This Serbu 50 BMG semi-auto workhorse puts rounds on target at distance in a hurry.
Just holding a .50 Browning Machine Gun round in your hand gives you a formidable weapon. In a fist fight, you could wrap your fist around it like a roll of nickels and put some extra “wumphf” in your punch. Heck, you could just throw it and put a sizeable knot on some knucklehead’s noggin and slow him down. But, when you lower the bolt on a 50 BMG round, it takes shooting a shoulder-fired weapon to a whole new level.
Although designated as an anti-material round, legendary sniper Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock mounted a scope on an M2 and killed a Vietcong guerilla at 2,500 yards in 1967. Eclipsing Hathcock’s record shot in 2002, Canadian sniper Rob Furlong further proved the long-range effectiveness of the .50 BMG round when he killed a Taliban terrorist at 2,657 yards.
With Barrett Firearms just down the road from where I live, I’ve had ample opportunity to sample several of their firearms. Their M82 .50 BMG semi-auto put Barrett Firearms on the map, and the U.S. military has called upon them to update the weapon a bit with the military designated M107A1. Suffice it to say, I’ve had ample opportunities to shoot their “big .50s.” Not long after testing the M107B, their latest lighter-weight version, I mysteriously got the attention of other .50 BMG rifle builders. That’s how I met Mark Serbu, owner of Serbu Firearms of Tampa, Florida.
Serbu Firearms is a small, very capable firearms design and manufacturing company. Founded in 1996 by mechanical engineer Mark Serbu, the company has carved out a niche producing .50 BMG rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Their staple products are the BFG-50A semi-automatic and BFG-50 single-shot .50 BMG rifles and the Super-Shorty 12-gauge shotgun.
LE Likes Serbu 50
Oftentimes, various law enforcement agency SWAT replicate and employ military-issue weapons systems in their duties to protect and serve. And sometimes, SWAT snipers need more firepower than most sniper systems provide. The words of legendary African writer Peter Hathaway Capstick, “Use enough gun when hunting big game,” apply when an officer is called upon to stop a truck or a barricaded aggressor. In today’s world, who knows what some terrorist might have up his sleeve. And, with Homeland Security responsibilities added to the mix of local law enforcement, it’s prudent to bring enough gun to the fight if necessary.
Heretofore, law enforcement agencies had few choices if they wanted to add a semi-auto loading .50 BMG rifle to their arsenal. That’s now changed since the Serbu BFG-50 came along.
The BFG-50A is a magazine-fed, gas-operated .50 BMG rifle that takes standard 10-round M-82 magazines. It has a 3-lug rotating bolt, dual plunger ejectors, sliding plate extractor, hydraulic recoil buffer. The bolt locks into a barrel extension that is threaded to the barrel. The bolt lug and barrel extension locking surfaces are helical. The gas system is similar to that used on a Ljungman AG-42 or MAS 49/56.
At the close of World War II, France needed to rearm its infantry with semi-automatic rifle. Starting with Rossignol’s gas system and some prototypes built during the 1920s and 1930s, MAS developed a semi-automatic rifle in very limited numbers in 1944 as MAS-44.Llater improvements to accept new, detachable magazines and then designated the MAS-49. The French Army adopted the MAS-1949/56 as an improved pattern rifle. The MAS-49/56 was lighter, had a shorter barrel and forend, different grenade launcher sights and was able to be fitted with spike-shaped bayonet. MAS-49/56 served as a primary weapon with French Army until 1979. Like an M-16, the MAS-1949 uses a direct gas impingement system with no gas piston. Instead of a gas piston, the powder gases are fed from the barrel through the gas tube directly to the front face of the bolt carrier.
Tracing the roots of Serbu’s BFG-50A, Mr. Serbu studied the MAS-49/56 rifle, developed by the French state arms factory Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de St-Etienne (MAS). The MAS-49/56 was the logical development of many earlier prototypes, based on the direct gas impingement system, developed by the French designer Rossignol early in the 20th century. A very similar gas system was later used in Swedish Ljungman AG-42 rifle and in Eugene Stoner’s AR-15 / M16 rifles. Beefed up and sized proportionately, Serbu’s BFG-50A borrows heavily from these earlier proven designs.
In development for more than seven years, the BFG-50A is a marvel of design and engineering. “Its gas operation means it is utterly reliable and the fixed barrel means you don’t have to make excuses for the poor accuracy associated with recoil-operated guns incorporating moving barrels that never return to the same place twice,” Mark Serbu said. “At 23 pounds it is the lightest semi-auto .50 BMG rifle ever put into production and with a list price of $7,720 it costs thousands less than competitor’s offerings.”
