Richard Beebe, the driving force behind Redding Reloading Equipment for 50 years, passed away at his home in central New York on October 31 surrounded by his family. He was born on Oct. 11, 1941, and is survived by his wife of 47 years, Sherri, and four sons.
With the purchase of Redding in 1974, Beebe worked tirelessly to instill his vision of quality in the products made by the company. His commitment to the shooting sports community, combined with a gift for innovation and ingenuity, led to the development of many world-renowned products that discriminating handloaders rely on in their quest for improved accuracy.
His positive attitude and charismatic personality allowed him to assemble a team of some of the most talented folks in the industry—something he considered essential for the success of his firm and its customers. His pursuit of quality and precision was relentless, and his dedication and hard work was, and will continue to be, an inspiration. Beebe loved the people, the machine shop and being successful at the range or in the field with his handloads.
Redding Reloading Equipment was founded in upstate, N.Y., in 1946. The company’s initial product was the first calibrated beam scale designed specifically for reloading.
In 1949, the firm moved operations to Cortland, N.Y., where it got a proper building and was subsequently incorporated as Redding-Hunter in 1956. Throughout its early years it made a diverse group of products, including the scale, a powder measure, peep sights, shotshell reloading equipment and even live pigeon traps.
By the early 1960s, the company began its evolution into the production of reloading dies for metallic cartridges. This coincided with the move to producing only reloading equipment and the start of the commonly used name to transition to Redding Reloading Equipment. At that time all dies were produced on one manually operated turret lathe under the eye of a single skilled machinist.
In 1974, Beebe entered the scene and Redding began to blossom. In the ensuing years, old products were shed, many new products were added and numerous patents granted for innovations that have assisted today’s handloader in many ways.
In 1986, Redding purchased the assets of the Santa Anita Engineering Company (SAECO) and jumped into the bullet-casting business with many of the needed accessories beyond simply molds. In 2005, Redding acquired Imperial Lubricants, the originators of Imperial Sizing Die Wax and Imperial Dry Neck lube. This acquisition made Redding a complete reloading resource under one roof, with each product produced by American labor, running American machines, cutting American iron and steel for all their products. Since that time many new American-made CNC machining centers and skilled workers have found a home in the ever-expanding Redding Factory on the same site where it came to be in 1949.
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