Does anyone know when these came out..?
I bought one in the 1970's.
I remember them in the 70s. But I wonder if they were 60 or what.. I have one that looks older than the one I remember..
After reading your post, I dug up a few old redfields I have that still have their boxs. A normal 4 power has a catalog in it that says "redfield '67". This catalog doesn't say any thing about a widefield. The 1974 redfield catalog that's in a widefield box lists them but says nothing about them being "new". I know this doesn't help you much but should narrow it down between 1968-73. By the way, I'm pretty sure that the '74 isn't the oldest I have, but I'm just going on stories ( I was about 1year old at the time)
I'm of the opinion that early 70's is correct. I have a 2 3/4 Widefield that has been one of my favorite scopes for a lot of years. It's length makes it easier to mount than some of the newer , shorter low magnification scopes. Mine was the victim of the recoil of a 12 gauge slug gun and I sent it to Colorado and had it refurbished ( free of charge ) before Redfield closed their doors.
This one have has the adjustments moved forward to give more access to load the rifle.. Cool idea..