Alphecca: Range Report: Serbu BFG-50

September 06, 2005

Range Report: Serbu BFG-50

When Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms offered to let me play around with the BFG-50 Carbine, I didn't know what to expect. Everyone warned me about the recoil or shockwave or the loudness. I gave it a first look when it came. I've now had it out to the range twice. I'm happy to report that firing the BFG-50 is more fun than sex. Okay, maybe I need to get out more but I have to tell you, for a lot less than a Porche, a day at the range with this gun is just about the most exhilarating experience a firearm enthusiast can have without joining the army.

(Me!)

Both times, I was accompanied by a crowd of other gun nuts. Sitting at the bench for the first time with it, loaded, everyone waiting for me to take that first shot, I think it's safe to say that I experienced "anticipation". I don't think I was even aiming at anything, just...pull the trigger...

I'm happy to report to you that it's nothing like what I expected. It's better! Recoil wise, the muzzle brake obviously does a good job because it's not bad at all. One guy who fired it, Jim, said he'd rather fire this than his 30-06. I can tell you that having fired another friend's Krag 7mm mag, I'd rather fire the Serbu BFG-50, too. One guy, a cop, owned another brand and says he sold it because of the recoil. He tried it out and said that if he'd owned the Serbu, he'd have kept it.

So recoil just isn't a problem. What about loudness? Frankly, my friend's .223 caliber ARs are just as loud. You really should be wearing both ear plugs and muffs. It's not louder than many guns although the "pitch" is, um, deeper.

That leaves the shockwave. It's big. You sort of get moved by it. But that's sort of the coolness of it. It's like the rush you get dropping fast in an elevator or racing a convertible up the freeway. It's that feeling of power you are harnessing in the small size of the BFG-50. It's not at all unpleasant!

The Serbu BFG-50 only weighs (only!) about 17 pounds without the scope. That's actually a lot less then most of the competition and at 49" long, the carbine version is quite managable. The first day, we only had 11 rounds and were really just trying to experience the gun. The second time out we were all "old pros" with it (and we had a lot more ammo, and there's more on order) and concentrated on sighting it in, which was easy with a 3'w x 8'h piece of cardboard set up at the 200 yard boards. Then we set about blowing up gallon jugs of water. It pretty much vaporized them. At our session later this week we'll be doing a lot more of that. That's the real fun of 50 caliber BMG, you really love watching the results!

Now, why would any gun collector want to own a rifle that shoots lightning bolts? Why wouldn't they? For about $2000 bucks you can own a rifle far more unique than most, firing the most powerful ammo civilians are allowed to own, and trust me, when you take this baby out of the case, you own the range!

I can tell you this, everyone who shot this gun wound up with a huge grin on their face! Here's links to a couple clips:

Jeff smilin'...

Scott smilin'...

Please don't "hot-link" them. Feel free to download them to your own site if you wish to offer them yourselves. They're being stored on a server I don't own. Hopefully they'll stay up awhile.

Lot's more to come, folks, including accuracy reporting, the ease (as I found out) of cleaning the Serbu BFG-50, and more. I gotta tell 'ya, this gun is fun!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at September 6, 2005 07:53 PM

Comments

I gotta tell 'ya, this gun is fun!

No it's not, it's for killing things you madman!

Posted by: Fred at September 6, 2005 01:47 PM

So "Fred"? What time should I meet you at the range?

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at September 6, 2005 05:51 PM

I agree with "Fred". It's a thing designed for killing things, mainly people, as efficiently as possible. You find that kind of thing fun to be "fun"?

Posted by: Wee Dom at September 7, 2005 04:54 AM

Oooh Jeff I'd love to meet you at the range for some fun!

Posted by: Fred at September 7, 2005 08:38 AM

Well, thanks to all sorts of regulations, there's a "sporting purposes" restriction on the importation of various firearms. You know what that means? Basically, hunting. That is, killing things. I thought the refrain was, "I'm not going to take your hunting rifle, but..."

As for killing things efficiently, a 17 pound single-shot rifle (no matter how powerful) is probably singularly ill-fitted to that purpose. As for blowing up milk jugs, I can't think of anything more fun.

Anyway... sorry for the snark. (Especially if Fred's just kidding around...) Jeff, I'm incredibly jealous. Out of curiousity, what kind of accuracy were you getting out of it?

Posted by: Nate at September 7, 2005 09:09 AM

I have got to gun blog more... no one offers me freebies!

Posted by: John of Argghhh! at September 7, 2005 11:57 AM

John, that's 'cause everbody knows there ain't no more room in your basement...

Posted by: emdfl at September 9, 2005 09:07 AM

Jeff, how hard was it to manipilate the bolt while maintining your sight picture? It's rearward placement seems awkward to me and would probably require you to play gopher bobbing your head up and down to operate the bolt. This would seem to limit it's usefulness as a sniper weapon for police and military use. You can't keep loosing your sight picture during the heat of a battle (and possibly giving your position away by raising your head or moving too much) and expect to be very effective. Has SERBU considered that? I know they are working on semi-auto and full auto versions. Am I to assume then that the bolt action issue is considered a non-issue because that version will not be sold for military/police use?

Posted by: Rorschach at September 9, 2005 10:44 AM

I would say that this is not for continuous loading. We were mostly firing a shot or two at a time and I did not try to maintain the rifle in position when loading it. I'll try it though next week when we're going for accuracy.

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at September 9, 2005 01:44 PM

Note: Comments close down on posts after seven days and then
the comment input form disappears.

Your comments are welcome. You don't need to enter a URL and you don't need a "valid" email address, either. Note though that MT Blacklist is installed to flag suspiciously spam-like strings. Unfortunately, because of the bastard spammers, the strings "google.com" and "yahoo.com" (even in your email address) are currently banned as well. So are strings such as "cialis" (a common spam) which rules out words such as "socialism". Try putting a hyphan in a word like that.

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Into science fiction? Check out my group blog novel, Colony: Alchibah.
See the reader's guide there for first-timer tips.

Alphecca

Check it out: My group sci-fi blog novel: Colony: Alchibah

September 06, 2005

Range Report: Serbu BFG-50

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah