[kdub]

Had a young fellow show up at the local ranage today with a brand new Redfield spotting scope. Went to set it up and complained he couldn't see through it. Suspecting a newbie problem, such as lens caps still in place, looked it over and sure enough - pitch black looking through the ocular lens. Looked through the objective lens and could see a very small crescent of light toward the eye end.

Asked if he had dropped it or banged it around, but he said no, it had just came out of the box. Advised him to take it back to Sportsmans Warehouse for a replacement. Feeling sorry for him, lent him one of our rental Leupold Windriver spotting scopes so's he could get his equally new rifle sighted in.

Redfield scope is emblazoned "Made in China".

 

[broom_jm]

That's pretty sad...I can remember a time when Redfield was one of the better names in the optics industry. Maybe Leupold hasn't improved their quality as much as I would have expected.

 

[Marshal Kane]

. . . Redfield scope is emblazoned "Made in China".

We have so many "Made in China" goods flooding the U.S. Sorry to say that with respect to opticals I'd put my trust in "Made in Japan" before other Asian countries.

 

[kdub]

My feelings are the same, Marshal.

Can't recall ever having bad optics coming from Japan, even back in the day when they were snubbed as cheap. The new Weaver brand scopes made there are of great quality when compared to the Chinese stuff. Nikon used to be the same, but now find their cheaper lines made all over SE Asia.