Enough people like the Leupold rimfire scopes for Leupold to have been making them a long time. I apologize in advance if I'm getting too far away from the original question but I think a lot of the differences in opinions on scopes are caused by the differences in people's vision.
When I was a kid I squirrel hunted with a Weaver B4 and thought it was fine. The last time I looked through one it didn't look so good but time makes a difference.
I had 20-20 vision until my early forties. I now wear corrective lenses and can still get a three shot MOA group at 100 yards (with a centerfire) using an older M8 4x 28mm Leupold but I've really got to concentrate and use a bigger aiming point. My eyes get tired. It's gotten a lot easier for me in the past few years to use more magnification and/or a little bigger objective and ocular lens.
I don't think this is just an age difference though. People have different vision at all ages.
