The new Redfield's are made by Meade optical. Not the original owners that produced them in Colorado. At one time Redfield's were seen as equal to Leupold. That was 15-20 years ago. Redfield went onto hard times and out of business. The Redfield name is now owned by Meade. Since they own Simmons and Weaver brand names I would think the Redfield would lie in with them. The Weaver Grand Slams are good optics and Simmons has had some good optics in the past. It is yet to be seen how the revamping of all the scope lines will go with Meade. I would think with the advancements in coating and optics the glass used today is superior to that of the past. However, the old line Redfield could handle alot of recoil and abuse. My Dad had one he purchased in the mid seventies on a hard kicking 375 H&H Mag. The scope held up for better than 10 years when the gun and scope were stolen. You can still find old model Redfields on places like ebay and other sites. The old Illiminator was a marvel in its time. Nowadays there are better scopes that weigh much less. But for $100 I think you will have a scope that is certainly worth that price.