Just curious as I'm in the midst of rebuilding a pair. One that was "take apart for cleaning" and never reassembled that is missing a couple of minor parts that I sourced from some demilled scopes I bought for parts and another that was in a fire that is completely smoked that needs everything replaced except some screws and some of the W&E works.

Anyone ever venture down this road or have any interest in such a project?

Just like my recent thread on repairing my own broken pocket watch, I'm going down this road because the existing options to pay someone to do this take too long, are too expensive or just don't exist (AKA are nonresponsive).

I admire your sense of Adventure!
However, in the words of inspector Callahan:
“A man’s got to know his limitations”

And I know mine.

The Watch stuff I find interesting. I watch a lot on YouTube. But that stuff is a rabbit hole. I’m not willing to go down, the same with rifle scopes.
Probably because of my old eyes. I’m fine with working on larger motors, cars, boats. I’m not getting all new tools and a huge magnifying glass to work on stuff that’s small.

Complete disassembly of the scope that was in the fire was tough because it got hot enough to melt some of the aluminum components inside the steel scope tube. Other than that, really no special tools required that I could not make myself out of stuff I already had laying around.

These early scopes are really basic and are not sealed or nitrogen filled like a more modern unit would be which is one reason I figured I'd give it a go. The other being I got in so cheap that even if it was junk at the end, I still learn something even if it is only where my limitations are when it comes to vintage optical repair.

I find myself at the edge of the watch repair rabbit hole and a watch oiler and some watch screwdrivers showed up this week and a magnifying visor is enroute...

I need to find a legit one for my M1D

Lots out there. Many of which are expensive, need servicing or both.

By the time I'm done with this pair, if all goes according to plan, I should have less into two fully serviced units than I would have into buying one "serviceable" unit that will still likely need servicing anyway since the sealer is known to break down leaving spots on the lenses.