Rock Chuck Bullet Swage (later abbreviated RCBS) is a

handloading Handloading, or reloading, is the practice of making firearm cartridges by manually assembling the individual components ( metallic/ polymer case, primer, propellant and projectile), rather than purchasing mass-assembled, factory-loaded com ...

equipment manufacturer operating in

Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. Its population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. After the 20 ...

. The company originated during the sporting ammunition shortage caused by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, became a widely recognized manufacturer of handloading equipment, and has subsequently been purchased by Hodgdon Powder Company. The name came from the rock chuck variety of varmint found in the Oroville foothills.

History

As U.S. factories prioritized military ammunition production during the Second World War, hunting ammunition became scarce. In 1943 Fred Huntington was unable to find suitable

varmint hunting Varmint hunting or varminting is the practice of hunting vermin — generally small/medium-sized wild mammals or birds — as a means of pest control, rather than as games for food or trophy. The targeted animals are culled because they are ...

ammunition for shooting rock chucks. Working in the boiler room of his father's Oroville laundromat, Huntington devised a

swaging Swaging () is a forging process in which the dimensions of an item are altered using Die (manufacturing), dies into which the item is forced. Swaging is usually a cold working process, but also may be hot working, hot worked. The term swage ma ...

machine converting spent .22 rim-fire

cartridge case A cartridge, also known as a round, is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile (bullet, shot, or slug), a propellant substance ( smokeless powder, black powder substitute, or black powder) and an ignition device ( pr ...

s into jackets for

soft-point bullet A soft-point bullet (SP), also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a jacketed expanding bullet with a soft metal core enclosed by a stronger metal jacket left open at the forward tip. A soft-point bullet is intended to expand upon striking flesh to ...

s. Huntington's swaging dies became popular after the war as returning soldiers used their firearm skills for hunting. Huntington opened a small machine shop in Oroville in 1948. A larger building was required by 1954, and the factory had grown to by 1958. The Oroville factory expanded to with over 150 employees producing bullet casting equipment,

powder measure A powder measure is a device for dispensing consistent amounts of smokeless powder or black powder as charges for handloading cartridges used as small arms ammunition. Propellant evolution Firearms using gunpowder could be loaded using a small ...

s, and reloading presses with dies for removing spent primers and resizing fired

centerfire ammunition Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A center-fire (or centerfire) is a type of metallic cartridge used in firearms, where the primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i. ...

cartridge cases before seating new primers and bullets. RCBS became part of the Sporting Equipment Division of Omark Industries in 1976. Omark published the ''RCBS Cast Bullet Manual'' in 1986. Blount sold RCBS to Alliant Technosystems in 2001, which spun off RCBS as part of

Vista Outdoor Vista Outdoor Inc. was an American designer, manufacturer, and marketer that operated in two segments: shooting sports and outdoor products. It was a "house of brands" with more than 40 labels and subsidiaries. Vista Outdoor was the parent compan ...

in 2015. Hodgdon Powder Company purchased RCBS in 2024.

References

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External links

RCBS official site
Manufacturing companies based in California