Redfield scopes

[bish789]

Hi all.
Looks like the last post about Redfield scopes was in 2013.
Is anybody using one, and if so what is your opinion?
I won't be spending lots of money, and want something functional and reliable, i.e. doesn't need rezeroing after you've picked the rifle up.
It will hopefully be going onto a 6.5x55 of yet undecided make.
I know Leupold own them, but they can't be up there with Leupold or they'd be badged that, and similar price.
Or failing that, something in the same price bracket.

 

[Taff]

I have sold a few, no complaints, Burris or bushnell are in the same league along with the Zeiss Tera, but I would go for a vx1, lifetime warranty, hard as nails.

 

[bish789]

Thanks Taff.
I had shortlisted the VX1, and they are quite cheap by premium scope manufacturer standards. Warranty is excellent.
Will find out if anybody local has got one and go and have a look.

 

[rusty53]

hi bish I have a redfield 4-12x42 on my 22lr its got good glass and it holds zero no probs and its had some stick

 

[8x57]

Bish there are a lot of much better scopes out there for the same money or even less. I've owned a Redfield and I wouldn't purposely go out there and buy another one but if a cheap one came along and I wanted a scope for a .22 rifle then I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand either.

 

[bish789]

It always helps talking to users rather than listening to people who think they have to have a £1200 scope on a rimmy.
I was a bit sceptical but an starting to warm to the idea of a Redfield. Will have to go and see one. Swillington stock them and its only 1/2 an hour from me so a journey beckons.

 

[Erik Hamburger]

You'll find some common sense about scopes here: http://www.chuckhawks.com/index2i.scopes_optics.htm
Redfield scopes have been in use (maybe still are?) upto very recently in the US Army on M40 sniper rifles so assuming they have had to pass some tests they can't be that bad.
Like many other Branded products have a second Brand, this is the 'second' Brand of Leupold and likely to be technically identical and only superficially different.

 

[SDM]

I have 3/9/50 Revolution on my 222 it's a cracking scope for the money a friend of mine has same scope on a 25/06 and no issues at all with the them the accurange reticle is very good when lamping all the best in your choice SDM

 

[McKenzie]

I have to say that on principle I wouldn't buy anything from a company that is stupid & thoughtless enough to give it's scopes names such as 'Revenge' & 'Rampage'. I sincerely hope that the marketing people who came up with that idea are no longer employed.

 

[tozzybum]

Had the 3-9x42 accuranger on my .308 ,ok but not brilliant at last light so upgraded to the Vx1 much better imho.Pity your not closer you could have had a mooch atb

 

[enfieldspares]

There's old Redfield and 'new' Redfield. The company had a long, distinguished history, like Ross or Barr & Stroud here in UK. But similarly that name is the only actual bridge between today's product and the factory and workers that made the old product.

Redfield invented the "turn in" mount that today bears that generic name. But the company folded when environmental matters forced it out of business. Seeking refuge in liquidation and/or bankruptcy. If interested Google "Redfield" with "EPA" or "Environmental Protection Agency". For, for fifty years Redfield had polluted the groundwater near its factory and then the US EPA knocked at the door...

So like today's Ross or Barr & Stroud marked stuff I'd try before I buy and buy on quality and performance and ignore the name trying to make a bridge back to past history and past quality.

 

[bobjs]

There's old Redfield and 'new' Redfield. The company had a long, distinguished history, like Ross or Barr & Stroud here in UK. But similarly that name is the only actual bridge between today's product and the factory and workers that made the old product.

Redfield invented the "turn in" mount that today bears that generic name. But the company folded when environmental matters forced it out of business. Seeking refuge in liquidation and/or bankruptcy. If interested Google "Redfield" with "EPA" or "Environmental Protection Agency". For, for fifty years Redfield had polluted the groundwater near its factory and then the US EPA knocked at the door...

So like today's Ross or Barr & Stroud marked stuff I'd try before I buy and buy on quality and performance and ignore the name trying to make a bridge back to past history and past quality.

got to agree,with the above statement.

they will never come close to the real Redfield scopes of the past, i had heard that they are now part of leupold and i have to say i find their scopes not that good either,

they also still use this crud locking rear eye bell focusing ring thing where you have to adjust the complete eyeball then set and lock it with the locking ring...old school and not very helpful when compared the a rear focus ring on the end of the scope eyebell, for me this is a real pain is i shoot both right and left handed and have to adjust it as i differences in my eyes, and to be honest i am never to sure how the nitrogen filled tub stays full in this type of scope,

anyway, i like you will continue to look for my next small scope for my 17 hmr,

but it wont be a D'Redfield.

bob.

