The Serbu BFG-50A is one of only a couple self-loading .50 caliber rifles manufactured in the US. Work on its design began in 2008, and the first finished examples were produced in 2011. A total of about 500 have been made to date. Mechanically, it is a direct gas impingement action with a 3-lug rotating bolt. Weighing in at 23 pounds, it is significantly lighter than its closest comparison, the Barrett M82A1.
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Welcome to your briefing on the new equipment we are issuing for the Spring Offensive of 1919. With this new secret weapon, we can finally push the Germans out of France and end the war!
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i always come away with LESS respect for a person when they tell me they own a .50
they are just SO ridiculous
It’s ridiculous until you drive a privately owned BRDM. Then a .50 BMG is a lot more mainstream.
Really? Even a Ma Deuce?
Please be a poor elsewhere.
And nobody that owns one does not give a damn whether you ‘respect’ them or not. It would be ridiculous and an exercise in mental masturbation of faux self-importance to think that they do, or should. Sometimes, guns are just fun, whereby the jealous, the feeble, the insolent, squeamish, or those with urinary incontinence around large caliber firearms – need not apply.
.
Seems like a very elegant and practical engineering/manufacturing achievement.
I’ve had a brief look at more expensive brands and models and I would say with 40 years marksmanship experience and infantryman rifleman training and some machinist credit.. maybe not technically the best accuracy but the material stock amounts are generous, the finish and materials are beautiful and the simplicity and reliability of the action is genius. I’ve not tested them much and all I’ve spotted for Improvements is another millimeter or 2 of stock on the heat shield hand guard but it’s very durable as is . But all in all a very high quality unit I’m very satisfied with mine .
Was terribly excited to shoot my buddy’s M82 until I had two rounds through it and realized that amount of concussion can’t be good. I gave the rest of my ammo away. I’ll never again shoot a .50 BMG w/ a muzzle brake.
The Serbu, like most of his guns, looks to be a very interesting & clever design.
“(…)looks to be a very interesting & clever design.(…)”
Indeed mass 10,4 kg is achievement for such weapon – closest Russian equivalent namely OSV-96 https://modernfirearms.net/en/sniper-rifles/large-caliber-rifles/russia-large-caliber-rifles/osv-96-eng/
have mass 12,9 kg, however fires bigger 12,7 x 108 cartridge and is shorter when carried.
12,7 is physically larger but typically less powerful than the .50 BMG.
If you shoot any .50 BMG in that weight class without a massive muzzle brake, it will be the last time you shoot anything bigger than a .22LR from that shoulder.
Interesting. Named after one of Roald Dahl’s books.
This would be interesting with a suppressor to help with recoil and concussion.
There will always be a debate as to whether a .5 caliber ‘rifle’ is worth it – having yet to hear totally convincing (as opposed to niche) arguments either way. But this seems to be the best of these around and a better proposition to the Barrett.
Philip – Speaking as an ex-military man, I think there is a place for a .50 BMG rifle, but a limited one in Special Operations units. I can see three missions 1) Anti-material against high value targets that can be critically damaged by a single round (missiles, radars, aircraft) 2. Surgical Anti-VIP aka “Assasination” of key government and military figures at extreme range 3. Over watch at extreme range of hostage rescue, prisoner snatch and sensitive material grab missions. Not something to be handed out to battalion level sniper squads (rounds like 7.62mm NATO and ,336 Lapua can handle those missions – don’t forget that our present experience has been in terrain with exceptionally long lines of sight and when we hear about feats of marksmanship against Abdul two klicks away, we hear about them because they are so rare and exceptional)
“(…)Surgical Anti-VIP aka “Assasination” of key government and military figures at extreme range(…)”
12,7×99 NATO was so far I know not considered for sniper usage when it was designed, it is possible to make sniper version of that cartridge, but on other hand using modern ballistic knowledge it is possible to get more precise (at range) yet lighter (and less recoil) cartridge, c.f. CheyTac Intervention https://modernfirearms.net/en/sniper-rifles/standart-caliber-rifles/u-s-a-standart-caliber-rifles/cheytac-intervention-eng/
For today, there is only one assigned, the use of such a rifle is only one.
