.From: Gunfreak (gunfreak@aol.com) Subject: Shot my homemade .50 BMG for the 1st time today!! BOOOOOMM!!!

Newsgroups: rec.guns Date: 1996/07/30 Today I fired my homemade .50 BMG single shot rifle for the first time. WOW! I've never been around a gun this big before and what a noise it makes!! The gun isn't completely finished, but it was done enough to fire so I couldn't wait any longer. Here's how the firing went: I put the gun on the ground and laid a spare car wheel (with tire) on top of it. I put a small log under the barrel, aiming it a large tree (aimed the barrel, not the log. By the way, sorry you tree-huggers out there-the patient died!). After putting on ears and eyes, I turned away from the monster and reached behind me to hit the temporary trigger with my hand. BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!! WHAT A HUGE NOISE!!! A lot of sawdust was left at the base of the tree. (Didn't check the other side, it was in water.) The blast echoed through the Florida swamp and, poetically, the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance just afterward. (A coincidence). The gun survived fine, and so did I. In case you're wondering why I took all the precautions on firing this gun for the first time, I'll tell you; I designed it myself. While I am a Mechanical Engineer, I don't have any "formal training" in gun design (which, it seems, can only come from working for a BIG gun company because there's NO real data out there for the little guy!) Anyway, this cartridge produces a lot of pressure, and puts that pressure over a large area (the cartridge base). That equals a hell of a lot of force on the bolt and receiver. I guess I calculated correctly, because nothing blew up. I even got the headspace right. My gun is basically like a Maddi-Griffith (from what I've seen in the magazines) and is a shell holder type action as well. It uses an AN-M2 barrel (I think) which is the lighter, aircraft type. The receiver is machined from 8620 steel, case hardened to a depth of .015 and heat treated to RC 53-58. The bolt is made of 4340, heat treated to RC 46. The firing pin is two-piece, part Ti 6AL-4V, and part 4140. Various action parts are heat treated 01 tool steel. I made everything but the barrel, and the total cost including heat treating (but not including time, of course) was about $275.00, $175 of that for the barrel. This gun will win no beauty contests but MAN what a blast! Can't wait to shoot it without the car wheel!! Mark Serbu From: Gunfreak@aol.com To: gunsmith-list@swcp.com Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 00:58:03 EDT Subject: Blowing up 50 BMG's In a message dated 6/21/99 12:04:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time, usjess@vnet.net writes: > gunfreak@aol.com wrote: > > Hmmmm...awfully small diameter on the bolt in that design. If anyone gets > > the plans for these I'd be happy to do a stress analysis on the critical > > parts. As someone who's built a few .50s from scratch (you have seen my > > web page, right? www.serbu.com) and had one blow up, I have a great respect for this cartridge. > Mark,> 1. What happened on the one that blew up? It was my own design (please see the web page: the BFG-50) , which, unfortunately, was a cock-on-closing shell holder. All in this learned group should realize that this is a recipe for disaster, which I knew as well. To counter the danger I included a passive firing pin block in the bolt. The firing pin couldn't reach the primer unless the bolt was in battery, fully locked, and the trigger pulled. Unfortunately I didn't include the Murphy factor enough in my design. The firing pin block got jammed up with sand and it's return spring (which wasn't very powerful because it affected trigger pull) wasn't strong enough to block the firing pin when it (the firing pin) broke. The firing pin was hollow and had the spring in the center of it. There was a disc on it which engaged the sear. When the shooter shoved a round into battery, the firing pin broke just forward of the disc, and ran right over the block, igniting the cartridge out of battery. Big bang. He was in the hospital for several months and could have died from blood loss if he hadn't had his wits about him. He retained all his body parts but has

much diminished use of his right hand. Very bad scene. Worst day of my life. Ironically, if I had just made the firing pin block safety work off of camming the bolt closed, instead of trying to be extra safe and not have it disengage until the trigger was pulled the accident might not have happened. Why? With the block camming off closing the action, the spring which "powers" the firing pin block can be made MUCH stronger since you're not using trigger force to return it. Also, the block can move (interfere) much more. With the trigger actuated block, it only moved about .050". Now (on my improved personal gun) the block moves .125". I've also improved the firing pin by making it solid, and having the spring act on the disc. No way for a runaway firing pin now, and even if Mr. Murphy intervened and it did, the firing pin block is bigger, had a more powerful spring, and intrudes more. > 2. Which designs have you built? Only my own. I'm working on a semi-auto now. Gas-operated, rotating bolt. Much more conventional design. Very neat gun. You can see a CAD image of it on the web page. > 3. Any preferences for design, among > the ones you've built / are familiar > with? Aside from building one from scratch, if I were just trying to build one as quickly and as cheaply as possible, I'd go with the Maadi-Griffin design. They say you can build it for $450. Or contact State Arms...they sell complete guns for around $1200. I think they sell the action for much cheaper, and you can possibly get one which will accept the M2 machine gun barrels, which are available from Oyster Bay Enterprises for around $140 each, brand new. Someone else sells a fairly conventional Mauser-type action plan set...think it's called the Big Fifty from Gun Metal Designs, if I remember correctly. See the FCSA web page. Lots of stuff there. Mark Serbu www.serbu.com From: Gunfreak@aol.com To: 50BMG@onelist.com Cc: gunsmith-list@swcp.com Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 01:47:24 EDT Subject: The cheapest .50 BMG rifle? m I couldn't help myself. I went and designed a cheap, single-shot gun. This thing is cool! Simple construction (well, for a machinist it's simple). The barrel screws into a small barrel extension which is welded to a tube, forming a receiver. The tube and extension are to be heat treated together. Another tube screws onto (or may be welded) to the front of the extension and encircles the barrel. The bolt is made from two pieces. The front part (with the lugs) is machined and then welded to a tube. Okay, a third piece, the bolt handle. The whole bolt assembly is to be heat treated together. It's a standard 2-lug bolt with a plunger-type ejector. I don't know what to call the extractor type, but my Savage 110 uses it. The lower receiver is the generic one I designed and had built for another gun. It uses all AR-15 parts. If you're a cheap ass, this is the .50 BMG rifle for you! Check out the CAD image of the gun at: http://www.serbu.com/cheap50.jpg and see a picture of the lower at: http://www.serbu.com/genlow2s.jpg I'm trying to interest a guy with a gun company in building this thing. It should be able to sell for under $1000 easily. If that fails, I'll think about offering plans. Mark Serbu From: Gunfreak@aol.com To: gunsmith-list@swcp.com Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 17:51:59 EDT Subject: Re: The cheapest .50 BMG rifle? In a message dated 6/22/99 2:43:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time, MertBaker@prodigy.net writes: > Mark, you may find this hard to believe, but I'd designed the same rifle > last week, and was mulling details in my head when I read your post. Copycat! :-) > I'd planned to use 4140 HW tube for the rec. & bbl ext. What's HW? Heavy Wall? I'm making the receiver (basically just a barrel extension) out of 4140 bar stock, and welding it to 4130 DOM tubing. Much

easier to make those in two pieces and weld 'em together...very hard to try to bore in that far! > No need to weld the rec tube to the ext, there's no firing stress on that joint. Doing it for manufacturability, not stress. >Going to use > the bolt handle to pin the bolt head to the bolt body sort of ala Sav 110. > The FP locks it in. Got a few other ideas about the extr. & ejct. setup as > well. Got memory problems & haven't been able to download your drawings > yet, & mine are still mental. Fascinating idea. Planned to use a new M2 > bbl. Well, I took the whole day yesterday and designed the whole gun. Every part is modeled in 3-D solids now. I'll start building it next week. Wanna race? :-) Mark Serbu Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 10/3/99 16:32 In Response To: What is the trigger pull on that SERBU and has the prototype been shot yet. If so, how does it group (Vandal) The trigger is a stock AR-15 item, and the hammer is custom. Though the BFG-50 hammer puts about 10 degrees more rotation on the spring (also stock AR-15) when it's cocked, the trigger feels exactly like an AR-15's. Not interested in grouping it, because the prototype has a turned-down M2HB barrel and wouldn't give any indication of the gun's true potential for accuracy. I did manage to hit prarie dogs in Wyoming with it last month (not from Florida, I was out there :-). The prototype has been shot a bit, with just over 200 rounds through it so far. Mark Serbu Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 11/13/99 20:53 Been very busy. Having problems with various parts and the barrels all came in wrong. They're being fixed now...chambers were .080 too deep. Such is life. Nothing major, and we're hoping to get guns out before Christmas. AND, we're going to be taking deposits on the next batch in the next week or so. Sorry for the production delay, but these things happen. If anyone wants to give up their spot in the pre-production run, you'll be cheerfully given a refund. Cheerful because your spot will be replaced by someone who's paying retail price. :-) Mark Serbu Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 11/30/99 16:55 A $500 deposit gets you in on the first production run. Total price is $1795 + shipping. All major credit cards accepted. To all you pre-production guys; you'll be getting your guns just weeks ahead of the production guys. But you can't complain about the price, I hope! Check out the BFG-50 at the link below. This is a true bolt-action rifle, not a shell-holder. Match grade barrels, high quality materials and construction throughout, and cheaper than a Maadi-Griffin kit! Please check out the link below for more info. Thanks! Mark Serbu Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 12/1/99 14:26 In Response To: **** Now taking deposits on the BFG-50 rifle **** (Mark Serbu) I've been getting a lot of requests for an overall picture of the BFG-50, so here it is on my living room floor. This is the prototype; production guns will be different in the following ways: 1) Forward tube (handguard) is 2" shorter and has three rows of holes on top, instead of the single row shown. 2) Bipod block (welded to the tube) is smaller, and takes a cross pin which allows use of different bipod lugs (the bipod shown is a Versa Pod). The bipod block will also accept an adaptor for an M2 tripod pintle. 3) The muzzle brake does not have flats machined on the top and bottom...it's round. 4) Ejection port is slightly smaller. As to accuracy, the prototype has a machined-down M2HB barrel, so I've never really taken the time to do serious accuracy testing. It seems to be very accurate, though, even with this barrel. No kits will be offered, sorry. Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 12/3/99 10:46 In Response To: BFG-performance (gates) Since the prototype has a turned-down machine gun barrel, I haven't been too concerned with checking the accuracy. Seems very good in spite of the barrel ( though the machine gun barrels are actually much better than you'd think), but I expect that with the "real" barrels (Lothar Walther, match-grade), accuracy will be excellent. As far as the scope mount, I've had a couple customers request that they have a half-degree angle machined into them (the scope mount, not the customers :-). Scopes like the Tasco SS series actually have enough elevation adjustment so that you don't need this, but these guys had different scopes. Mark Serbu : Mark just bot an 82a1 primarily as an investment but also want a shooter! what kind of M.O.A's are you getting and do your scope mounts allow for enough elevation to use a scope like the ss tasco or do you need a scope w/120+ clicks of elevation like a leo. : thx aj BFG-50 update... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 12/18/99 01:11 The barrels are FINALLY here, in the shop. Amazing how small the shipping crates were! Heavy as hell, of course. Lothar Walther makes some beautiful barrels; I'm very impressed. Can't wait to try one for accuracy! If they shoot half as good as they look... Still waiting on parts from various machine shops. It's amazing how long "a few weeks" is. :-) If you're on the pre-production list, thanks for your patience. I guarantee you'll think the wait was worth it. Mark Serbu

Here I am... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 1/5/00 17:50 In Response To: How's the BFG-50 going? Would love to hear any new news. Thanks ntx (Hey Mark Serbu) Busy as hell, yes! I still don't have all the parts in to build the guns...they were trickling in, now I'm getting more and more. I try to update the web page whenever something new and important happens. Looks like production gun #1 might finally be done in just a few more weeks. One of the main problems I'm having is that my silencer and AOW shotgun (the SUPER-SHORTY) business is going like crazy, too, so I can't devote full time to the .50 project...and the OTHER .50 project behind this one. My kingdom for a clone!! :-) Thanks for your patience everyone who ordered a BFG-50. Don't worry...the production guns are going to be even cooler than what you've seen on the web page. Mark Serbu Re: Here I am... More Q for Mark Serbu. Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 1/7/00 03:18 In Response To: Re: Here I am... More Q for Mark Serbu. (gomer) : >...and the OTHER .50 project behind this one. : Should I ask what THAT project might be? Not telling yet, sorry. And you thought your High School girlfriend was a tease!! :-) : Also, to re-ask someone else's question, : what is estimated BFG production run volume? 50 pre-production, 50 regular production. What's the difference? The pre-production guys got a hell of a deal, but had to pay all their money up front. In any case, there are 100 guns currently in the works. This batch stuff will end as soon as the current production is sold out. Why are they being made in batches now? Because it gets expensive making this stuff! So maybe it only costs $26 to get a certain part machined, but when you're making 100 or 200 of them, and you're making a bunch of different parts, it adds up fast. I wouldn't call you impatient! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 1/16/00 00:48 In Response To: Any new news on BFG-50? Still planning on January delivery? Sorry for being impatient! (Jay Bell...ntx) The first few guns should finally be coming together a week or so after I get back from the SHOT show. I have a nice surprise that I hope will make the wait worth it, and not make you want to kick yourself for passing up the Armalite. I wouldn't call you impatient! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 1/16/00 00:48 In Response To: Any new news on BFG-50? Still planning on January delivery? Sorry for being impatient! (Jay Bell...ntx) The first few guns should finally be coming together a week or so after I get back from the SHOT show. I have a nice surprise that I hope will make the wait worth it, and not make you want to kick yourself for passing up the Armalite. Re: questions about the BFG 50....Mark Serbu can you help Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 1/30/00 01:01 In Response To: questions about the BFG 50....Mark Serbu can you help (dave) The predicted MOA is .00000001 Of course, it'll probably be higher than that. :-) I've almost gotten the first production gun together and will post accuracy results asap. Recoil? It's not as bad as my 8mm FN-49 rifle. More than my 10/22, though. See the video of me shooting the BFG-50 on www.serbu.com. I weigh 175 pounds and I can handle it with no problem. If you ordered it today, it's probably 2-3 months until you get one. We're almost sold out of the current production run and I don't have a good idea of how long it'll take to get through those first 100 guns. No price increase, except by special request. Mark Serbu : I'm wondering if anyone could answer some questions for me. I was wanting to know the predicted MOA of the rifle? What the recoil can be compared to? If I were to order one today approximatly how long would it take to recieve it? And finally if there is a 2000 price increase? **** BFG-50 update **** Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 2/7/00 23:41 There are now only 6 guns left in the first production run! Sales have been going up exponentially, it seems. The parts are finally starting to

come out of the shops, but much later than they were originally promised. I'm very pleased with the quality, but I guess I have to learn how do deal with these guys. I'm trying a new tactic now...I've got two different shops making the same part, and I've told them that whoever finishes their batch first gets a 20% bonus. We'll see if greed is the key. :-) Still hoping to deliver the first few rifles in the next couple of weeks, and hope to have a pic of production gun #1 up by the end of the week. Thanks for your patience everyone! Serbu is ripping you off Posted By: What BFG? There is no BFG. BFG is a scam. <pissed@serbu.com> Date: 2/13/00 22:31 No one but Mark and his friends has used a BFG. All those that ordered one were told delivery would be Sept 1999 to Oct 1999. Then it was pushed back to the first of Nov 1999. Then early Dec 1999. Then there was mention of having guns shipped around Christmas. Then it was pushed back to Late Jan 2000 after Mark's return from the Shot Show. Now it is mid February and NO GUNS yet. The worst of it was he got everyones cash up front. He is using this to buy equipment and R&D the gun. He may or may not have the funds to complete the first production run. Those of you that bought into the BFG 1st run are getting screwed. He may need to sell a second run to afford to build the first run and so on. I have two friends with first hand knowledge of his lies. He is really jacking everyone around. He gets pissed if you ask "When will I get my gun?" As of now all he shows is one prototype on his site. If you buy from him expect a LOOOOONG wait for a basically untested prototype. Buy a Barrett, at least you will get something for your money. Fortunately I did. Damn! I must just be a horrible person, and don't even know it! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 2/13/00 22:51 In Response To: Serbu is ripping you off (What BFG? There is no BFG. BFG is a scam.) I'm hoping this is just a "friend" of mine, posting his idea of humor. If it's not, it's someone that I've managed to piss off somewhere along the way and who remains anonymous, of course. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm totally honest, and would never rip anyone off. Only the first 50 guns were prepaid, and I again extend my offer to refund ANYONE'S money in full, should they tire of waiting and want it back. Many have paid their $500 deposits with credit cards and there is always recourse with that method of payment. The delivery schedule for the BFG-50 has slipped much more than I'd expected, but hey, I'm an engineer, not a fortune teller. For what it's worth, I let about a dozen different people at a shoot in Lakeland, FL, fire the "untested prototype" BFG-50 today. 900 rounds and still going strong. Made a lot of new believers, and sold a few more guns. I'm working my butt off and averaging 4 hours of sleep a night trying to keep up with all that I have to do. It's too bad there are jerks like the guy who wrote the above post, but that's life. I take the good with the bad, and there's been a lot more good!! Thanks to those who still have faith in me and in the BFG-50... The first production gun is very close to being finished, finally, and I'll have pics soon. Mark Serbu Rings for the BFG-50... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 2/21/00 02:05 In Response To: Re: can the BFG-50 take the MAX rings? (mckysdad) I've been meaning to look into this, but haven't found the time yet. Unfortunately, the prototype I've been shooting uses some Russian-made rings that I found a few years back. They're nice rings and work well (and CHEAP!), but I can't find them anymore. The height offset is the same as the MWG 30mm standard rings #R30mmSH. Check them out at: www.mwgco.com BFG-50 status...new pics... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 2/24/00 16:27 Got a new digital camera yesterday, so I've got some new part pics on the web page. Go to the BFG-50 page and follow the link to "pictures of the prototype parts". (They're not prototypes any more, btw). Production gun #1 is done except for parkerizing. Pics in a day or so. Thanks!Mark Serbu BFG-50 serial #0001 sighting... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 3/1/00 22:26 Brought it out to the machine gun shoot at the Hernando Sportsman's Club in Brooksville, FL, on 2/27/00. Fired 85 rounds without a hitch. Worked all night, slept 45 minutes and forgot the scope!! DOH! Oh, well. Pretty easy to hit a car at 100 yards, scope or not. The weight of the production BFG-50 is actually 22 pounds (without scope or bipod), and is a joy to shoot, really. Everyone who fires it gets a big smile on their face. Can't say as much for the people standing to the left or right, of course. :-) Tale of the holes....(pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 3/2/00 23:39 In Response To: BFG-50 serial #0001 sighting... (Mark Serbu)

Come on, of course they're not random! During the Satanic ritual in which the Dark Master conveyed to me the plans for the BFG-50, the blood from the sacrificial goat splattered in this pattern. I just HAD to use it. (Okay, I just put that in for the gun-hating liberals. They expect this sort of thing, and they won't have read this far to know that was a joke :-) Anyway, as you can see in the picture, there is a pattern. I added that thick line to emphasize it. In case some of you are wondering why seemingly unimportant holes are located to 3-decimal place tolerance, it's only because the holes were done on a CNC punch press. Re: BFG-50 report...(pic) Good News!!! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 3/23/00 16:03 In Response To: Re: BFG-50 report...(pic) Good News!!! (postban) >I was also concerned about the close proximity of the magazine to the shooters >face. I have some lefthanded friends that will probably be concerned about >getting a bolt handle in the teeth, or cut by the exposed metal edges in the >bolts raceway. Is the back of the mag about the same position as the bolt >handle? The back of the mag is about .75" forward of where the bolt handle is in the locked position. The bolt handle is not a problem for lefties. The cutout makes neat racing stripes on their faces. Seriously, I have several lefties buying the rifles and while it's not an ideal gun for them, it works. I'm working on coming up with some kind of sliding bolt handle cutout cover. >Your description of the recoil seems to jibe with most other folks on this >site. Did you tense your neck real tight or do something else to keep from >getting "Grizzly Eye"? Don't know...it's one of those things where you learn what to do automatically, but can't really describe. >I hope the wait will be over soon. That makes two of us! Well, maybe over a hundred of us. :-) > I haven't polled the neighbors yet but it still looks like I'll be the first > kid on the block with a BFG-50. I've been talking to that Smith kid down the street, but he hasn't been able to steal enough money off the top of his father's dresser yet. :-) >I do have a few questions about the rifle still. >1)Can the buttplate/recoil pad be removed to shorten >the rifle just those few inches? I have an SKB hard >case that is perfect for it but only a 50" weapon will >fit. Not presently. The butt plate hinges on a pin, and this pin is pressed in. Removing the plate and pad would only save you 1.38 inches, actually. >2)If those low-life scum in congress pass a 50 cal ban >can I get you to rebarrel it in 338 lapua or 338-378 >weatherby or 416 gobstopper? Basically, can it be made >to fit the new law, however unconstitutional. Some things are better left unsaid. >3)How do you get the bolt out? Does the handle come

