I know everyone is sick of testimonials for scopes that .05% of the audience can afford, or that look like a wet dream and then fall apart in the face of stiff recoil.
At least I am...
Yesterday, I was at the range and a fellow had a relatively compact Ruger bolt action in .350 Remington Magnum. I watched him shoot a couple of shots and it was evident, that it was a very powerful caliber. During a break in the action, we were talking about the 35 caliber family and I noticed his scope had a red R on it so I asked if that was one of the new generation of Redfield scopes? He said yes and after shaking several other brands to death on that rifle, it was withstanding the punishment of his rifle very admirably. Especially the ability to adjust and return to zero. Then, he asked me if I wanted to shoot it? Now I'm not a slave to self-inflicted misery, but I was curious enough about the scope to say yes. As soon as I got settled in and shouldered it, I was amazed at how little dead space and body blackness there was around the perimeter of the sight window. There was the downrange view, slightly out of focus for my old eyes and then there was this sharp, bright, clear image of the target seemingly superimposed in the middle of it. It was odd after looking through my 6-24x42 SIII scope all morning and my immediate thought was how nice it would be for deer hunting. The 3-9 power obviously wasn't as much as the Sightron I had been using for load development, but the reticle was quite useful and succinct. The recoil of the rifle proved my judgement as an observer was spot on. It kicks harder than my .300 Win Mag, but not by much. I had slipped the
Sims Limbsaver off of my lower and put it on beforehand, so it was a survivable encounter for my shoulder. He tried it with my
Sims Limbsaver and we had an instant convert, vowing to stop by
Walmart on the way home to get one. (hint: click on any one of the links)
Getting back on topic. That scope struck me (not physically) as a great candidate for a thumper. He said it wasn't expensive, so a double positive. Now that brief encounter would not rank as vast experience with any scope, but if first impressions are worth anything and if I were entertaining a hunting scope for my thrumper, that Redfield scope would be close, if not right at the top of the list.
Hoot