Counter sniper fight.
For other targets it is either too weak or justifiably excessive.
And for counter sniper missions, this rifle has poor accuracy.
I have previously observed that if you want a thunderously loud gun that makes a massive fireball a Mosin-Nagant carbine is much cheaper and easier to store. Then again if someone in the US really wants a .50BMG rifle,they are free to buy one as long as they don’t have the misfortune to live in California and are willing to spend the money.
Airborne!
“(…)Airborne!(…)”
I do not understand. Can you explain?
That there is a verbal indication of emphasis and/or agreement among US Army paratroopers. More or less, “Goddam right, what he said!” It’s said emphatically with the accent on the second syllable = “airBORNE!” Hope this helps.
Wafa Wafa Wasara Wasara.
Actually, Mark was designing it as early as 2002. I know, because I had put a deposit on one in 2003. I did not see the actual gun in my hands until 10 years later, but it was worth the wait.
So, it was like an HMG sturmgewehr (and nobody knows of theirs if they would be finished at all)
@Storm – Except that Mark is trustworthy, honest about potential time a venture might take, and you can always be assured he makes good on his word. And he did, and has, more than once with many of his various pursuits and projects. No Trevor Miltons or HMGs here. He advised from the beginning the Semi-auto BFG-50A could take from 4 years, to as long as 10 years – the end result was even better than anyone anticipated.
how much did it first cost when it came out?
There is no point in ending this.
It will never be accurate enough.
Organic design flaw.
Same as ASV, ASVK and other, stilborn, similar ammunition disposal devices.
@Stiven… in your video-game world.
Well…
If You are such a fan of this, and evaluate everything from Your experience of video-games…
I guess You mean better. LOL
@Stiven… It’s clear you are unable to convey a cohesive thought, because whatever you just dribbled out of your keyboard above makes no sense at all.
Meanwhile, your askew idea of being a “fan of this” expresses your perspective and connotation of the spectator that you surely are. As stated elsewhere, I bought my BFG 50A years ago directly from Mark and it’s currently set up with a Night Force 8-32×56 NXS, running my own loads with AMAX bullets, and have been a member of FCSA since 2003. You are welcome to join us if you can get out of your own way:
https://www.1moa.org/
Yet I suspect your “LOL” is the mere pale cackle of your own embarrassment. I hope you can overcome that dilemma from which you suffer.
Good luck to you… and I’ll be rooting for you as you go on to achieve your latest high-score killing fictitious images cast by pixels. I’m sure your Mom is proud, though I bet she would prefer you would move out of her basement.
—–
Well, I get it, You also prefer to shoot at cardboard, in addition to pixels.
Doing this in Your free time from amateur psychoanalysis?
Or scratching all sorts of nonsense on the Internet is Your main income?.. 😉
Unfortunately, I must disappoint You. Membership in the Minute Club (as in any other cutting and sewing circle) does not make You an expert.
Your statements are meaningless and do not correspond to the real state of affairs.
And it is such that there are practically no targets left for the 50BMG rifles on the battlefield. In addition to manpower, at ranges 1.1-2 times greater than the maximum distance of a shot from a conventional sniper rifle.
If the accuracy of the complex does not allow you to confidently hit such targets with conventional bullets, then such a rifle does not correspond to this purpose.
PS Wish you good luck.
With this attitude, you will need her. LOL
I bet you could make a cheaper; 50. BMG that would sell “legal” U.S Legal, and it would sell; is my point.
I am talking high point. Yes.
Over the shoulder “bazooka” aye, $349.
Home defence, no shit.
Actually, out west here on the Great Plains, there are quite a few .50bmg clubs that hold sanctioned long range matches – and they are a blast (pun intended). Good people, fierce but friendly competition, and great fun. The old joke is 1) Fire, 2) light a cigarette, 3) look through your spotting scope and wait for your bullet to hit the target.
So we’re.rather fond of our “fifties” and our little community of folks who shoot them.