>off or is their some other trick? After removing a screw at the bottom of the triangular brace, the butt plate hinges up. With the bolt all the way to the rear, there is a hole in the receiver tube opposite the handle. Through this hole the screw which holds the handle on comes out and you can take off the handle. Then the bolt just slides out the back. All this should be clear in the picture below. >4)Can it be cleaned from the breech end? I don't want >to bung up my new walther tube with a muzzle-end-only >cleaning regimen. Yes. >5)Can you make a cleaning rod guide available for the >BFG? Either breech or muzzle type would be good. Not a bad idea. I'll consider it. Or...anyone out there with some spare time want to subcontract a small accessory item? >6)Will you be at Knob Creek in April? Will there be >samples for fondling, shooting, more fondling there? Sure will. Not sure if I'll have a table, but I have plenty of friends with tables and I'll make sure one is there. >Thanks for making a great tool of freedom. Thanks for buying them! By the way, an unbeliever has dropped out of the first production run. The blue sweat suits and Nike sneakers I had reserved for him will be retained here at the shop. So much for him hitching a ride on the next comet with the rest of us! Anyway, guns 0073 and 0074 are now available. $500 deposit, all major credit cards accepted. Thanks, Mark Serbu

BFG-50 update (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 3/24/00 15:32 Just got in a teaser of 4 receiver tubes from one of the machine shops; already put the customers' names on them. :-) I can't really say it was worth the wait, but they ARE beautifully done. I will have the bolts in on Monday, so the first rifles will finally ship within the next 2 weeks. We will be taking orders again sometime next week as well. I have it on good authority.... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/4/00 23:13 In Response To: Anything new on the BFG50? Nothing new on site. (Jay Bell...ntx) ...that the site will be updated this week. Probably some good info there. :-) Not to rain on anyone's parade... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/4/00 23:23 In Response To: The Tromix 50BMG will be coming soon... (Tony@Tromix) But the first .50 BMG rifle I built back in '96 had no muzzle brake...at first. Firing that thing was like being in a car wreck...almost disorienting. Even with a 25-pound gun, the recoil was HORRIFIC. I don't have to squat to pee, I NEVER ask directions when driving, I've drunk beer 'till I've puked and all the other manly things, but I'll never fire a .50 BMG rifle without a muzzle brake again. It's THAT bad. Mark Serbu The mag well issue... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/18/00 23:50 In Response To: BFG 50 and Knob Creek (Schuetzenman) The location of the mag well worried me, but nobody who shot the gun ended up eating it. I originally designed the magazine to be long enough to chamber some special match ammo that the Navy uses (which is a bit longer than standard ball), but have since decided to make it just long

enough to use standard ball. If someone wants to shoot extra long rounds in a mag-fed BFG-50, they can load 'em through the ejection port. Shortening up the mag and moving the whole mag well forward as much as possible should help to allieviate the problem of getting smacked in the mouth with the mag. I am usually very concious of where my face is with respect to the mag well, but during the mayhem of the Sat. night shoot at Knob Creek with a M2HB .50 on one side, a Russian DShK on the other, the sky full of tracer ammo, explosions, dust and smoke, I'm sure I lost track. Still, I have all my teeth...I didn't get smacked at all. I plan to put some sort of a soft bumper on the back of the well just in case... maybe a Nerf football. :-) Seriously, I don't think this is a huge issue... if you're aware of the possibility of the mag well recoiling into your face, you won't let it happen. Not more than once, anyway. :-) Mark Serbu P.S. Good meeting some of you at the Creek. I'll try to post a Knob Creek report soon. I hear the guy is working really hard.... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/21/00 14:22 In Response To: Any further news on the BFG-50? Any shipped yet? (really anxious, need BIG rifle) I think the machine shops use the Bill Clinton model for customer service; say one thing, do another. Anyway, we're still lacking a couple of parts that were supposed to be in this week. They tell me Monday. We'll see. Getting very close, folks... Mark Serbu Not shipping yet, but a new slogan! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/26/00 00:41 In Response To: Serbu BFG-50 (Tim) I've been getting delayed by one of the contract machine shops I'm using, so I'm passing that delay onto you, my customers. :-) Should be ANY DAY NOW, really. Don't worry, I'll shout it far and wide when we ship the first gun. Now, those of you who've talked to me know that this slogan doesn't totally fit, but I like it anyway: Serbu Firearms... American Ingenuity German Engineering Japanese Quality French Attitude Inspected the BFG50, Talked to Serbu and shot.... Posted By: postban <postban@yahoo.com> Date: 4/18/00 07:54 In Response To: Knob Creek review from a first timer (juiceman) a bunch of lighter stuff. Due to the congestion on the line or whatever I was not able to shoot the BFG50. Initially I had a hard time finding Mark Serbu to talk to him so I just went about the show. Two friends and I went down to the lower range and rented some pretty fun guns. I shot a BAR, AK47, M60 and an M3 greasegun. I liked the AK47 and BAR the most, both were very controllable. The M3 was like shooting a 22 it was so easy to shoot. The M60 was a complete piece of crap though, seven jams in 50 rounds and I have it all on video. Anyway we went back up to the show around 2pm and I see this guy carrying a Super Shorty and knew I had found Mark S. He told me we couldn't get on the upper range to shoot (too busy) and we later found out the lower range does not allow 50 cal. So it was a kind of bummer but not at all his fault, just a busy Saturday. He invited us back Sunday but we all had to hit the road early for Michigan. I would like to make a few comments about the BFG50 though. When you first pick it up it feels like it weighs 50 pounds. The balance point is farther forward than anything else I've ever held. After a minute or two though, inspecting all the features, it began to feel real comfortable. Must have been just me thinking about launching some of that Santa Barbara I've had since January. I must admit that I did a severe no-no. I opened the bolt and closed it a few times, even tried the trigger (not bad), then my brain shut off. I closely inspected the extractor and gave it a squeeze to see how strong it was. It moved a little bit. So I squeezed a little harder (remember brain is off). To my surprise the extractor came off in my hand and to no ones surprise the ball bearing behind it shot out of the bolt. A few tense moments later my friends and Mark were able to paw around on the dirt floor of the gun show and find the missing piece. Mark got the rifle reassembled and did not even call me an ASSHOLE which I so richly deserved. I want to re-apologize for my heinous deed Mark. Please just refer to me as the "extractor clutz" from now on. The penance of having to carry the BFG50 from the show, down the 1/2 mile to the lower range was a sheer pleasure and priveledge. The looks the rifle got were amusing to say the least, mostly open-mouthed stares. I met aalbert down there (Hey man) very nice fellow. I was bummed about not being able to shoot it but then Mark said something all of us on the BFG-50 waiting list are dying to hear, "You'll have one soon enough." One last thing for you new 50 shooters. Get the best earmuffs AND EARPLUGS before you ever shoot one of these things. They literally shake the ground with each shot. The single shots are actually louder than the M2 machineguns because of the muzzlebrakes. I was filming the night shoot with just some 29 rating foam plugs in and every 50 round that went off was causing pain. It was like someone was hammering a dowel through my head. It was not as bad when I was wearing my TAC-6's earlier that day though, so maybe muffs are better. They are only rated at 19 or 21, can't recall. Knob Creek was a screaming blast and I will do it again. extractor clutz (postban) out The extractor issue... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 4/19/00 01:37 In Response To: Inspected the BFG50, Talked to Serbu and shot.... (postban) Postban, You aren't a clutz, you were a messinger sent from God to point out a flaw in the BFG-50, and I owe you big-time for it (well, not like a discount or anything :-). The BFG-50's extractor design is similar to what's used on many bolt-action rifles, and has been around a long time. A spring-loaded ball is forced up into a conical-shaped cutout in the bottom of the extractor, and that's what forces it to spring into its rest position. In normal use the extractor never comes close to overriding the ball and coming off. It is possible to take it off just by pulling it with your fingers, but it takes a bit of effort. And if you don't know about the ball and spring, you'll probably see them fly by. Anyway, after you pulled off the extractor, someone else did it later on and just pushed it back in place. When I next checked it and found the spring and ball gone, I looked to see if they had fallen into the lower. The ball had. So we went around the pole barn and found another spring which worked but wasn't quite as strong as the original. This worked through a bit of shooting, but then the extractor came off and we lost both spring and ball. Damn. So we scoured the pole barn again and found some M-16 parts that sort of worked. Anything to keep shooting... After a while on the main firing line I let

another guy shoot the rifle. He was fine until he slammed one round into battery very fast. Apparently this caused the extractor to override the (too small) ball and rest against the inside of the barrel extension. When he pulled back on the bolt the extractor jammed on a small step inside the barrel extension and wouldn't allow the bolt to come out of the gun. So here we were with a fire on the hillside on the main line, and a line which was still considered "hot" because of our screwed-up gun! We had to remove the barrel to get the fired case out, but what a hassle. That bolt and extractor had been together for 1300+ rounds with no problems. Lessons learned: 1) Always bring spare parts 2) Don't substitute gun parts 3) Assume the user will always substiute parts if he can 3) Even if there's no way the extractor will ever have to ride along the inside of the barrel extension, assume it will The fix for all this will be to make sure the barrel extensions don't have this step in them (they don't all have it). I'd considered making the extractor so that it can't be pulled off to the outside. Might still do that, too. Seems that people just can't keep their fingers off of it. :-) Mark Serbu BFG-50 report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 5/8/00 04:37

At around 3:15 am this morning, a bouncing baby BFG was born. The mother, wearing a Jackson EQC Master welding helmet and really comfy, but dirty-as-hell Tig gloves, was proud as the 52.25" long, 22-lb baby boy (named 0002) took form. The baby has yet to speak, but it's thought that his first words will be something like, "KAFUCKINGBOOM!!!!!". 0002 will be shipped to his adoptive father, Jay, later this week, after Dr. Magnaflux declares him healthy. Re: Question for Mark Serbu??? Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 5/8/00 14:37 In Response To: Question for Mark Serbu??? (gag) > Ok, How much is the BFG now? It use to say $1795. Why the price increase? It's $1975 now, but I still sell them to those who knew about the previous $1795 price, for that "old" price. Why the increase? The main reason is that I wanted to make it about the same price as a popular .50 BMG kit that's available. It's nice to be able to offer a complete gun which costs less than a kit, but it makes people worry. I bet if I upped the price to $2195 the gun-buying public would feel better about it, but I wouldn't. At $1975 I'm making a fair profit and people are getting a good deal. That's the way it should be.