 

[Southern]

Good history above. Leupold owns Redfield now. I have looked through all the new scopes, and some are pretty sharp, and and some have a sharp Mil Dot G2 reticle, which is useful for long range shooting or relatively long on small targets, like with a .22 LR, .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, etc.

The older Redfield scopes were used in Vietnam, because the Army and Marine Corps, early on, did not have well-developed sniper programs. They actually bought rifles at the PX ( Post Exchange ) stores, which were hunting rifles like the Remington Model 700 and Winchester Model 70, in .308 Win or .30-06, and scopes like the Redfield Widefield, some with Accurange. This scope let you adjust two stadia to something of known height, and it read out the range. It came in 3-9x40 and 4-12x40 and worked very well out to 600 yards. A lot of the two man sniper teams later on were one-shot hunts for officers, so the rifles (.30-06 and .300 Win Mag) were zeroed at 600 or 700 yards, and the scopes were target scopes like the Unertl or Weaver T15.

The last of the Redfields from the mid 1990s are nice, like the 4-12x50 Eliminator - very bright and sharp.

I would not shy away from a Redfield at the right price. There are a lot of great scopes in that price range, with all sorts of features. Nikon Prostaff and Bushnell Trophy and Legend are some. Burris and Swift make a lot of nice scopes with lifetime warranties. Swift uses Schott glass. Burris makes several levels of quality and features, up to military. I have used Burris Fullfield II and Swift Premier for years.

But I am old school. I still run Weaver El Paso 4x, and old Redfield 6x, and a Weaver T15 on a Vietnam era US Army 1903 target rifle in .30-06 which came from FT Benning.

 

[8x57]

I believe that it is some years since the U.S. army and marine corps used Redfield scopes. Like Southern says they were really Vietnam era and an entirely different scope and company to today's Redfield. However even in the Vietnam era they had problems with the Redfields, mostly drooping reticules from the hot Vietnam sun from what I have read.

 

[enfieldspares]

Adding to Southern and 8x57 there was, just last year, a retrospective on this. With a limited edition Remington 700..."XB Model"? Green finish Redfield 3-9x40 all bull barrel .308 and in plain walnut and Parkerised US Gov't "spec" green. I forget who commissioned this "new" combo but saw the review in UK Gunmart. It may have had reproduction Carlos Hathaway signature. Or maybe 2014?

 

[Southern]

Remington has a Military and Law Enforcement Division. A few years ago, they made a run of reproductions of the original rifle they built for the US Army, which was 1980, well after Vietnam. The M40 is built by Marine armorers on the Remington XB short action, no magazine, for their target rifles.

Carlos Haithcock originally shot a Winchester Model 70 with Redfield 3-9x40 in .30-06, which he picked up at the PX on the way to Vietnam. Later, he used Winchester .300 Win Mag with a Unertl 10X. He was comfortable with the Winchester in .300 WM, which he had used to win 1,000 yard world championships. He usually left base with his rifle zeroed at 700 yards. Carlos was a Marine. A friend of mine, an Army sniper, used a Winchester .300 WM with a Unertl. As the Army built an organized sniper program, they deployed entire sniper companies out of FT Bragg Special Forces, for support of conventional large scale force movements against North Vietnamese divisions, and defense of camps and artillery emplacements, where they function at closer ranges ( 400 yards or less ). These used M-21s ( heavy barrel M-14 ) and Remington 700 HB with Sionics suppressors and Redfield and other scopes.

These older scopes are pretty sharp. I use a Weaver T15, which has superb adjustment tracking, for load testing. It is sharp enough to shoot 5/8" groups at 200 yards with one .30-06 firing 165-gr Sierra GKs at 2,900 fps. I move it around to other rifles.

 

[TA6319]

I have an older Redfield 4x on my 7.5x55 Schmidt Rubin, work a treat on that for target work.

 

[MarkT]

Hi,
I bought a Redfield Revenge (dreadful name )3-9×52 when first released. It's sits on my 17hmr.
No problems with it and it holds its own in low light again my Leupold vx-r 3-9×50, I think the extra 2 mm is helping here. Very clear and sharp .
Mark