Law enforcement agencies and military personnel are thoroughly impressed with every aspect of this rifle. “The accuracy, ease of shooting and reliability of the BFG-50A far surpasses any other semi-auto .50 BMG rifle on the market,” Captain Satterfield, head of Georgia’s Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office sniper team said. “My fellow snipers and I are sincerely appreciative of the support and expertise provided by Serbu Firearms throughout our testing and purchasing process.”
The BFG-50A has achieved 1/2 MOA accuracy at 400 yards, an improbable feat with any other semi-automatic .50 BMG rifle. By comparison, the U.S. military’s M107 firing military ball ammo rates between 3 and 4 MOA. After all, the Barrett classifies as an “anti-materiel” weapon and not an anti-personnel weapon.
Field stripping the Serbu BFG-50A takes seconds and is accomplished with nothing more than a bullet point. However, stripping is not required for transporting in its case. Its total length is less than 52 inches overall means it comes out of the case fully assembled and ready to go.
The hand guard and barrel/barrel extension are easily replaced, making configuration or caliber changes easy and its incredibly effective Shark Brake muzzle brake coupled with a thick butt pad and hydraulic buffer make the BFG-50A possibly the lightest recoiling .50 BMG rifle available.
As with Serbu’s BFG-50 single-shot rifle, all of their barrels are chambered with a proprietary reamer design. Its nitriteed alloy steel barrel features the exclusive Serbu Accuracy Chamber, which allows shooters to fire standard surplus as well as match ammunition and fire either more accurately than guns equipped with machine gun chambers.
BFG-50A’s barrel length is 26 inches, and the overall length measures 52 ½ inches. The rifle weighs 25 pounds with an empty magazine. The BFG-50A uses a highly efficient 8-port Shark Brake muzzle brake. Barrel, barrel extension and handguard are removable to allow different barrel and handguard lengths and configurations.
The BFG-50A displays rather svelte lines, in relation to its sheer size. The receiver extends all the way to the butt to house the massive bolt mechanism. To maintain the receiver profile, the handguard retains the same lines as the receiver. A bi-pod, mounted to barrel, comes as standard equipment.
Feeding the Beast
Feeding this Serbu, or any other .50 rifle is no minor expense or task. Factory rounds cost between $5 and $8 a shot, but handloading can cut that cost in half. I’ve been loading on some of the same RCBS presses for 45 years, but loading the .50 BMG outstrips the capacity for anything in my workshop. To feed this rifle and other .50 caliber rifles I’ll be shooting over the next few years, I acquired a Hornady 50 Cal. BMG Press Kit to start working on a small horde of brass I’ve been collecting over the years.
After re-sizing and de-priming, I checked case length and found that the M2 machine gun that many of the cases had been fired from stretched cases. The specified case length is 3.91 inches. Overall loaded cartridge length is 5.45 inches in length. Trimmed back to spec length fixed the problem.
I seated new CCI #35 Arsenal primers and started researching a load with Hodgdon’s H50BMG powder. The first load I settled on was 222 grains of H50BMG behind a Hornady 750-grain Amax. This load produced 2,618 fps velocity, on average, measured with an Oehler 35P chronograph 15 feet from the muzzle. At 100 yards, this load kept five shots under 1.5 inches, with the best measuring 1.352 inches. Accuracy performance improved at longer ranges. At 500 yards, it was relatively common to keep five shots within 4.5 inches… if the wind remained constant.
SPECIFICATIONS
Stepping up in velocity, I loaded the same AMax bullet over 233 grains of powder. This load produced 2,788 fps on average. Accuracy suffered slightly at 100 yards, with typical group size approaching 2 inches. At 500 yards, remarkably, group size hovered just under 6 inches.
Factory Loads
I fired three factory .50 BMG loads, with Hornady’s fodder producing outstanding accuracy. Also loaded with 750-grain AMax bullets, this round nearly duplicated one of my handloads. It typically put five shots into 5 ½-inch groups at 500 yards, and started out at an average of 2,794 fps. At 100 yards, it printed a 1.85-inch group.
Federal’s American Eagle loaded with 660-grain FMJ projectiles provided the second factory load. I only had 10 rounds available, so I checked velocity with five and saved the other for a 500-yard group. Muzzle velocity averaged 2,758 fps. The resulting group measured 13.4 inches.
PMC Hardball
The Korean-made PMC .50 BMG 660-grain rounds concluded my range testing. Again, I had limited ammunition, so I chronographed and learned that it averaged 2,768 fps. The single group fired at 500 yards measured 12.8 inches.
“The BFG-50A is the lightest, best built, most reliable and accurate .50 BMG caliber semi-auto sniper rifle ever put into production… period,” Serbu said. “Law enforcement, government agencies and militaries can rest assured this rifle will surpass all expectations and mission requirements.” For more information about Serbu Firearms go to: serbu.com.
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