***** THE FIRST BFG-50 SHIPS !!! ***** Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 5/15/00 17:46 Finally!! Yay!!! We've just found a new "stunt welder" to take over welding duties from me, so things should really start moving now. And, if you can imagine, the welds will look even better! :-) We'll definitely be celebrating at Hooters after leaving the shop tonight. Thanks to all who've shown incredible patience over the last many moons; I really appreciate it. I never would have thought that a gun which was designed in a day and built in 3 weeks would take 11 more months to get into production. And I never would have thought that I could have bought another house with the money it took to get this project going. But, hey, it worked out. BFG-50 buyers, have a drink on me! (but you pay for it). :-) Gun #0002 is shown below, just before we boxed it up. I hope to have a bunch more pics on the web page soon. Mark Serbu I won't leave you hanging... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@aol.com> Date: 5/22/00 01:15 In Response To: Original plan was Versapod, now I gotta buy .?.... (HELLS BELLS!!!) We'll be doing a Parker Hale/Versa Pod lug as well as the M60 lug. I shot the prototype BFG-50 with the Versa Pod for over 1000 rounds and it never broke. But it's wobbly, looks crappy, and made me feel homeless (or at least underpriviledged) to have it on my gun. We'll be doing a quick-release M-60 lug in the future (first one to bug me about it gets the random-release version). :-) Mark Serbu

Scope rings, anyone? (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 5/22/00 12:20

Well, I finally thought of the name of the supplier of the Russian-made rings that I use on my BFG-50. These are very well made rings, all machined from bar stock. They're made for 30mm scopes, though 1" inserts are available. Parkerized finish. I've used them for years on various guns and they've never let the scope slip (you can see in the pic...this combination has been together for over 1200 rounds of .50 BMG). The best part is that it looks like I'll be able to sell these things for $75/set, delivered. BFG-50 buyers will get a discount on top of that (probably 20%). Please email me if you're interested; I need to get an idea of how many of these things I should order. Thanks, Mark Serbu Re: Questions from a 50 newbie Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 5/30/00 02:53 Shane, Two words: PRIMARY EXTRACTION. Funny, the only guns I've ever seen which don't have primary extraction were .50 BMG rifles. They should include a rubber mallet with the gun. :-) Gregg's caution above iswell-intentioned, I'm sure, but misplaced, I think. Most gun designers I've talked to neglect the effect that the case wall sticking inside the chamber has on the bolt. It's more conservative to leave it out, so we do. With any reasonable safety factor you'd be okay anyway, whether the effect was neglected or not. That being said, as a manufacturer I officially I have to say: "Don't do it! Don't ever put case lube on your cases before firing". :-) Mark Serbu P.S. I'd personally have my mother-in-law try the gun with lubed cases just to see if it has any effect. If it works, great! If the gun blows up, hey...I've lost my mother-in-law! :-)

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/6/00 18:41 For those of you wondering why you haven't heard about 10-20 guns going out last week, here's why: The production hammers (yes, this is a hammer-fired bolt gun...odd but true) were designed to cock back several degrees farther than the prototype hammer, in order to more reliably fire hard-primered ammo. Because of this, one could no longer recock the hammer simply by lifting the bolt; you had to lift the handle and pull back the bolt a bit. To me this was unacceptable. If you do need to recock the hammer to attempt a second strike on a round which didn't go off, it decreases the pucker factor immeasurably to be able to just lift the handle and quickly bring it back down again. It seemed a no-brainer to modify the cocking cam in the bolt body to allow the hammer to be cocked with just a 90-degree rotation of the bolt. Wrong. I'm just very glad to have a CNC machine to use, or else this iterative process would have taken months instead of several days. So I figured out how to make the bolt bodies, and we made a dozen of them. (See the pic...you can see the odd-shaped cutout, and the hammer). They're in heat treat now. Because we weren't tooled up correctly for high production on these parts, they were slow to make. Now we ARE tooled up, and will have our PHD (push here, dummy) working the CNC mill to get these things done in large quantities. The dozen bolts will be back in a day or two, and a dozen guns will be ready to test fire. Assuming the magnaflux process isn't too bad (the guy tells me that the guns have to be very well rinsed to get all the iron particles out), and assuming the cases arrive, we'll be shipping some more guns out very, very soon. Mark Serbu More... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/7/00 11:27 In Response To: Re: BFG-50 Update... (Robby) Jeeeez...I guess I should have just kept my mouth shut on that one, huh? Don't misunderstand...the only BFG-50 which has a different bolt is the prototype. I seem to remember hearing about some gun company which had to send out a modified firing spring kit...hmmmmm...who was that? :-) In any case, there's another feature on the BFG-50 that deserves mention. Because of the way the hammer is cammed back by the cutout in the bolt, you can actually see the hammer being cocked through the cutout. What this means is that with about 40-degrees of bolt handle lift, you can actually stick a dowel or some sort of rod in through the cutout and cock the hammer back manually. So you can recock the hammer with the lugs still engaged; so far this hasn't been needed (I haven't had any hangfires with gun #0001).

Even though it's hammer-fired... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/7/00 19:33 In Response To: Re: More... (Rich Z.) It's still basically a cock-on-opening. Hey, that sounds pretty crude! Anyway, once the bolt handle is lifted the slightest bit it starts camming the hammer back. The hammer can't physically reach the firing pin until the bolt handle is totally down. Look at the picture again and try to imagine the hammer plowing through heat-treated steel to get to the firing pin. :-) >Hmm. Maybe I don't understand this procedure completely, but what happens if >the hammer slips off of the dowel when it is ALMOST back far enough back to >catch on the trigger/sear? Does the bolt handle being lifted disengage the >firing pin?

CASES...(pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/7/00 19:47 In Response To: Re: BFG-50 Update...CASES (LL) I'm having a BUNCH drop shipped here. They're pretty cheap ($27 each!) so I'm just including them at cost along with shipping. Here's one that #0002 went out in.

BFG Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/14/00 15:36 In Response To: BFGs before July? Any idea?...ntx (Jay Bell....waiting for #0008) We have about 30 guns that are completely together except for one welding step. By next week we'll probably have double that number. Still have only 12 bolts, though, but that'll change very quickly. Proof testing of the first dozen will take place early next week, so it looks like we'll really be shipping next week. Note that this is not the same "next week" that I've been saying for the last several weeks. :-) Mark Serbu

Well, IT broke... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/16/00 03:02 In Response To: Re: BFG Report...--60 (LL) Tim drove all the way down from North Georgia just to shoot the BFG-50! The least I could do was let him run a belt through the M-60 as well. Turns out the recoil spring guide rod has a pressed-on head which became un-pressed-on while Tim was shooting the gun. It made the spring jump out of line with the bolt, and stop the gun. No big deal; it's already fixed. My employee, Walter, had a worse time...he accidentally touched the barrel of the '60 after we'd just run a 200-round belt through it. Yeow . Russian Scope Rings for Sale (pic)... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/21/00 01:29

They're here! No more having to spend $125 for rings that look like they were cast in kitty litter. These machined steel, Russian-made 30mm rings are the best bang for the buck in scope rings. I've been using a set for years on my .50 BMG rifles and love 'em. Black oxide finish, $75 for a set of 30 mm rings, $85 with 1" inserts (as shown in picture below). BFG-50 buyers take 20% off those prices. All prices are plus actual shipping charges ($5 or less). Follow the link to the web site for contact info. Best bet is to leave your information and credit card info (all major cards accepted) on the answering machine, or send an email. And be patient. :-) Thanks, Mark Serbu Bet the Feds shut down Serbu before he Posted By: anon AMAC owner(Frank) Date: 6/21/00 09:07 can deliver all those BFG's. Also bet they trump up some fake charge so they can get his customer list. Glad I bought the AMAC. The War has started. Shots to be fired at Jarbidge. Lock and load .If you can read this YOU are on their LIST. BFG-50 update... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/23/00 15:19 We've got a dozen receivers completed, and another 30+ that are a 3-minute weld step away from completion. If, for some reason, I....uh....wasn't around, my other guys know how to do all the welding operations needed to complete all of the parts that we have. So we can have 100+ guns done (done, as in completed to the point where they're legally considered firearms) in a day if need be. Not that this is a concern. We still haven't done the proof testing, but hope to get to it over the weekend. There's just so much going on. Hang in there, folks. Mark Serbu P.S. Never mind about the picture. :-) Introducing the S.L.U.T.

