While the META REFRESH method may work ok for someone using a browser, It is my experience that this method does not work in regard to major search engines like Google. What this means is that when the SE spiders your site to find content to include in their index they will not be redirected to the page you intended. Here is an article on redirection you may find useful.
http://www.aitechsolutions.net/apacheredirect.html
Proper 301 redirects are the most SE and user friendly way to acheive the desired results. Best to you!