Independent guide · Reader supported
Redfield has been a name on American riflescopes since 1909 — through Denver, through Leupold, and now through Academy. We explain what each era actually built, what the specs mean in the field, and which optic fits the rifle you own.
What we cover
Every optic type answers a different problem. Start with the problem, not the price tag.
The default answer for aimed fire past 75 yards. Magnification range, tube diameter, reticle plane and turret type decide whether it fits your rifle.
Both eyes open, no eye relief to manage, no parallax to speak of. Built for speed inside 100 yards on carbines, shotguns and handguns.
For finding animals before you move and calling shots you cannot see through recoil. Objective size and glass quality set your last legal hour of light.
The single cheapest accuracy upgrade most shooters can make. Advertised maximum range is measured on reflective targets, not on deer.
More zeros are lost here than anywhere else in the system. Correct height, correct base, correct torque — in that order.
Which Redfield era a scope came from tells you who made it, where, and whether anyone still services it. That matters most on the used market.
Start here
If you only read one table on this site, read this one. Distances assume a rifle and load you have already zeroed and shot at those ranges.
| What you're doing | Optic type | Typical spec | Reticle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitetail in timber, under 150 yd | Riflescope | 2–7×33 or 3–9×40 | Duplex |
| Open-country big game, 150–400 yd | Riflescope | 3–9×40 or 4–12×40 | Duplex or BDC |
| Prairie dogs and coyotes | Riflescope | 4–12×40 to 6–18×44 | Fine duplex or mil-dot |
| Rimfire plinking and small game | Riflescope | Fixed 4×32 or 3–9×32 | Duplex, parallax set 50 yd |
| Home-defence carbine, under 75 yd | Red dot / reflex | 1× with 2–4 MOA dot | Single dot |
| Turkey and slug shotgun | Red dot / reflex | 1× with 4–6 MOA dot | Single dot or circle-dot |
| Finding game before the stalk | Spotting scope | 20–60×60 or 20–60×80 | — |
| Confirming holds past 300 yd | Rangefinder | 800–1,200 yd class | — |
3–9×40 means the magnification adjusts from 3× to 9×, and the front objective lens is 40 mm across. Bigger objectives gather more light but sit higher over the bore, which forces taller rings and changes your cheek weld. Bigger is not automatically better.
In order
These are sequential. Each one narrows the field, and getting them out of order is how people end up with a scope that will not mount, will not focus, or will not hold zero.
Drilled and tapped receiver, integral rail, or grooved rimfire dovetail? This decides your base before it decides your scope.
Not the distance you hope to shoot — the distance you have actually practised to. Most hunting is settled inside 200 yards, and 3–9× covers it.
Pick the top-end magnification you need, then the smallest objective that still gives you light at that power. This keeps the scope low and the rifle balanced.
A duplex disappears against dark timber less than a busy Christmas-tree reticle. Complexity you cannot read at dusk is worse than none.
Rings and a level cost real money, and zeroing burns a box or two. Spend the last quarter of your budget here, not on more magnification.
Why the name matters
Redfield started in Denver in 1909 and spent most of the twentieth century as one of the two dominant American scope makers, alongside Leupold. The Widefield's rectangular sight picture and the Accu-Range rangefinding reticle were genuinely ahead of their time.
The original company closed in 1998. The trademark passed through other hands before Leupold & Stevens bought it in 2008 and relaunched the line in 2009 with the Revolution, built in Oregon. In April 2021 Leupold sold the brand to Academy Sports + Outdoors, which now sells Redfield-branded optics as a house brand.
Practical upshot: when you look at a used Redfield, the era tells you who built it, roughly what glass is in it, and whether any factory still stands behind it.
Common questions
Yes, but not by the company most people picture. Leupold & Stevens sold the Redfield brand rights to Academy Sports + Outdoors in April 2021, and Academy has sold Redfield-branded optics as an exclusive house brand since. The Leupold-era models built in Oregon between 2009 and 2021 — Revolution, Rebel, Battlezone — are discontinued and only appear on the used market.
No. This is an independent, reader-supported guide with no corporate connection to the Redfield trademark owner, Academy Sports + Outdoors, or Leupold & Stevens. We write about the optics and link to retailers; we do not make, distribute, or service them.
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No. What your eye can use is the exit pupil — objective diameter divided by magnification. A human pupil dilates to roughly 5–7 mm in the dark, less as you age, so exit pupil beyond about 5 mm buys you very little. Lens coatings and glass quality usually matter more than raw objective size, and a big objective forces higher rings and a worse cheek weld.
For the overwhelming majority of North American deer hunting, 3–9× is enough, and most shots are taken between 4× and 6×. Higher magnification narrows your field of view, exaggerates every wobble, and makes finding an animal quickly harder. Buy magnification for the longest shot you have genuinely practised, not the longest shot you can imagine.
Only if the tube diameter, base pattern and height all match, and the rings are not marred or out of round from the last installation. Rings are the cheapest part of the system and the most common cause of a wandering zero. If there is any doubt, replace them.
Availability on Redfield-branded optics moves around, and a lot of what turns up is legacy Leupold-era stock. Check live pricing before you commit.
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