Everything we know about the BARNES Bullet Brand sale
On the first official work day of 2022, we have some interesting muzzleloading news. The Barnes Bullet Brand, known for the all copper muzzleloader bullet designs has been purchased by a large outdoor equipment focused corporation called “Clarus”.
The Shooting Wire shared this about the news:
Clarus Corporation announced that it has purchased the headquarters of its Barnes brand. The building, located in Mona, UT, is both the headquarters and production facility for the Barnes brand. Clarus purchased the building and land for $9.5 million.
John Walbrecht, President of Clarus, said, “By making the strategic decision to purchase Barnes’ headquarters and surrounding land, we believe that we now have greater flexibility to expand capacity for the Barnes brand, which is of high importance as we look for ways to better serve our customers through the increased output to meet expected continued strong demand. We are deeply committed to not only growing our portfolio of ‘super-fan’ brands but also investing in the people and places that make our brands who they are today. We are thrilled to be further solidifying our presence in the great state of Utah.”
This is an interesting development for a few reasons. For one, we saw the redistribution and sale of many firearms and ammunition brands in the last year, almost all going to publicly traded groups like Clarus. You can follow the Clarus stock on the NASDAQ as “CLAR”. These moves are nice because it seems rare to see corporations investing in American infrastructure, but we should also take note of the lack of options as more massive corporations own more and more brands. We have to start asking, “Are these big companies the only way to keep manufacturing in the US?”, I’m happy Barnes is staying with an American company, but I hope the age of the smaller company hasn’t passed.
It’s worth pointing out that Barnes had particular issue supplying product in 2021. Many shooters who didn’t stock up opted to purchase their Barnes bullets direct through the company back order process. Reports show that these backorders started to be filled in the last few months of 2021, hardly enough time to prepare of the US hunting season. Enthusiasts have wondered if there were larger issues at the company due to limited communication over the last year. Perhaps it was as simple as Barnes being unable to get hands on the supplies they needed to keep up with demand, as seen with every muzzleloading and firearms company.
Either way, we can hope that this change in ownership benefits the muzzleloading community.
About Clarus:
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Clarus Corporation is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of best-in class outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the climb, ski, mountain, and sport markets. With a strong reputation for innovation, style, quality, design, safety and durability, Clarus’ portfolio of iconic brands includes Black Diamond®, Sierra®, Barnes®, PIEPS®, SKINourishment® and Rhino-Rack® sold through specialty and online retailers, distributors and original equipment manufacturers throughout the U.S. and internationally.