May be old news, but rec'd e mail from Leupold that they have taken over production/mfg., etc. of Redfield optics. Full story on Leupold's website. Supposedly branded under name of Redfield??

martin

Received an e-mail from leupold that they would be releasing the first products out in ~ 45 days.

The thing that I liked about Redfield was the widefield scopes.

Leupold bought the rights to the Redfield name a couple of years ago. They did not purchase anything other than the name since there no longer exists any tooling nor are the patents still in force (even if the design were not obsolete).

Leupold is now shipping a scope branded "Redfield" and priced significantly below any scopes branded "Leupold". While the new "Redfield" line of scopes mimics some of the external appearance of the old Denver Redfields, particularly the three knurled bands on the ocular bell, internally they are undoubtedly based on Leupold's time-proven Vari-X design which Leupold already has the tooling to produce. Considering how cheap good optical glass is these days, and considering the general quality of the Vari-X design, the new "Redfields" should be an excellent value. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, so that remains to be seen.

they are now availible with rangfinders being availible by Feb.

I handled one of the new redfields at the local gunshow and I was impressed. they look a lot like a Leupold and the glass appears to be just as good as any Leupold. I would like to know what they have for internal components, like the turrets and such. If they are just a rebranded Leupold then I would say for just over $200 it's an under-valued scope. I just might get one for my new T3.

quote:

Originally posted by Brennanc9093:
they are now availible with rangfinders being availible by Feb.

Brennan, what is the 'rangfinder' feature? Is this a multi-tiered reticle, like the TDS or Nikon BDC reticle, or other type reticle system?

Sry Fish30114 i mis-typed, i meant to say rangefinders being availible in Feb. As far as i know they only offer one reticle. I played with all of the new redfield toys at the dallas safari club convention this weekend. impressive but i didnt like the reticle personally. its just like the nikon bdc. optics seemed to be of good quality but why not just buy leupold?

quote:

optics seemed to be of good quality but why not just buy leupold?

My information is that their "street" selling price will be about 30% under a Leupold VX-I in the same power range. In order to pay less for a new scope, you would have to go to a Chinese model (or perhaps a Filipino Burris.) Whether this is a shrewd marketing move by Leupold to capture a chunk of the low-cost market, or is a blunder which will cut into the sales of its VX-I line remains to be seen. It would seem to leave little place for their previous price "leader" line, the Rifleman.

The eye relief is incredible.

quote:

Originally posted by Rub Line:
The eye relief is incredible.

Which probably translates into a smaller field of view. This is actually not a bad trade-off in my experience. Shooters generally have more difficulty in acquiring the sight picture than with the sight picture being too small to acquire the target.

Getting a larger field of view at a given magnification requires a shorter eye relief, all things being equal. Binoculars give you a huge FOV, but I wouldn't want their eye relief on a .375 H&H (or even a .243, for that matter).