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/2/00 01:40

It took a lot longer to make than initially thought (of course), but it's finally here: the Serbu Low-mount Universal Tester, or S.L.U.T. for short. Since there's a shortage of qualified dirtbags to drop the hammer on proof rounds, I decided to make a test stand. The special BFG-50 shown is made from receiver #0029...thanks, Brian! :-) The ammo box is actually my welding seat, and it's full of live ammo. If there's ever a big fire, I won't have to know about it! Seriously, it's U.S. 1943 tracer, made for export to Guatemala. It's boxer-primed but corrosive and the tracer generally doesn't work. Nice box, though. Bipod help... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/2/00 12:37

I'm hearing more and more that M-60 bipods are sold out all over the place, and it doesn't seem like a good idea to rely on finding a source on them. So I've finally gone and designed one for the BFG-50. Below is a picture of the CAD image. At this point, the legs aren't adjustable in height; I find that I never extend them on my M-60 bipod. This bipod will be made from laser cut pieces, standard square tubing, and simple machined parts. I should be able to sell it for $100 or less. I'd appreciate all comments on this design, or on bipods in general. Thanks, Mark Serbu

Unintentional proof round (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/5/00 00:29

Had a good time at the Hernando, FL shoot today. Wish I'd taken some pictures. I put 95 rounds of Norinco ammo through my BFG-50 and it worked great. That stuff chambers and ejects beautifully. No, didn't to any serious target shooting today...try that at a machine gun shoot sometime! Anyway, after I shot up the single tin of Norinco ammo that I brought, I switched to TNW AP ammo. If this ammo was a child, it would be an ugly, red-headed stepchild! Very nasty looking, and many bullets weren't even close to being straight with respect to the brass. Much of it chambered with some difficulty. Ejection? Forget it! I had to bang the bolt handle on the shooting bench with almost every round! One round (pictured below), obviously was WAY overpressured. It didn't feel any different to shoot, but I noticed the "flaws" in the brass while cleaning off the bench. The small circle to the right of the "6-69" was where the brass tried to flow into the ejector pin hole!! That is some SERIOUS pressure! Also notice that the primer flattened out and the fp dimple is now a nipple. I'll be proof testing at the Hernando range on Thursday morning (right, Dick?), and I'll let you all know if the proof rounds show the same pressure signs as this round did. I'm pretty sure they won't...I'd bet this round was way above proof pressure. Serbu .50 Posted By: Philip H. Dater Date: 7/3/00 08:25 I have a lot of anxiety about the .50 cartridge. It is absolutelt unforgiving. However, about 3 weeks ago I had an opportunity to closely examine one of Serbu's current generation of BFG-50 rifles. The design is well thought out and well executed. Unlike virtually all bolt action weapons out there, the firing mechanism is not a striker in the bolt but rather a hammer in the trigger group. This one feature makes the possibility of an out-of-lock discharge impossible. Although weighing only 22 pounds, the weapon is well designed for strength. mark did a good job, and his understanding of solid engineering principles is excellent. Although I don't really like the .50 cartridge, I felt comfortable firing the weapon. Recoil is not unpleasant, and even from a kneeling position, I could hit what I was aiming at about 500 yards away.

BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/8/00 23:15 Proof tested on Thursday, and everything went great. The test stand recoiled about 3 feet with every shot, and caused range officer/ammo slave Dick and I to chuckle every time it did. A dozen bolts and barrels were tested (bolts being the limiting factor for now). Interestingly, NONE of the proof rounds showed pressure signs even close to the "standard" TNW round from Tuesday's shoot. The dozen bolts and barrels go to the Magnaflux guy on Monday. He promises a quick turnaround (like, a day). 12 guns (#0003-#0014) are completely finished and in cases, awaiting

barrels and bolts. I have no doubt whatsoever that these 12 guns will ship before Christmas!! :-) Of course, we're constantly working on putting more guns together and making more bolts; finally getting this process rolling!

Mark Serbu BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/13/00 17:31 Proof testing, magnafluxing and test firing on this latest (first?) batch is DONE. Brought 10 guns to the range (all I had room for!) today, all did fine. No surprises except for auto-ejecting primers on a couple of those Norinco rounds. Will ship as many guns as possible tomorrow. Now we just have to repeat, repeat, repeat... Mark Serbu P.S. That really sucks about Bob. I hope he has SOME good news down the road. P.P.S. The gun in the pic doesn't have a receiver end cap on it. It will get one, don't have a cow! :-) P.P.P.S. Yes, Thunderbird, the gun in the pic is the same one I've had all along, and those are just empty cases behind it, purely for show. The scam contiunes. :- Well... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/4/00 09:40 In Response To: Please Master Serbu, What say ye? (dicolas) Been busting ass here. Putting lots of BFG-50s together, but still no bolt bodies. The CNC makes them in under 10 minutes, but the setup is critical and takes some time to do. Now, the SIRIS suppressed .22 pistols have just been moved off of my shit list. The fluting of the suppressor tubes used to take an hour, but now takes 4 minutes on the CNC! The pic below was taken at 2000rpm and 20 ipm, for you machinist types. Mark Serbu

BFG-50 Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/5/00 13:01 Bolt bodies! Those are (still!) the current bane of our existence. The BFG-50 bolts are made from two pieces which are welded together; a "real" machine shop made the heads, we're making the tubular bodies. Got plenty of stock faced off and ready to go in the machine and the programming is all done, but the setup has yet to be perfected. Maybe today... The good part is that each bolt body takes less than 10 minutes to make. I don't even want to think about how long the first ones took! We're welding guns together on a daily basis, so there'll be plenty of homes for the bolts once they are done. As usual, thanks for your patience.

Mark Serbu SUCCESS!! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/9/00 02:33 Finally, we're making bolt bodies! If I'd known it was going to be this much "fun", I wound have handed this job off to a real machine shop months ago. But, hey, now we have at least one part that we can count on getting exactly when we want it! For those who care about the tech stuff: 5 different tools are used to make this part. A .25" diameter carbide end mill makes the main hammer-camming cutout, and it spins at 3800rpm and moves at 30ipm. The whole part takes less than 10 minutes to make (I'll know exact numbers soon...still tweaking the program), so we'll definitely have the first couple hundred bolts out by Christmas. :-) Mark Serbu Yes Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/30/00 00:14 In Response To: Did BFG bolts ever return from heat treating?... -NTXT (Bob; Club Serbu #177) Got 'em back from heat treat and proofed 'em on the same day. We're shipping guns again, and will definitely be picking up the pace from here on out. Walter is now "authorized" to put the guns together, so progress can be made even when I'm trekking around the country transforming cute, innocent animals into hamburger. Monday's shipment (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 9/16/00 05:55

Almost got 'em out today but the UPS guy was early. BFG-50 Report...BIG NEWS! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/2/00 02:02

The big news is that Walter Keller is now a FULL-TIME employee of Serbu Firearms, Inc.! Much of our slow production problem has been because we've had to work around Walter's "day job", but now building BFG-50s IS his day job! Today is his first full day on the job, and he'll be chained to the CNC mill making bolt bodies. We plan to have all rifles through serial #0050 welded up by the end of the week and will be test firing as many as we have bolts and barrels proofed for sometime this week. The magazine thing has become a fiasco. The sheet metal shop I use took forever to get around to making parts per the latest drawing, only to end up NOT using the latest drawing but making two sets of parts

from the old one. Jeez. That is one of the reasons I haven't posted too many updates lately...sometimes if you peek behind the curtain at the wrong time you'll catch the actors walking around in circles with their pants down around their ankles, and their eyes pinwheeling (or something like that...fell free to substitute your own, less perverse scenario). Anyway, the addition of Walter as a full-time employee should really up our output...I'll keep you posted. Mark Serbu P.S. For those who are worried that there's bad blood between Barrett's stoog...uh...employees (Tony and Sheri) and us, don't worry...it's all in good fun. No hard feelings there. Well, until we show them what we're bringing to Knob Creek, anyway. :-) P.P.S. Below is an example of the engraving we're now doing in-house, in lieu of the laser engraving we used on the first 50. This is not a barrel extension that we're using...all the good ones have a machined finish, not the mill scale that you see on this one. Re: BFG, GemTech and warranties Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/6/00 10:37 In Response To: BFG, GemTech and warranties (andy b.) It's no accident that Serbu Firearms' "warranty" is the same as Gemtech's (and Ruger's, for that matter). Phil Dater is a friend of mine, and was the one who warned me about the pitfalls (legal-wise...see the Magnuson-Moss Act) of offering a lifetime warranty. As you probably know, Gemtech and Serbu Firearms both have very good reputations for customer service; We've (Serbu Firearms) had products screw up or have had parts break over the years and have ALWAYS fixed the problems, no charge, no hassles. Ironically, if I were a dishonest person I'd yell, "LIFETIME WARRANTY" from the treetops, hoping to snare every last sucker I could find. The bottom line is that we stand behind our products, period. Would you rather buy something from a company that has a good reputation but no written warranty, or buy from a company that runs out of a garage, just got into the business but offers a lifetime warranty? Mark Serbu BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/10/00 19:07 We test-fired 9 guns today and are ready to ship them out tomorrow. For the first time today, Walter got to realize that dream of many...he got paid to shoot guns! :-) (it's not always that glorious, right Tony?). Speaking of Walter, his first week as full-time assistant Satan in charge of manufacturing weapons of mass death and destruction saw a lot accomplished. We built 12 guns in the first 3 days of last week, and we've now welded up through serial number #0050. There's a batch of 40 bolts that we hope to get to heat treat tomorrow, and we should be having a session with the S.L.U.T. when we get back from Knob Creek. We've got another machine shop making us parts, and I think the guy is pretty new to the business. His parts are excellent quailty and his prices are way too low (heh, heh). I won't have the big "October surprise" ready for Knob Creek (Tony and Sheri, your jobs are secure for another couple of weeks :-), but hope to have the mag-fed gun working. We'll see. Mark Serbu Knob Creek Report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/16/00 07:03 Just got back after driving all night. We'll be starting work at around 4:00pm today, instead of our usual "early" 10:00 am or so. On the way to the Creek, Walter and I stopped by the lair of our enemy, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing in the booming madhouse that is Murfeesboro, TN (a joke, of course...there's NOTHING there!!) We finally got to meet Sheri in person, and she made us sign in (security, security!). Being a funny guy, under the "Comments" section of the sign-in sheet, I wrote, "We make better guns!". Hope someone doesn't pop an artery over that one. Sheri showed us around the office section, and Tony took us on a plant tour. Kinda neat seeing a room full of .50 BMG rifles ready to ship out. Most impressive of the whole plant was the INDOOR 100-yard range! It was basically an above-ground tunnel-building, and made test firing a breeze (well, except for the poor souls who had to fire thousands of .50 BMG rounds a week :-). Got to meet some sort of higher up program manager type guy who seemed cordial enough, but was probably screaming inside (ever see the movie, Scanners? :-) Sheri tried to shoulder a BFG-50 in the parking lot, but wasn't doing so well. Guess it's not bullpuppy enough. Anyway, we got to Knob Creek at around 6:00pm on Thursday, and got set up at our table. Thanks a bunch to Mike (MMAG) who let us use the table! The whole weekend is a blur...talked to a BUNCH of people, sold some SUPER-SHORTY shotguns, blew up a couple of explosive charges on the main firing line with my BFG, etc., etc. Walter did very well, and sold out almost all of the stuff (Sten parts, etc.) that he brought. I was surprised when Tony and Sheri really DID show up. They brought us a chocolate chip cookie cake, which we suspected was poisoned, of course. If it was poisoned, it was a good-tasting variety! Found out that Tony's wife is a very good sport, luckily. Too much to tell and I'm too tired. Might post more later. Mark Serbu

BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/19/00 18:43

We've just finished welding up and parkerizing through gun #0050. FINALLY! We just got a batch of 39 bolts back from heat treat, and will be having a long session with the S.L.U.T. on Tuesday, proofing all those bolts and barrels to go with them. We'll be shipping through #0050 by the end of next week, most likely. It's really nice having Walter around here full-time now; even when I'm away at my Sierra Club, ACT UP, PETA, NAMBLA and AA meetings, he's still there at the shop, working away. (uh, yes...that was a joke) :-) Mark Serbu BFG-50 / Talon ammo test report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 11/15/00 15:19 Just got back from the range. Walter and I test-fired 10 BFGs in 5 minutes and 12 seconds. A new record! We took along some Talon remanufactured ball ammo in place of our beloved Chinese Norinco shit ammo, and this stuff is GREAT! Beautiful condition, and very easy to load and extract. Can't tell you about accuracy from our outing today, of course, but look at it this way ....this is just like top-notch military ammo at a surplus import crap price. It's probably accurate enough for most guys' purposes, and it's reloadable. I think Eric at ammoman.com sells Talon for $1.40/round delivered. It gets my full-on robot chubby award (see Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey if you don't get the reference). Mark Serbu

Serbu Firearms' new secretary (yes, pic!) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 11/16/00 13:58

I know, what are the odds of another .50 manufacturer having a secretary named after an alcoholic drink? Anyway, Brandy's first task here was to get coffee! Really! Feel free to call the shop today; she'll be answering the phone for the next hour or so. Mark Serbu You guys aren't going to believe this... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 11/17/00 15:17

Yvette, our bookkeeper, stopped by today. Yes, she always dresses this way. Funny, when she comes by my neighbors here at the shop complex get really friendly, and love to stop by and chat. :-) She's been working for us for almost a year, I think, but I haven't thought to post her picture before. When I told her about all the fuss Brandy's picture caused and asked if she would mind if I posted hers, she said she didn't. So here ya go. Mark Serbu P.S. Birdman...I already asked her for you... she says that she prefers reality to fantasy, tardy or not. :-) P.P.S. Yes, there are fewer guns on the table today. Re: Problem with BFG Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 11/28/00 03:30 In Response To: Problem with BFG (mike lombardi) Sorry to hear you're having problems, Mike. Unfortunately Serbu Firearms has no warranty, so please kiss my ass. :-) Seriously, the scope base/rail assemblies are all milled true after welding, and are self-aligning after that. In theory (and proven in practice most times so far :-), the scope mount can't be at an angle (well, laterally) with respect to the bore. But sheeeeeeeit happens, and we'll be glad to fix it if it really is messed up. Speaking of problems with the BFG, there is a problem with the bipod lug- the piece that the M-60 bipod mounts to. The lugs were being made out of mild steel and case hardened. The case depth specified was .015, but no maximum depth was given on the drawing. Since heat treat shops charge substantially more for an even slightly greater depth, I didn't think I had to worry about specifying a maximum depth. Silly me. The shop tagged my job along with another job which required a MUCH greater case depth (budding gun designers take note; heat treating is one of the trickiest parts of the job). So basically the lug is glass hard and will break off if you look at it wrong. Well, it's not that bad; we've only had to replace 3 or 4 so far, but we're having lugs made of 4140 now and they'll be hardened differently. Because we don't offer any kind of a written warranty, those of you who complain about your lug breaking will receive a faxed image of my extended middle finger. Seriously, once they're done we'll be sending the new lugs to everyone who has a BFG-50. Sorry for the hassle. Mark Serbu

BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 11/30/00 17:40

Today was range day, and we test-fired through #0069. We'll have up through #0080 built by tomorrow, but can't test-fire until another S.L.U.T. session next week. We've got another 50 barrels and bolts to proof test. I almost had a prototype bipod done last weekend, but decided to change a couple of things. May have one this weekend. (BTW, if anyone feels like giving me some hints on the subtle hassles involved in going from G40 to G41/G42 programming, please let me know!) Got a prototype magazine working well; just have to find the right sheet metal shop to make parts. Looks like our part-time welder, Kevin (aka Welder-Boy), may come on board full-time very soon! We've been building 10+ guns per week for the last few weeks, but with Welder-Boy around who knows how many we'll be able to make? Mark Serbu Yet another sub 1-year delivery :-) BFG50 #0084 compared to M99-----> ~32 PIX~ Posted By: postban <postban@yahoo.com> Date: 1/4/01 10:01 I picked up my long anticipated BFG50 last night. It arrived at my dealer last Thursday but he was away "up north" so an additional 6 days were added to the total of 361 days since deposit. This marks a special point in my shooting "career". I have never anticipated something so greatly as the arrival of a weapon as I had this one. Literally dozens of weapons have come and gone from my grasp without anywhere near the level of emotion, ansgt and desire that this one has wrought. I know that all you guys out there in the +0085 range are dying to get your rifles. Maybe these pics will help you [somewhat] during the production delay. At least you can get real close to the screen and sniff the shipping oil. ;-) Upon opening the Contico Double Rifle case and hefting #0084 my initial impression was one of good balance. The BFG50's center of balance (sans scope, rings and bipod, fresh from the box) is farther back than my M99. The first few trigger pulls reminded me of Marks recent mention of a match trigger. Turns out the trigger pull is heavier than my scale can read (>6.5 lbs). The bolt is effortless to open or close, less effort than a common light switch. If I invert the gun (with the bolt closed initially) it will fall open. There is no "tight lockup" as with the M99. The camming action of the bolt recess works well and recocking is low-effort. This next part has me concerned. When in the closed (handle down) position, the bolt will move forward-and-back several thousandths of an inch. I cannot tell how much exactly but it would be several thicknesses of a piece of paper forward and back. You can make it "click forward" (hitting the front of the bolt slot and "click backward" hitting the rear of the bolt slot. I might be misjudging that it is hitting the bolt slot. It might be hitting the front and back of the lugs inside the barrel extension but it is definetly movable along the axis of the bore. I checked the bolt handle, thinking it might be loose and account for the motion detected, it was not (see below). I am going to get some feeler guages and measure it. Anyone else experience this? I hesitate to call it "bolt slop" until I know if it is supposed to be this loose. Had a minor problem during the first bolt removal. The little screw that holds the bolt handle was very tightly installed. When removed it lost the top thread (closest to the head). I can't tell what would do this. It was not crossthreaded but the top thread just came off in my hand. I reinstalled it with less pressure, just snugged it up, for fear of shearing off any more threads. Are there any inch/pound torque ratings for this fastener? The scope mount appears straight so no concern like the other fellow of last month. The amount of clearance around the barrel at the forend cap is uneven. There is more clearance at the top than at the bottom. I also noticed that the front left side of the trigger guard has a 3mm sized ding in it. The finished is marred and the metal is deformed too. Not sure where that happened since it has only been in the case. Please take a look at the pictures. There are quite a few differences in these two rifles. Also take a look at the BFG History Album, some neat pics in there.

