OROVILLE – RCBS Precisioneered Reloading has been sold to Hodgdon Powder Company, the largest U.S. supplier of smokeless and black powder substitute propellants.

Hodgdon, based in Shawnee, Kansas, purchased the local manufacturer of reloading tools on May 2 from Revelyst, a segment of Vista Outdoor Inc., a collective of maker brands that design and manufacture performance gear and precision technologies. Vista Outdoor owned RCBS for nine years.

Hodgdon and RCBS have a decades-old relationship. Bruce Hodgdon, who founded Hodgdon in 1947, and RCBS founder, the late Fred Huntington, conducted reloading roadshow events together throughout the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.

A flyer advertises a 1965 reloading clinic in Anoka, Minnesota, lists both RCBS founder Fred Huntington and Hodgdon Powder Company founder Bruce Hodgdon as presenters. Hodgdon Powder Company purchased the Oroville, California-based company RCBS on May 2, 2024. (Contributed by Hodgdon Powder Company)
A flyer advertises a 1965 reloading clinic in Anoka, Minnesota, lists both RCBS founder Fred Huntington and Hodgdon Powder Company founder Bruce Hodgdon as presenters. Hodgdon Powder Company purchased the Oroville, California-based company RCBS on May 2, 2024. (Contributed by Hodgdon Powder Company)
“For years, our friends have referred to the Hodgdon family and company as ‘The Gunpowder People’ and this acquisition further demonstrates our dedication to the handloader,” said the company’s co-owner J.B. Hodgdon, in a press release.