Alphecca: Fear Factor: .50 BMG

October 21, 2005

Fear Factor: .50 BMG

Yesterday afternoon a bunch of us headed to the range and naturally I had the Serbu BFG-50 with me. I've brought it to the range now about 8 times (see here for another report on it) and I've noticed something about many of the other shooters there.

First, many are very curious about just what the heck kind of gun it is:

Naturally I'm happy to show it off to them and explain that it's on loan from Serbu Firearms. They love the looks, the heft, the "mystique" as it were. They're fascinated when I shoot the thing, albeit while they're standing 40 feet away...

I always offer to let them try it out and while some gun nuts do, many take a look at the ammo and sort of back-away while mumbling, "no, er, thanks." It's not the gun itself; there are plenty of exotic looking rifles out there. It's the ammo it fires. And there, it's not the bullet, which is large but not unusually so in comparison to other hunting ammos. It's the size of the shell! I think they take a look at it and fear sets in:

They see my friends and me firing the thing. Our shoulders aren't torn-off! We're smiling. I explain to them that the muzzlebrake works very well on the Serbu, but they just can't bring themselves to give it a shot. They KNOW the recoil of their 30-06 and think this must be worse:

Those are 30-06 casings on the left, .50 BMGs on the right.

I had one guy a couple weeks ago watch us shoot it. He sat down, loaded a round, aimed, took it off-safety, and... After about 30 seconds he put the gun down; he literally couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

I don't know how other manufacturer's .50 BMGs fire but the Serbu actually feels less sharp than a 30-06 or a 12 guage. I just need to figure out a way to convince some of these folks that it's a totally cool experience to fire such a powerful round and that they're NOT going to dislocate their shoulder.

Those that do take the challenge love it. It's like there's a big smile on their face afterwards.

What the heck, Mark Serbu hasn't asked for it back, yet, so I'm gonna' keep showing it off and make new converts.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at October 21, 2005 07:43 AM

Comments

Jeff,

I wrote about my experience firing a .50 BMG at the Harvard Sportsman's Club Open House here: http://blog.rjwest.com/?p=2548. If you scroll down to the last picture, I've got a .50 BMG brass next to several other common cartridges. It's quite the comparison...

The recoil is something to be aware of, of course, but I found it to be not so much of a kick or punch as a strong steady push that moved me back several inches.

Oh, and the blowback is amaaaaaazing...

Posted by: Jay G at October 21, 2005 08:57 AM

I agree, Jay, the recoil is a "shove" and yes, the shockwave is totally cool.

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at October 21, 2005 10:12 AM

Welllll, there IS the way a drill sergeant showed us noobs that the kick from an M-16 was nothing to fear:

He took one of the guys up to the firing line, had him load a round, place the butt of the weapon up against his family jewels and pull the trigger.

Impressed the heck out of us.

Now do that with a .50, and you'd get some serious respect.

Not that I'm advocating any unsafe activity, understand.......

Posted by: tomWright at October 21, 2005 11:02 AM

One of my son's friends had a 50. I didn't care to shoot it because of the muzzle blast. It felt like somebody punched me in the nose when I fired it. At the range, it set off car alarms.

I shot a can of Coke at 100 yards with it once...the can was rendered into a long, thin string of aluminum--absolutely amazing!

One thing they'd do at the range (I passed on this little test of manhood) was to take the muzzle brake OFF, then put a round through the weapon. At least they didn't get much muzzle blast that way.

Posted by: Hank at October 21, 2005 11:26 AM

'bout time to start thinking about getting one of these; I figure the next time some idjit goes on a rampage with a gun, .50's will be the sacrificial lamb in the "compromise". The people's republic of California has already done that. History shows that existing ones are grandfathered, so...

The Serco looks like a nice one.

email is human readable- aloud.

Posted by: bud at October 21, 2005 11:31 AM

I REALLY need to get up to Vermont before you send that thing back.

Or, if you have any plans to visit DC, you could always store it at my place while here.

Posted by: countertop at October 21, 2005 11:44 AM

I've seen small women fire a .50 BMG and get enjoyment out of it. This young woman is not much taller than the gun is long.

Posted by: Joe Huffman at October 21, 2005 12:03 PM

The Armalite AR-50 actually ships with a packet of Extra-Strength Tylenol.

Folks would see that and comment "Nyuk! Nyuk! I get it; for your shoulder!"

They don't believe me when I tell them it's for the headache from the muzzleblast if they don't wear some serious hearing pro'.

"Ever set off half a stick of ditching dynamite?"
"Yeah."
"From three feet away?" ;)

Posted by: Tam at October 21, 2005 02:22 PM

You are really getting a workout on that thing. Eight times at the range is a rather full experience. You might need to find a place that has a 1000 yard line and try it there.

Hell of a gun.

Posted by: Robert at October 21, 2005 02:24 PM

I've fired several different .50 BMG rifles and they vary GREATLY in the amount of felt recoil. The Serbu is by far one of the best at reducing recoil and not producing a nasty amount of backwash at the same time (the Armalight has been known to uproot trees behind and to the sides of the shooter!) If they want to feel a truly nasty recoil, they should try out a Lahti or Solothurn 20mm anti-tank gun...and some of the .50's I've shot are worse them them in my opinion.

Posted by: Gregory Markle at October 21, 2005 03:59 PM

What a bunch of recoil wimps.

Posted by: AlanDP at October 21, 2005 06:09 PM

I believe you when you say people are afraid of the .50...I take guys out to the range to fire M2s, Mk-19s, and SAWs about every other week. Despite the fact that it's a truly massive gun, and, at least in terms of fore an aft travel, is bolted down, a lot of the gunners are still afraid of the .50.

Good thing is, the M2 doesn't have a brake to amplify the muzzle blast.

Posted by: Heartless Libertarian at October 21, 2005 07:17 PM

Start doing everything you can to get people to shoot it, then when they get a big smile, give them the # for serbu, tell them the price, and tell them to mention your name. If you get enough people to buy one, who knows... they may consider the cost of the gun to be marketing and let you keep it! OK... well... if I were you that'd be my dream.

Posted by: Windaria at October 21, 2005 09:46 PM

That IS what I've been doing!

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at October 22, 2005 06:55 AM

Ditto on the DC thing! (I'm actually in Maryland, but close enough). We've got Gilbert's range in Rockville, and there's the NRA range in Fairfax, VA, if you'd prefer...

Janine

Posted by: Janine at October 25, 2005 01:35 PM

Good... then make a special post saying "everyone go buy this and tell them I told you to."

Just trying to help.

Posted by: Windaria at October 26, 2005 12:45 AM

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October 21, 2005

Fear Factor: .50 BMG

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Colony: Alchibah