postban out

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/4/01 20:00 In Response To: BFG50 #0084 compared to M99-----> ~32 PIX~ (postban) Postban, I'm glad to hear that #0084 is finally home. I'm really surprised that the balance point is farther back than the 99's. After shooting bullpup .50s, I really noticed how far forward the balance point is on the BFG (it's right around the forward edge of the scope base, for those scoring at home). Don't worry about the "bolt slop"; there won't be any with a round chambered. As for the "heavy" trigger, I, like most designers, want a trigger that will only allow a round to go off when the shooter really, really wants it to. This is all the more important in a "general purpose" .50 BMG rifle. You've got to admit that it's a pretty crisp trigger with very little creep; not SKS-like in the least. It looks like the match trigger will require about 1/4 the effort, for what it's worth. I don't know how the trigger guard ding got there...okay, I do know. It's all Walter's fault. :-) We'll gladly trade you another trigger group. Say the word and we'll send another. You can wait until you receive it so you don't lose any range or fondle time. :-) We'll all be looking forward to your range reports, I'm sure. Thanks for the first product comparison of these two popular guns. Mark Serbu SHOT show report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/15/01 00:03 Walter and I went to the show, but didn't get a booth this time. We brought a BFG-50 along and kept it under a friend's table. We took the gun around to show various people, or brought them to it. The show was HUGE, as usual, and the 3 days we had there weren't enough. I managed to make the rounds of all the .50 rifle manufacturers, I think, and there was certainly some interesting stuff. I saw the FN/Hecate II rifle which was nice, but very expensive ($12,000, I think). It was a standard bolt action, mag-fed .50 BMG rifle which was well made, but not worth $12,000! Not in my book, anyway. There was an interesting Czech-made .50 BMG rifle there which had a novel magazine. The mag was an internal 2-shot located aft of the grip, making this rifle a bullpup. The gun had a very cool barrel attachment method. Just press a lever, turn the barrel 90 degrees and pull it out. The gun had a neat spring-loaded dust cover which was moved out of the way by the bolt, and went back into place when the action was closed. Beautiful machining (typical Czech), but I guess you'd expect that on yet another $12,000 gun. I finally got to meet Bill Ritchie and see the Windrunner. You know, I've been dying to say this, and I forgot to ask him...why the hell did he give a gun a damn sailboat name? :-) Anyway, Bill's gun is very cool for sure. Very well made, super slick action and reportedly very accurate. $7200 is a lot of money, but when you compare it to the $12,000 European offerings, it's a deal. Bill's a nice guy and is sending me a factory second magazine to see if I can use it in the BFG. I met Ken and Peggy Johnson in Bill's booth, and they're really great people. As I said in another post, I'll be ordering one of their titanium muzzle brakes this week. If it works half as well on the BFG as it did on John Ross' 16-pound .50 rifle, we should have a gun with just about zero recoil. I visited the McBros booth, and talked to Rock McMillan a bit. No new .50 stuff in their booth (that I could see), but they had a really cool bolt action (.308?) target rifle that they've now got in production. The trigger was amazing! It's a tubular receivered rifle with a lower sort of like an AR-15... very BFG-50-like! :-) I went to the Armalite booth and visited with Mark Westrom for a bit. That guy has a good sense of humor! We talked .50s a bit, but I was more excited about another upcoming product of theirs... they're re-introducing the AR-180! It's not exactly like the original, but is very close and has some neat improvements. Retail to be under $600. I've got a mint 1970's Costa Mesa AR-18 (the full-auto cousin) and it's one of my favorite guns. I brought the BFG-50 over to the Barrett booth and said to Chris Barrett, "Hey, somebody said we could display this here". He laughed, then immediately went to work checking out the enemy hardware. He jealously pulled the trigger repeatedly, trying to discern the source of it's magic. :-) Okay, I'm BSing a bit, but he did check the gun out. I also met Mary Pat and George at the Barrett booth. Great people. I realized that Chris Barrett looks a lot like that actor who played the guy who built the remote control gun aiming mechanism in the movie, "The Jackal". Remember...the guy who Bruce Willis made hold the cigarette pack out and got his arm blown off? I asked a few other people if they thought Chris looked like that guy, and they agreed. I hung out with Chris a bit; always nice to talk shop, mixed with a bit of verbal jousting. He's a good sport and a fairly talented designer. :-) I finally got to see the take-down .50 BMG rifle that's made by Anzio Ironworks, just 20 minutes South of us in St. Petersburg, FL. It's a very unconventional design, and has some unique features (wait...did I just say the same thing twice?). The trigger is incredible. Hey, I just realized...does this gun have a name? Anyway, as far as I know, it's the only .50 BMG rifle that can break down and fit in a briefcase. I hope these guys will post some info and pics on the board here someday. I spoke with the designer of this rifle a bit, and he told me some "funny" stuff that I'm not sure I wanted to know! Turns out these guys made the rounds of some of the same machine shops that we use. They saw some of our parts being made and know of one shop that totally screwed up our receiver tubes (the last time they were made) and had to remake them. I never knew about that, but then the father's always the last to know, right? :-) At LAR's booth, I saw the primary extraction cam mod that they're doing. Nice job. No more pounding those bolt handles! They had a video running of various animals getting shot with their guns. Neat! Saw some Accuracy International .50s there. Very beautiful gun, but the rumor is that they don't shoot well. Can anyone confirm that? $12,000ish. 'Nuff said. I missed it, but Walter said he saw a Pauza semi-auto .50 there, and that they're still making them. I thought they were long gone. All in all, the SHOT show was a great experience. Saw some incredible stuff, heard some good gossip, made some connections and had a great time. My friends and I hung out in the French Quarter a couple of nights and it was wild, mostly thanks to SHOT show attendees who swarmed the place. If only the rest of the country could see what a great bunch gun people really are (especially .50 people)! Back to work for us this week... hope we get some receiver tubes !!

Mark Serbu BFG-50 Bipod update Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/17/01 18:44 From a contact at the SHOT show, we've just ordered a couple of bipods to try on the BFG-50. We've got our own design, of course, but it's so much easier to buy them if possible! The ones we ordered are made with loving care by Chinese prisioners in their native land. If they turn out to be high quality enough and strong enough, we may still have to mod them a bit (shorten) in order for them to work on the BFG. They're very reasonably priced, so there won't be any sticker shock for anyone. Cross your fingers... Mark Serbu You're welcome. And by the way... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/18/01 01:38 In Response To: Thanks, Mark !! (raymond-) Anyone with a BFG-50 under serial number 0060 or so that has an old bipod lug, please contact me about getting a new one (free, of course). Only a few of the old lugs have failed, but why take the chance when it can mean dumping your gun off the bipod (assuming you have one... yuk, yuk :-) The easiest way to tell an old lug from a new one is that the old ones have an undercut at the shoulder between the small diameter "bolt" and large diameter "lug". The small diameter is .500", which is undercut to .480" at the shoulder. The new lugs have a small radius here instead of an undercut. Another way to tell that you have an old lug is that it's broken in half. :-) Mark Serbu AT LAST!!! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/22/01 21:46

Well, we finally made it to BFG-50 serial number 100! I know, by my original estimates we should have been there in early February...of 2000! :-) But, hey, we've done it and I hope we've given the .50 BMG world a good choice for those looking for a bolt-action rifle. Since we first offered the BFG-50 back in August of 1999, the .50 scene has changed a lot. Ammo has become much more available and has decreased in cost quite a bit. There are many choices in .50 BMG rifles, where there used to be only a few. LOTS of people are buying .50 BMG rifles now, so who knows...maybe we'll even have a strong voice in the NRA someday. The Biggerhammer board has grown from a place where there were about 6 posts a week to what it is now; THE place on the internet to discuss .50 BMG. I owe a lot to Biggerhammer and Andy Albert, and to all my customers (followers :-), friends, critics, enemies (you know, those Barrett employees :-), experts, etc. The .50 community is a pretty terrific one, and I'm proud that I could be a part of it in this way. Thank you all! Mark Serbu P.S. I'll be posting a BFG-50 report in the next several days...once I get these tears out of my eyes. :-) Re: BFG TRIGGER Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 3/2/01 23:09 In Response To: BFG TRIGGER (Jeff BFG #29) I've designed a match hammer which uses a compression spring instead of a torsion spring, and will be really spiffy. It'll also be a pain in the but to impliment, and will be done with my usual speed. :-) Tomorrow I'm going to mod a standard hammer by removing the excess material below the sear engagement notch, and change the sear angle from 2-degrees to 0-degrees. Quick and dirty fix, but WTF? If it works well (oh, and is SAFE) we'll go with it for now. I still intend to do a "real" match hammer as described above. Mark Serbu P.S. Good one, Phat 40. I was still laughing as I barked out orders over the telephone to the Club Serbu Hit Squad. They should be at your place right about......NOW!! :-)

Update... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 3/4/01 16:19 In Response To: Re: BFG TRIGGER (Mark Serbu) I modified a hammer yesterday, and got down to a 2-pound pull with no creep. Well, there was SOME creep...the fact that it's creepy having a gun with this kind of power with a trigger that light! We're going to play around with this a bit before we decide that it's a worthy and safe mod to the hammer. Mark Serbu BFG-50 report! Posted By: Mark Serbu <serbushop@aol.com> Date: 3/9/01 19:02 It's been a heck of a week! Kevin (AKA Welder-Boy) started with us essentially full-time on Monday. What a difference! We now have receivers through serial number 0144 completed. (so for the love of God, #143 is now officially a gun! :-) While test-firing yesterday we let Kevin fire a BFG-50 for the first time. He was amazed at the blast. He also got to fire a Sten submachine gun, so he's no longer a machine gun virgin. Since I don't have to weld any more I've been freed up to do the tasks I've been trying to get to for months. I've got a new gun modified for a magazine. The mag will stick out the left side at a 27-degree down angle. I hope to be test-firing this gun with the mag on next Thursday's outing (our weekly test-fire day). Videos to follow, assuming my main computer is fixed by then. I've got 90% of the prototype bipod done, and it's looking good. Some parts will be cast, while others will be laser cut. Because of the time it takes to make the mold (for the investment casting), these things are still a couple of months out from being in production. We finally got all our bolt heads in (which we ordered in December!) and are busy making bolt bodies. We should have the whole lot done, heat-treated and proof tested within a couple of weeks. So look for the BFGs to finally start moving out of here in quantity very shortly. Really! Mark Serbu BFG-50: Getting there... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 3/16/01 13:22 Just waiting on trigger groups to come back from the investment casting shop...due here next week. I'm machining magazine well and bipod parts now; hope to have that sorted out in the next few days, finally. Mark Serbu P.S. This is a REAL picture, not a Birdman mockup!! :-) BFG-50 report...MAG-FED! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 3/22/01 17:34

Had a great day at the range today. The S.L.U.T. now has 30 more proof rounds under it's belt (dress?). To break the monotony of firing guns for a living, we brought an interesting target along; a window-mount air conditioning unit. It was no match for .50 BMG API rounds, and I have video to prove it! :-) When I get my main computer fixed I'll be posting the videos. We finally got a mag-fed rifle together and I shot it at the range today. FUN! For a serious bench shooter the magazine probably won't add much, but for someone who likes to put lots of rounds down range it's a godsend. I hope to have the sheet metal parts done in the next few weeks, so FINALLY we should be shipping some mag guns soon. More pics of the mag gun coming, once I get it "prettied up". Mark Serbu

Mag well placement Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/1/01 21:55 In Response To: serbu (mark) No, it's not for strength reasons. The receiver is .120" wall, heat-treated 4130 tubing; plenty strong even with two large cutouts, adjacent or not. The main reason for the side-mounted mag is space. The magazine wants to be right were the trigger housing is. I guess I could build a version with the magazine straight down, but then the trigger group would have to stick out either the left or right side, homey. :-) Mark Serbu BFG-50 report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/1/01 22:41 We have a LOT of guns sitting around nearly completed, and now we're just waiting on one part! (aren't we always?) The trigger groups on all future guns will be investment castings, and I'm very happy with how they're working out. The sample in the pic below was one of a dozen test pieces that the foundry sent just to make sure we like 'em. We do! The castings are well made, and machine very nicely. The one in the pic is the first that I ran the finish machining program on, and it came out great. Total machining time was less than 6 minutes, and one of our usual machine shops (the one that holds us up all the time) wanted almost $30 each to do the job! Hey, guys... BITE ME!! :-) Anyway, there was a screwup at the foundry so we're behind in getting the castings. If we get some before we leave for Knob Creek on Wednesday, we'll be shipping some guns. Otherwise, look for a deluge of BFGs in about 2 weeks. Respectfully submitted, Douglas C. Neidermeyer BFG-50 T-Shirt (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/10/01 15:02

