Barrett Firearms Company

Infobox Company
name = Barrett Firearms Manufacturing
company_
type = Private
foundation = 1982cite web|url =http://www.barrettrifles.com/about_history.aspx|title =Barrett Rifles| accessdate = 2008-06-21]
location_city = Murfreesboro, TN
location_country = USA
key_people = Ronnie Barrett (founder & CEO)
industry = Firearms
net_income =
num_employees =
slogan =
homepage = http://www.barrettrifles.com/
footnotes =
intl =

The Barrett Firearms Company was founded in 1982 by Ronnie Barrett. The company's main product is the Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle.

History

Barrett introduced the M82 in 1982 but did not make any significant sales until 1989. These first large sales were to Sweden. Soon afterwards, the powerful rifle attracted the attention of the US military, and it was deployed in the Gulf War. Today the company has contracts with dozens of countries to supply sniper rifles.

The success of the M82A1 has led the company to develop several other models of .50 caliber rifles, including the M95, M99, and M99-1. These are lighter and considerably lower cost bolt-action rifles.

In current US military use the M82A1 is designated "M107", and is described as an anti-materiel rifle. While the M107 is highly effective against soft targets, and is used by explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams with special military high explosive incendiary/armor piercing ammunition, its power is not required for anti-personnel use: the heavy recoil and weight are an unnecessary penalty.

The M82A1 has been purchased by over 40 military organisations worldwide. It became legendary in the first Gulf War for disabling Iraqi armored personnel carriers from a mile away. Fighters in the Bosnian Army used just one .50 caliber rifle to great effect in fending off Serb forces in Srebrenica during the Bosnian War of the early 1990s. Florin Krasniqi and his associates acquired dozens of the rifles in the late '90s for use in the Kosovo War. They found that they afforded a psychological advantage, once the Serbs and the international press discovered that the Kosovo Liberation Army forces were armed with Barretts.

Barrett Firearms is currently working on two projects for the military. One is the M468 upper receiver for the AR-15/M16/M4 platform, chambered in the 6.8 mm Remington SPC. This provides more punch than the 5.56 mm NATO standard round used in most current U.S. issue assault rifles. Early testing among special forces units has met with approval. The second new product is the XM109. This is essentially a conversion of the M107/M82A1 designed to fire a 25 mm munition.

In response to California's ban of civilian ownership of .50 caliber rifles, Barrett suspended sales and service to all law enforcement agencies in California. [Cite web | title = The Gun Zone RKBA -- Ronnie Barrett | accessdate = 2008-09-28 | url = http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rkba-50.html ]

Barrett has also developed the .416 Barrett, a rifle round based on the .50 BMG. The purpose of this round is to allow first round hits out to convert|2500|m|yd|-1|spell=us from a cold bore, and is not prohibited for sale to the private sector market in California (unlike their .50BMG rifles).

Products

*Barrett M82
*Barrett M90
*Barrett M95
*Barrett M99
*Barrett M107
*Barrett XM109
*Barrett M468
*Barrett XM500

References

External links

* [http://www.barrettrifles.com Barrett's Official Site]
* [http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel122101.shtml "Guns and (Character) Assassination"]
* [http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rkba-50.html "There will be no more nibbling at our freedom."]