Sgt_Kickaxe - 9:58 am on Dec 9, 2012 (gmt 0)

I think the host temporarily migrated my site to a server running an older version of apache to be honest. I had to add the backslash for my rewriterule to work. After my second call and their second fix I had to remove it again. I vaguely remember an older version of apache requiring the backslash after ^ ?

This host offers a redirect service in their dashboard, I used it and got the escaped version of the target url right from there, go figure. That dashboard service didn't help resolve the double 301 either.

Is there any way I can see what rules the host is using in their configuration? I've tried exactly what you've posted, and a dozen variations of, and yes I've cleared cache but although the redirections work I'm seeing a double 301 redirect, still. The rewriterule is immediately after the rewriteengine on, which is at the top of the file. I removed most everything else and nothing changed. I'm not running any addons or modifications that impact redirects, no SEO plugins etc.