The first time I realized what a huge player Redfield actually used to be in the optics field was while reading Charles Henderson's book, Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills, about the legendary Carlos Hathcock.

If I recall correctly, Hathcock had a Unertl scope while in Vietnam, but many of the sniper rifles in use were fitted with Redfield Accu-Range scopes, and they were considered fine optics. At the time--four decades ago, and while this magazine was still young--Redfield held a position of envy, even among such sterling competitors as Leupold.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. Suffice it to say that in the 1990s Redfield's competitors put so much pressure on the company that in 1998 it closed its doors. It was a shame; the company was truly an American icon and only a decade away from becoming a century old. As I pen this, Redfield is 100 years old.

Several times the defunct company was sold. Rumors abounded: Redfield was back. Redfield was honoring warrantee claims. Redfield wasn't honoring warrantee claims. Redfield was being sold again. At least once, a massive new product launch took place, featuring a scope made overseas and sporting all sorts of innovative bells and whistles; in fact, it was covered here in the pages of Shooting Times. Yet product never hit dealers' shelves in numbers abundant enough to make a splash.

Then in April of 2008, Leupold, once one of Redfield's arch-competitors, purchased the Redfield brand.

Today, Leupold holds the envied position vied for by Redfield 40 years ago--that of America's premier optics manufacturer. Leupold made what I consider the smartest move possible in order to ensure the solidity of Redfield's future: The company announced an American-built Redfield scope--the "Revolution"--with traditional Redfield styling and modern features geared toward hunters. The firm is building said scope in its Beaverton, Oregon, plant, using the same particularly high-end materials, machines, and manufacturing techniques that Leupold scopes boast. What amazes me the most is that the scope (at least the initial 3-9X 40mm version) will sell for $149 dollars. Keep in mind, that's American made! Paraphrasing Leupold's Pat Mundy, the scope is intended to compete directly with similar-priced scopes imported from overseas. After spending some significant range time with the scope, I believe it will--to put it crassly--blow similar-priced imported scopes out of the water.

Specifications
As I mentioned, Redfield's Revolution is manufactured in Leupold's plant here in the good old U.S.A. The maintube is machined of 6061-T6 aluminum, and the lenses are ground from premium-quality glass and are multicoated. Said coatings are a multilayer, dielectric metallic compound that is applied to the lenses to improve light transmission by reducing stray reflection from the lens, which increases light transmission into the low 90s.

The erector assembly features intentionally beefed-up construction to provide ruggedness, and reticle adjustments are controlled by audible-and-tangible-click 1/4 M.O.A. finger-friendly Accu-Trac turrets.

The unit is purged with nitrogen against fogging and is fully waterproof. It's also touted as shockproof, which presents a challenge to the gleeful little equipment-testing troll that resides within me. However, I resisted the urge to roll the scope down the several flights of concrete stairs leading to my office, deciding instead to take the shockproof guarantee as it was probably intended: It should withstand recoil--even very heavy recoil--with aplomb.