I picked up a original Denver Redfield scope, 2-7X, on a rifle I bought recently. I didn't count the scope as being worth much monetarily, so wasn't too upset when I found that it had an unusual defect in the duplex-type reticle.


I've drawn a picture of it since I found it impossible to properly photograph the reticle itself. The LH side of the reticle is offset and just slightly higher than the opposing side -- in other words, they don't meet in the middle.

I would have assumed that the Redfield used a reticle etched on a lens unlike early scopes which actually used a thin wire, or even a spider web. Can anyone explain this?

This is defective.

Built in bullet drop compensation and wind drift!

Sorry Stonecreek but I can't see the image.

I can say that the scope is definitely image-movement, as Redfield never made any until they took over the new design from Kollmorgen.

One of their early ones had the reticle in the first focal plane on the front of the erector tube but they soon changed to the second plane and this was the key to the non-magnifying reticles in their variables. Even then, they put the reticle in the erector tube, claiming this kept it aligned with the erector-set lenses (too bad about alignment with the ocular and objective lenses, when the scope was mounted crookedly). Weaver, on the other hand, claimed his reticle was superior because it was fixed solid in the outer tube.

I have not heard that Redfield used a graticule lens.

Not sure what happened to my image but I've reposted it.

By the drawing, it looks as though the the wire has just broken and, without tension, moved out of alignment.

But is it a wire? I was under the impression that the reticle was etched on a lens.

And if it were a broken wire would it remain so straight? Years ago I came across a cheap Asian-made scope on which the wire broke. It "slumped" over sideways. I would think if the reticle were a wire that it couldn't stay straight and so securely in place if broken.

Good point, Stone creek. I can say that the old German #1 reticles were mostly just brass leaves that did not meet in the middle, and yet held well enough Most of the time.

Having the outer, duplex bars, yours would have a modicum of that stiffness, I think.

Maybe the previous owner stopped using it as soon as the wire snapped; continued use on a centrefire might well pull it forward, out of focus.