A couple of years ago I thought I'd "go nostalgia" on my beloved 1968 336RC 35R (gdad bought it new then handed down to me when I was a teen in the mid80s.) I also have a 1978 Redfield 3x9, can't remember the obj dia & it's the oval "TV vision" version that was all the rage back then. (It came off a 1978 Rem 700BDL 30-06 my now deceased step-father passed down to me) So anyway I thought, "No skool like da ol skool" so I put the rig together & eagerly hit the woods with it that fall... only once tho!
The ol scope is tough, looks & "fits right" on my ol 35 but man I couldn't stand the lack of clarity & glare that old scope had! It was "Amber" by comparison to all of my high line scopes (Swarovski, Zeiss, Leupold vx3 etc) & was easily surpassed by even the lesser scopes I have (Nikon Prostaff, Leupold vx1 etc). I yanked that ol Red off & put a 2.5x8x36 Leupold vx3 on the Marlin & that's where it'll stay til they throw dirt on me! A couple years ago I bought a new Redfield Revolution 2x7x33 for a 45/70 Guidegun, this summer I traded that Remlin for a 7mm-08 & the Revo now lives atop the 7-08. It's a GREAT scope, especially for the $! (It's owned & lifetime backed & built in America by Leupold) There are two other Redfield Revos I my deercamp (best buds Savage muzzleloader & his sons Ruger American 7-08) they likewise have been flawless.
We're I not actually hunting with my prized Marlin I'da left the ol Redfield atop it but I hunt a lot with this rifle & demand much better optics than the ol "black oval" is capable of delivering. "Back in the day" I suppose we never knew what we were missing because everything was likewise the same. But like many other things, today's technology has WELL SURPASSED the performance abilities of 30-40yr old technology.