verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message sierra bullets type private founded 1947 headquarters sedalia missouri united states area served worldwide products bullets revenue 10m 25m in sales number of employees 50 100 employees website www.sierrabullets.com founded in 1947 in california sierra bullets is an american manufacturer of bullets intended for firearms . based in sedalia missouri since 1990 sierra manufactures a very wide range of bullets for both rifles and pistols . sierra bullets are used for precision target shooting hunting and defense purposes . available calibers range from .204 suitable for the .204 ruger through to .500 suitable for the .500 s & w magnum . 1 contents 1 history 2 design 3 rifle bullets 3.1 blitzking varminter 3.2 gameking 3.3 matchking 3.4 pro hunter 4 handgun bullets 4.1 sports master 4.2 tournament master 5 other products 6 references 7 external links history edit in the late 1940s three aircraft machinists frank snow jim spivey and loren harbor rented space from clint harris in the harris machine shop in whittier california to produce precision rivets for the aircraft industry along with fishing rod guides and rifle front sight ramps . they were having financial difficulties so clint harris invested about 500 and became a 25 % owner in the company . he was basically a non active owner while the other 3 actually ran the company . right after world war ii there was a shortage of bullets especially quality rifle bullets and so frank snow a competitive shooter and a part time sheriff s deputy began manufacturing match rifle bullets . before long they were selling a 53 grain match bullet to the hollywood gun shop . that bullet is now known as the sierra 1400 53 grain matchking . before long the company outgrew that facility and rented a large quonset hut in rivera california . they outgrew that facility and built a larger facility in whittier california . they also the changed the company name to sierra bullets . during that time they bought out clint harris . the bullet business continued to grow . about 1963 sierra moved to a new plant in santa fe springs california . this plant was about 25 to 30 000 square foot with a 200 yard range built under the plant . in 1968 the leisure group bought sierra bullets . the leisure group was a publicly held corporation traded over the counter . the name leisure group derived from acquiring small companies in the leisure time industry . other companies owned by the leisure group were lyman reloading high standard manufacturing company yard man ben pearson thompson sprinkler systems flexible flyer sleds dodge trophies which made the oscar and rose bowl game trophies and several other companies including one that made gym sets . soon after purchasing sierra the leisure group hired robert hayden as president to run sierra . hayden was a mechanical engineer who was working for remington arms at lake city army ammunition plant at the time . he remained the president of sierra for 42 years retiring in 2012 when pat daly became president . in about 1972 the leisure group began divesting some of its companies . in 1986 it changed from a publicly owned corporation to a privately held corporation . in 1988 the leisure group reorganized and sierra bullets became a limited partnership owned by bhh management inc. managing partner and lumber management inc. limited partner . in 1995 the company again reorganized to a limited liability company with the same ownership . in the early 70s lee jurras of super vel and automag fame approached sierra about making handgun bullets capable of being driven at higher velocities than the normal bullets available at that time . while sierra had only been manufacturing rifle bullets up until then they started making a .38 caliber 110 grain hollow cavity bullet for super vel with several other calibers to follow soon after . in the late 1980s california was beginning to be unfriendly to the manufacturing business with new strict regulations and higher taxes . robert hayden who had been the manager of operations president of sierra since 1969 had been born and raised in missouri and often returned to the lake of the ozarks near sedalia missouri on his vacations . on one trip he came up with the idea of moving the plant to sedalia and approached the owners with the suggestion . after consideration of the benefits of moving to a more centrally located industry friendly lower tax location the owners decided to move the company to sedalia missouri . land was purchased and a 300 meter underground test range was built with a 45 000 square foot manufacturing plant on top of it . seven key people made the move from california to missouri . sierra still remains at that location where they manufacture over 175 different bullets as of jan. 1 2014 for their green box sales and several other proprietary bullets for other companies . they employ about 160 people with 5 full time ballistic technicians answering reloading and firearms questions on a daily basis . the company also employs three full time range personnel . in 2012 sierra added 20 000 square foot for manufacturing and warehouse space . 2 design edit all sierra bullet jackets are made from gilding metal . depending on requirements bullet cores are manufactured using one of four different lead alloys 1 6 % antimony 4 % tin 90 % lead 6 % antimony 94 % lead 3 % antimony 97 % lead 1.5 % antimony 98.5 % lead rifle bullets edit sierra makes bullets for rifles and handguns . the rifle bullets fall into five categories based on bullet construction . blitzking varminter edit varminter bullets are designed for varmint hunting . as such they are normally smaller calibers and are designed for rapid expansion and need to be accurate to hit the typically small targets . gameking edit the gameking is line of bullets designed for hunting . they are a boat tail bullet to reduce drag and wind drift . they are designed more heavily than the varmint bullets for better penetration and expansion on larger game than varmints such as deer and boar . matchking edit matchking is sierra s line of competition bullets . they have a design that gives a high ballistic coefficient and good accuracy . they have been used by many competitors to set world records . 3 4 pro hunter edit the pro hunter is a flat base bullet with a special jacket to provide deep penetration and maximum expansion on large game such as elk . handgun bullets edit the handgun bullets are in two groups based on bullet construction . sports master edit the sports master is a handgun bullet with a hollow point to facilitate good performance for hunting and defense . tournament master edit tournament master bullets are full metal jacket and designed primarily for competition and recreational shooting . other products edit sierra also provides reloading manuals and reloading and ballistics software . references edit a b history sierra bullets a tradition of precision sierra bullets . accessed 22 june 2009 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name history defined multiple times with different content see the help page . http www.sierrabullets.com kreider claude m. nov 1953 . bullets strictly for bull s eyes . popular mechanics 128 130 . thus were born the famous sierra bullets which now hold many world records for accuracy . access date requires url help sniper the skills the weapons and the experiences adrian gilbert p. 143 external links edit sierra bullets official website this firearms related article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sierra bullets & oldid 704267376 categories firearm manufacturers of the united statesammunition manufacturerscompanies established in 1947privately held companies based in missouri1947 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