Barnes Bullets is a hunting and archery brand headquartered in Mona, Utah. It was founded in Bayfield, Colorado, in 1932.
In the 1970s, Barnes Bullets lived in an American Fork basement. Randy and Coni Brooks bought what remained of the company in 1974, at the urging of founder Fred Barnes, and moved it from Colorado to Utah. Downstairs, the couple and their two daughters seated bullet cores in jackets. Fred had started the business in 1932 in a basement workshop of his own, in Bayfield, Colorado.
Most of us answer a bad day in the field by shopping for a new scope. In the fall of 1985, after his lead core bullet failed to penetrate an Alaska brown bear, Randy sketched an all-copper bullet on the flight home. He took the first prototypes back to Alaska and killed a big bear. The X Bullet went on sale in 1989. Randy later gave some of the credit away, saying he had found drawings of the idea among Fred Barnes's things after the purchase.
Sierra Bullets bought Barnes out of Remington's bankruptcy in 2020, and since February 2024 it has belonged to Bullseye Acquisitions, an affiliate of Texas-based JDH Capital. Randy Brooks died on August 27, 2026. He was 77. Barnes still makes its all-copper bullets in Mona.
Barnes Reserve, a small-batch ammunition line in calibers like 257 Weatherby and 6.8 Western, is loaded by hand by the company's head ballistician.
