Gear

In 1909 John Redfield founded the riflescope company that was, for generations, a standard among American riflemen--including myself. Redfield, traditionally located in Denver, went out of business in 1998. In the last decade the brand has changed hands several times. Finally, as of April 2008, the Redfield brand and all intellectual property were acquired by Leupold & Stevens of Beaverton, Oregon.

About 18 months later I received one of the first Leupold-manufactured Redfield scopes, a 4-12x40mm in the  Revolution line. At first I didn't get it. After all, Leupold manufactures a full range of scopes in several grades, so what was the deal? Turns out "deal" is the operative word. The Redfield line, initially four models, each with a choice of two reticles, is manufactured at the Leupold plant. The big deal? An American-made scope at an economical price, with a traditional and familiar name.

When I was young, imported scopes were extremely unusual. The three most popular brands were Leupold, Redfield and Weaver, all three good, solid products. The Weaver was a plain, simple scope, known for dependability and being generally less expensive, while Leupold and Redfield were serious competitors.

Me, I was a Redfield man. I was taught centerfire shooting and reloading by Jack Pohl of the Bishop gunstock firm, a friend of my dad's. Jack was a benchrest shooter, so my first scope was a Unertl 4X. The Unertl target scopes were legendary. The company's fixed-power hunting scopes, well, they were OK. My second scope was a Weaver 4X, a good scope, but in about 1970 I upgraded to a Redfield and quite some years passed before I bought any other brand. A Redfield 3-9X was the very first variable I ever used. And it, literally, opened my eyes. In time I had several Redfields in different power ranges, and they never let me down. Regrettably, I no longer own a single one of my original Redfields, but who thought things would ever change?

During an early SHOT Show in Denver, when I was a fledgling editor, Colonel Charles Askins and I toured the Redfield facility, then we went out to a metallic silhouette shoot at a range west of Denver. At that time, early 1980s, Charlie was probably about 70 (admitting to late 60s) and I was barely 30. He wiped my eye, which in itself was a great experience and a fine memory (that man could shoot). But let's return to the new Redfield.

I mounted it on a .280 Remington made by Mel Forbes at New Ultra Light Arms in Granville, West Virginia, using Talley bases and rings supplied with the rifle. Admittedly, this wasn't fair to either rifle or scope; the two test products came in about the same time, so I was mating a rifle of unknown accuracy with a scope of unknown dependability. Both worked (rather well), but the rifle is deserving of its own column, as is the scope, so insofar as possible I'm going to confine these comments to the Redfield.

These days it seems a common problem to encounter scopes with wonderful optics that were made by people who, apparently, had rifles described to them but they had never actually seen one. In other words, the first hurdle with a new scope is; can you mount it on a normal-size rifle, and will it clear the barrel with mounts of standard height? The answer was, thankfully, a resounding yes. The Ultra Light Arms action is petite, but it's still in .30-06-length, and the Redfield 4-12x40mm fit it perfectly. Mounting space is 5.6 inches, lots of room to spare. Since I do very little hunting in the moonlight, a 40mm objective works well for me and it can be mounted in low rings with adequate barrel clearance.

The next two issues are clarity of image and eye relief. For the former, the new Redfield is a good scope. Is there a difference between it and the top-of-line Leupold? Of course. This follows my theory that states "You get what you pay for in optics." Realistically, if there weren't a difference, or if the difference were so slight as to be indiscernible, then why would anyone pop for premium-quality glass? There is a difference, and you can see the difference, but the Redfield is a very clear and perfectly useable scope.