German ZF 4 Scope refinish

[bigduke6]

Not my normal cup of tea but, been looking for one for sometime to build up a K98 Sniper, a real one would be nice but price and finding something original are few and far between....

The reason for the ZF4 was that I had read about the K98 with the swept back mount and thought it would be a good build for the future, (my plan is to have the K98, Mosin Nagant alongside my No4T)

So seen the scope on ebay a few times and it never made the reserve, so contacted the seller who changed the auction to a buy it now, it didn't look too healthy but thought I,d give it a home.

It was a lot worse than I expected but the lens were clear, first job was to treat the tube ( Big Thanks to Warren who I contacted regarding stripping it)

Most of the pics speak for themselves, but it doesn't really show how bad the rust was at the start, and the pitting was a lot deeper than I thought it would be,







first job was to remove the grub screws in the locking rings. (two in each ring) this was the tester as I expected them to be seized solid but there was plenty of old grease around this area so they cam out like they had just been put in.



Getting it apart was a bit more than a gentle tap..... the lens assembly had rusted against the tube so penetrating oil and tapping was the order of the day, eventually it give, (this was the ocular lens) the objective lens assembly comes out complete with the diaphragm, this is quite a set up and needed some gentle persuasion.



Excuse the the childs drawing but it was a last minute thing.......

The objective and ocular assembly





These are in the process of sorting the rust spots etc , the tube complete with turrets took over 12 hours in the electrolysis bucket, but come out well, still a lot of pitting and due to this decided on a parkerize/phosphate finish (the original finish was blued but sometime later in the production of these scopes they changed to parkerize/ phosphate finish.)



Once happy the tube was bead blasted, and then went on to the phosphate finish, ( the turrets were still left on for this but they were not moved as the blast medium would of caused havoc, the turrets were still packed with grease and along with the medium its basic grinding paste.

once out the phosphate tank and 24 hours soak in oil it was cleaned off dried and the turrets removed, have included a few pics of the cams and how they operate inside..





below shows how the cam from the BDC turret operates the spring loaded arm.



this one below shows the windage turret cam and how it operates the lens (the lens is retained by a spring), this was seized when it arrived (the lens) all ok now.



took some cleaning and still a bit go before reassemble, but decided to try and do some in fill on the turrets and tube, a fuzzy pic of the tube but shows the blue in the triange, this was an indication of the grease that was used on the build (blue was for cold climate)







Just the rust spots on the lens assembly and the lens to clean, new seals to make and the locking rings to clean up and parkerize and re assemble.

I count myself lucky as the lens are in good shape, a warning to some, the lens are a sealed unit, so require some skill to get them out, and chances are they will break ( so I,m told) so if a description says lens just require a clean then it could end in tears....

Its no silk purse but looks a lot better from when I started, for the price I paid (cheaper than a repro) don't think its too bad considering the prices of some I seen at the war and Peace show which would of required work.

Certainly not a job for the faint hearted but thought I,d post it to show whats involved.

Just a case of plodding along now till I find the bits to build up a K98, have the scope and a new barrel.....anyone in the UK got a shot out K98 ??

For anyone interested in any info on the scopes click on the link below.

ZF4

Information

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[Sarge]

Boy, you've sure got more patience than me!!! I've never seen a ZF 4 in that bad of condition. I wouldn't have taken that scope except as a gift and then would never have tried to clean it up other than on the outside!
Sarge

[browningautorifle]

I wouldn't have taken that scope except as a gift

I try to look past the outside and see what it can be. I've done OK on a few deals that way, when it was something I wanted. But, I had to do exactly this...

[Peter Laidler]

Like BAR says above. A LOT of L1A1 scopes were like that externally but once they were stripped and rebuilt they came out perfectly serviceable. Mind you most of the Indian No32's were even worse. But they're all/most of them are doing sterling service out there now. It's the internals that count don't forget........

[bigduke6]

The beauty of this scope if was too far gone I could of stripped it for spares and broke even.

[HENRY B]

i own a T handle wrench i bought on ebay many years ago.you use it to remove the rings. ive opened mine up but never that far. also didnt see the small lock screws before i removed the rings. you dont need lock screws anyway RIGHT. great job