So, I was cleaning the objective lenses of a couple of good scopes, using acetone. At one time I was a hack photographer and never cleaned lenses with anything but my breath and a Kodak lens paper, but the U.S. Optics site convinced me that acetone was the prescribed method for cleaning good scopes. So I did it. It left a film, which is another story.

In a moment of not thinking, I grabbed my Zeiss Victory 8x26 T* PRF Rangefinder and swabbed the laser receiving lens with acetone, too. Piss. I think it's plastic. I buffed it up with a Kodak lens paper, but now it has a bunch of swirling scratches that I'm sure will never come out. It seems to measure distance OK, at least to 250 yards in my neighborhood.

The question is, how can a plastic lens be polished?

P.S. Fuck acetone.

Micro Mesh makes a series of cushioned abrasives for use on plastic aircraft canopies.  Those are probable too big, and start off coarser than you need.  So I would start with white toothpolish.  Depending on the diameter of the lens, I might start with a Q-tip.  It will likely take some time.

I use the fine Novus #2 plastic polish on my CDs/DVDs and it works very well, but I just went to their site to check on whether it's safe for my eyeglasses, but they say that many are coated and therefore, #2 and #3 should NOT be used on the lenses.

Now whether your scope lens is coated, or coated on the outside, I can't say.

I'd just use high purity isopropyl alcohol and see if you can remove the haze.  If you crazed it, you're out of luck.

What I do use on my eyeglasses and it works great until I rub it off cleaning them further, is KLEENMASTER's Brillianize pump spray fluid.  It cleans and glazes in one operation and works really well to brighten things up for a bit.

They're out of California.

Novus plastic polishes/cleaners

Kleenmaster Brillianize

Chris

Try toothpaste and cotton cloth...

The scopes (U.S. Optics and Leupold) are fine. Just the Zeiss LRF is affected, and probably not much but it irks me that I did that. I am on the road for Thanksgiving and I'll look at it and anger myself again when I get back. Thanks for the tips.

Happy Thanksgiving!