (except for the last down) are for the M1903 Springfield rifle. While the top one appears to be what Brophy describes as a copy (note the missing cutouts and not having "legs" plus having only one locking slot), the following three are for the M1903 springfield. The fourth from top is a exact reproduction which can be purchased from Hayes Otoupalik. Please also note the different curve in the rails from where the scope is slided on it. And to the last one - I have never found out for which rifle this one is, however it does not fit either for the M1903, M1910 Ross nor the Enfield P.14. And it's not one of those for the Benet-Mercie, since this would have flat feet.

Then, to the topic. As you all know these scopes are very heavy and made of brass. Most of them are filled with dirt, and cleaning them is nearly impossible, mainly because of the front lenses which are (/seemed to be) not removeable. Taking a look at the technical scheme, it seemed that there must be a possibility to remove it:



After spending quite a lot of time thinking and looking, I was finally able to design and have a tool manufactured, which allows to unscrew this lens. So, there is this tool:





To disassemble the W&S scope, you'll first need to remove the front lense. Depending upon whether you have a M1908 or a M1913 scope, this is different. With the M1908 just just need to unscrew it, while with the M1913 you first need to unscrew the locking screw. To remove the interior lense (the one that is usually dirty) with the reticle, you'll also need to unscrew the locking screw for this. I've marked them both in the pictures:



And this is the reason why they need to be removed:



This picture clearly shows where they lock everything in place!

As a matter of simplicity I've removed the parts from a M1908 scope. so, here we go. First, unscrew the front lense (this can be done by hand):



Then with the tool we can unscrew the interior lense and put it aside the front lense:



Having them side by side we can now see that they are using the same thread in the inside of the scope when we slide them together:



When holding the part now against a light we can see all the dust from the 100 years of it's age:



Also visible is the reticle, but it's not easy to take a picture of such thing and I'm sorry to have not been able to make the lines on the left side of the reticle visible aswell. However, they are present.

I won't give any suggestions upon how to clean this lens, however I'd recommend you to be VERY careful since the reticle is aswell painted onto this lense and trying to clean it might damage the reticle. Therefore my main goal - to remove most of the dust, hairs and whatever there was on the lense - was successfully reached:



The reassembling was done exactly the same way it had been disassembled. Screw everything back in place, and that's it. The only thing you have to be careful and it might take some time, to place the reticle (since it's moving along with the lense) horizontal.

For all those who also want to disassemble the rest of the scope, you just need to remove the screws from the top and then carefully starting with lifting the left side remove the top of the scope. I haven't done this by today, but still have pictures saved on my computer when someone else here posted them a while ago. So here they are:





That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed reading it, and forgive me some strange sounding terms plus repeating words, English is not my native language and it's getting hard when it comes to special terms like with scopes and disassembly.

ATB,

Georg

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