A relative of mine and I do quite a bit of shooting and discussing everything gun related. He checked into my new Redfields and inquired at Leupold about the optics, price and mechanicals between the Rifleman and VX1's vs the new Redfield line. This is what he found out and emailed me. He was somewhat skeptical but now has some Redfields as well.
The cost savings come from the separate assembly line. The build time on the Redfield is reduced a bit due to the simplified guts.They are so simplified that the custom shop reticles and turrets cannot be installed. Also the parts are more simply shaped and not as nicely finished and anodized.
The guys at Leupold tell me that internally, the Redfields are more like the Vari X scopes they made 30 years ago. They also tell me they are about the toughest hunting scopes they make because of that.
Frankly, I feel the Redfields are a hell of a deal for a Leupold made product . Based on my direct comparisons against VX-1 glass, there is NO WAY I would spend any money on a gold ring scope over a new Redfield until I got to a VX-2 level scope. <<End of his comments>> And yes like Pow Pow says, marry that girl.
