The new Simmons and Redfield riflescopes have a true one-piece tube, including the eyepiece housing; everything is internally contained.

Meade Instruments (Dept. ST, 6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, CA 92618; 800-626-3233;) is the world's foremost manufacturer of commercial and recreational astronomical telescopes. When Meade purchased the Simmons, Redfield, and Weaver optics brands a few years ago, industry observers knew it was only a matter of time before those venerable company names would see an infusion of new product development based on the highest of high-tech optical manufacturing technology. That time has come.

With the introduction of the new Simmons Master Series riflescope lines, along with an entirely new catalog of premium-grade Redfield riflescopes, the Meade engineering team has dramatically redefined riflescope engineering. It has developed and patented completely new and original mechanisms to accomplish nearly every mechanical and optical task that goes on inside a riflescope and has solved virtually every inherent design problem riflescopes have ever had. That's a bold statement, but these are impressive products.

All the original engineering and design work for both brands has been done in Meade's American research and development facilities. The Simmons-brand Master Series products are being manufactured and assembled in a brand-new facility in China that is American-owned, American-built, American-managed and exists for these product lines only. All Redfield-brand scopes are being assembled and tested at Meade's design and manufacturing facility in the U.S., from components produced both in America and in Meade's overseas operation. Under the popularly priced Simmons brand label, which will continue to be available at traditional Simmons retail outlets, the new technology will be applied to several product families, including the Simmons AETEC, ProHunter, and ProSport riflescopes and ProDiamond shotgun scopes. Under the Redfield label, the entire catalog will embody the new technology, plus several additional new higher premium features.

A full description of all the revolutionary technical aspects in both brands would consume this entire magazine, so here's just a taste of how different from everything that's come before these new Simmons and Redfield designs are--dealing first with what they have in common and then looking at some of their different qualities.

A Revolution Inside
Riflescope construction begins with the main tube. Redfield invented the original one-piece main-tube design in 1982, which is today common throughout most of the riflescope industry. However, in previous scopes this means one-piece from the eyepiece forward. Now Meade has developed the industry's first and only true one-piece scope tube, end-to-end, which includes the eyepiece housing as well. The new, lightweight tube is precision machined as a one-piece unit and weighs an average of 22 percent less than competitive products. The one-inch Simmons tubes are a premium aluminum alloy; the one-inch and 30mm Redfield tubes are an even lighter magnesium alloy. All the eyepiece lenses and eyepiece focus adjustments are now contained within a tube-integral housing, which reduces parts, increases strength, and eliminates an unnecessary joint to seal. Moreover, this true one-piece construction allows the cut for the magnification dial in zoom models to be only about two-thirds as long as is necessary in separate-eyepiece designs. And, again, much stronger.

There are no gimbals or springs in Meade's TrueZero Flex Erector System, and the erector tube has offset alignment so that it flexes within itself.

Inside the tube, the key element of the new technology is what Meade calls a TrueZero Flex Erector System. All traditional scope mechanics utilize a biasing spring to force the erector tube against the dial pads; this biasing spring weakens over time and becomes less responsive. There is also "drag" where the erector contacts the spring, which prevents the erector from returning to the same point when it "bounces back" in place after the recoil from each shot. Result: shifting point of aim and point of impact. However, the unique new Meade/Simmons erector eliminates the traditional gimbal/biasing spring altogether and replaces it with a newly patented erector tube that is solidly attached to the scope body, with increased flexibility at the normal gimbal point being provided by special grooves in the unique erector material. This unique design allows the erector to maintain an even pressure from end to end, eliminating the need for a biasing spring altogether while maintaining a consistent optical path. Response to windage and elevation adjustments are immediate and precise. No more tapping on the turret to be sure the adjustment "sets."

The new Flex Erector design is therefore much less sensitive to recoil stress and also eliminates 30 percent of the parts traditionally used in erector tube construction. Fewer parts in any type of mechanical device always means fewer places for things to fail or go wrong. Plus, the removal of the biasing spring results in an added benefit: it creates additional room within the scope body that allows a significant increase in windage and elevation adjustment range, as much as 17 percent greater than competitors' scopes.