‘59 Bear Cub for $59.50
What $59.50 Bought You in 1959 — the Redfield Bear Cub 4x**
In 1959, a hunter could put down $59.50 — roughly $640 in today's money — and walk out with a Redfield Bear Cub 4x. It rode on a 26mm steel tube, carried a 1.562-inch objective, and was sold as fog-proof for life and shock-tested. It sat in the middle of a three-scope line: the 2¾x at $49.50 (about $530 today) and the 6x at $79.50 (about $850).
Collectors note: The 6x didn't start as a Redfield at all. It came over from Kollmorgen-Stith before Redfield folded it into the Bear Cub family — a small lineage detail that turns an ordinary scope into a conversation piece.
These were dealer-stocked gun-store staples, which is exactly why so many survive and why we see them on the bench so often. A clean Bear Cub, with the optics serviced, is a genuine pleasure on a period rifle — and an honest, affordable way into vintage glass. What’s more, the Kollmorgen company was so far advanced in scope building than its competitors, the optical quality, durability and sealing make it a vintage scope that will compete with many modern scopes today on clarity and beat on durability.
