Tag: Barrett

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing is a firearms and ammunition manufacturer based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Its founder, Ronnie Barrett, came up with a .50 caliber rifle that is fired from the shoulder, which was something that nobody thought was possible to create.

In 1982, the company was founded to build and sell semi-automatic rifles that were chambered with the .50 BMG caliber. Barrett personally designed the rifle, marketed and mass-produced it using money out of his own pocket. He didn’t stop with the design, and instead continued to develop it until he came up with the much improved M82A1 rifle in 1986. His M82 was then used by the US Army during the Gulf War. It became so popular because of its ability to disable Iraqi armored forces from about a mile away. During the Bosnian War, it took just one .50 caliber rifle to fend off the Serb forces in Srebrenica.

Recently, Barrett is developing an REC7 upper receiver for the AR-15, and the XM109, which is a variant of the M82A1. He also came up with the .416 Barrett, a .50 BMG rifle round. The company now has contracts with many countries to supply them with sniper rifles.