Nothing super-fancy, but the slogan has that tongue-in-cheek, inside joke style that you've come to expect from me. "More Firepower Than Necessary" says it all... we all know it's a joke (there is NEVER more firepower than necessary!), and any gun-hating liberal who reads it will piss him/herself. :-) Price is $14 + $4 shipping, or free shipping for Club Serbu members. Give us a call at the shop with shirt size, credit card number, etc., to order. Leave a message on the machine if you'd like. Checks are fine, too. Mark Serbu (813) 243-8899 Machined vs. cast trigger group... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/14/01 21:00 In Response To: Re: Dog, your "SPAM FILTER" is (misanthrope)

I beg to differ with this statement: "...his decision to cast VS machine from billet is purely a financial one, with compromise of strength as a result..." While the fully machined lowers were more expensive, the difference wasn't that big of a deal on a $2,000 rifle. The main reason for the change was TIME. As anyone who reads this board knows, we've constantly been held hostage by the various machine shops which supply us parts. With the castings, we can get them very quickly and do the finish machining in-house. These are cast steel, and are of a better alloy and in a harder condition than what was used in the fully machined parts. While "castings are weaker than billet" is usually a true blanket statement, it isn't true here. It's a moot point anyway, since the BFG-50 trigger group would be totally adequate if made from plastic. Also, check around...many other .50 manufacturer's trigger groups are cast, too, some from aluminum. I don't mind people armchair-quarterbacking my design decisions (I actually appreciate it, really!), please don't think I would ever compromise safety to save a few bucks. The stuff which sees high stresses in the BFG-50 is all made from certified MIL-spec materials. I even had to scrap a batch of barrel extensions once because the shop couldn't supply a certification. Maybe I should sell them as souvenirs? :-) Mark Serbu P.S. Misanthrope, do you really think the welds on your Maadi are nicer than the BFG-50's welds? I don't think Welder-boy would like to hear that! :-) You wrote: "Lemme tell ya what I know about cast VS billet. Castings are inherantly weaker than parts made from wrought material. Mark is saving (read "MAKEING) money by having the lowers cast. Not that I have a problem with that, but I doubt he'll lower the price for the finished rifle. That's OK. The castings are probably plenty strong since they see no direct recoil stresses, but make no mistake, his decision to cast VS machine from billet is purely a financial one, with compromise of strength as a result (but again, since the trigger housing {lower} sees no recoil stresses, it's kopasthetic). Hope you get the gist of what I'm sayin', I'm in no way dissin' Mark or his rifles, they're very impressive and anything he can do to turn 'em out faster is OK w/me, I just think casting should be employed thoughtfully when it comes to firearms, and especially .50s. Don't wanna see anyone get hurt." BFG-50 Update... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/17/01 09:06 In Response To: >>HEY MARK !<< How about a BFG update!?!? ntx -NTXT (Tall Shadow club(Still Waiting) serbu #128 SA #29) Still looks like we'll have the receiver for every gun currently on order built within the next few weeks. More barrels are coming in by the end of the week, and we have all other parts except for the trigger groups to finish all guns. As you've probably read, the trigger groups are now being investment cast. As with every new supplier, shop, vendor, etc., that we use, it seems that we're doomed to be jerked around by said supplier for some unknown length of time. Why didn't anyone warn me about the penance aspect of being in the gun biz? :-) Anyway, we supposedly have 50 trigger groups coming in today; they'll be completed and installed on all the guns which are otherwise totally complete (through serial number 149). Mark Serbu BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/20/01 18:19

If you're waiting on a single-shot BFG-50 through serial #0200 or so and haven't sent us an FFL, please do so asap! We've built up to #0180 this week, and will have all the receivers built for ALL guns currently on order within the next 3 weeks. We'll be ready to ship through #0180 in the next 2 weeks, so make sure we've got final payment from you as well as an FFL. We have the magazine version prototyped, but still haven't gotten production parts made for it yet. The investment cast trigger groups finally arrived, and we've been machining them like crazy. We test-fired a dozen or so BFGs today, with all the trigger groups lacking one machining step (the one which taps the hole for the grip screw), so we had to fire them without pistol grips. It wasn't really that bad, and we're thinking of leaving the grips off of future guns as a cost saving measure. Kidding. We're not the big guys...they spill more guns in a month than we make all year! (Sam Adams commercial). Anyway, we're getting there. :-) Mark Serbu You're welcome... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/27/01 12:11 In Response To: Question for Club Serbu & Thanks, Mark, for the (Sheri)

Here's a pic of Sheri's present. It's a trigger group that wasn't good enough to use on a gun, but was good enough for a souvenir for the enemy. :-) Free T-shirt to whomever is the first to figure out what the serial number means (two separate hidden meanings, actually). Mark Serbu AR-50 brake on BFG Posted By: Walter Keller <tokarev@earthlink.net> Date: 5/4/01 22:29 Test fired 8 more rifles today - #125 had the AR-50 muzzle brake installed - WOW what a difference that brake made in felt recoil. First you have to get passed the physical size of the brake hanging off the end of the BFG (kinda outta place shape wise) After firing a couple rounds you forget about the looks (needless to say #125 had a couple extra test rounds applied :) ) Some of the rifles test fired and shipped today included #125,140,150,146,138 BFG thread is 1"-14, about 3/4 to 7/8" long -NTXT Posted By: BMG Mike <bmgman@swbell.net> Date: 6/22/01 09:07 BFG-50 Report... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 5/9/01 22:58 We'll be testing up through the 180s this week...maybe even into the 190s. I've you've got a single-shot gun even close to this serial number range and I haven't called or emailed you yet, you might want to contact me as I've probably lost your paperwork and stolen your money. :-) Even if you're over S/N 200 we may have a gun for you...seems I skipped assigning several serial numbers in the 160s and 180s, and we have had some cancellations. The bipod, magazine and muzzle brake situation is still the same, unfortunately. I hope that'll change soon once you guys send in all your money and I can afford to hire a CNC guy. That'll be great...then I can get completely away from production and just talk on the phone all day like a REAL gun company president!! :-) Thanks again to all you Club Serbu people for hanging in there, and now for doing whatever it is you're doing to be able to send in those large checks. I appreciate it, I'm sure Walter and Welder-boy (actually Lathe-boy today) appreciate it, and the people I used to work for appreciate it, mainly so I don't have to go back to working for them. :-) Mark Serbu

P.S. We've finally got the proper mailers to send out T-shirts. Look for them next week if you ordered! Temporarily out of 3XL. Like someone said...lay off the fried food, guys!!! :BFG-50 1st delivery anniversary Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 5/17/01 20:26 I just realized that May 15, 2000, was the ship date of the first BFG-50 to go to a customer- serial number 0002. In that year we've shipped something over 160 guns. Not much compared to the "big boys", but then...YOU try it! :-) For those who are interested, here are the changes that have been made since the first guns: 1) Scrap the epoxy-on buttpad idea. Screws hold much better. 2) No more welding a ball onto a machined part for the bolt handle. They're one-piece now. 3) Bent-up sheet metal scope base went from 11-gauge to 14-gauge material. 4) Scrapped the case-hardened 12L14 bipod lugs. Now through-hardened 4140. 5) First 50 guns had (barely visible) laser-engraved serial numbers. All are mechanically engraved now. 6) First 50 guns had honed receivers and very close tolerance bolt bodies. Now no more honing, and we turn the bolt body ODs. 7) Trigger groups are now cast instead of fully machined. 8) Barrel length went from 30" to 29.5", muzzle brake thread length increased. 9) Overall length went from 52.25" to 51.50". 10) After gun #0100, all guns totally welded by Welder-Boy. 11) Delivery time getting down to almost reasonable. So there you have it. Nothing really earth-shattering in that list. Still a couple of changes to make, but they're secret for now. Yes, we're still screwing around with the magazine, bipod and match trigger. We WILL get these two loose ends taken care of asap. There's just SO much to do, as usual. Especially lately... Mark Serbu P.S. I caught some of the PMSNBC .50 BMG horror special, and had mixed reactions. It was neat seeing one of my (oh, sorry Walter and Welder-Boy...OUR)children of mass death and destruction on TV, but I wish it was on a program with a different theme. Oh, well. Can't have everything. :-) Lightweight BFG-50 (pics!)

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 5/30/01 11:39 What do you get when you mix Dennis Chaney, some spare BFG-50 parts, aluminum and titanium? A BFG-50 that weighs 14 pounds with scope, sling and bipod! Without any accessories, it weighs under 12 pounds! We should be bringing this gun out to the Manatee shoot on June 2. Mark Serbu P.S. Other pics: http://members.aol.com/markserbu/bfgcar2.jpg http://members.aol.com/markserbu/bfgcar3.jpg

.50 suppressor...WOW!! (video) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 6/1/01 20:52 Funny that some of you guys were talking about .50 BMG suppressors a couple of weeks ago, because we had one inbound from fellow Class 2

manufacturer Mark White of Sound Technology. We tried this thing out at the range to day and MAN, we were impressed!!! I've never heard a quieter suppressor for the .50 BMG! Mark White has just introduced this to the market, and I don't know much about it beyond the fact that it totally kicks ass. His web site is: http://www.soundtechsilencers.com/ The video is in .avi format, because I wanted as little degredation of the sound as possible. Those who are going to the Manatee range tomorrow are in for a treat, as we're bringing this can along! BFG-50 hammer upgrade Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/5/01 23:53 In case you missed BMG Mike's post, we finally have a nice trigger available for the BFG. If you're a current BFG-50 owner and would like your trigger pull to be between 3-4.5 pounds with very little creep, please email me. We'll be doing the upgrade for free for all those who are interested. All new BFG's come standard with these hammers. Mark Serbu BIPODS! Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/11/01 19:42 Finally got one done, and I almost like it. It needs bigger feet and a smaller yoke (where it mounts to the stud on the gun). Sorry for the single, fuzzy picture, but the camera lens had condensation on it and I didn't feel like waiting for it to defrost. Anyway, the plan is to offer these bipods with fixed-length legs for $85. Soon (you KNOW what it means when I say soon), we'll be offering adjustable legs. This bipod is similar to an M-60 bipod except that it locks up much tighter. Also, it allows the legs to be stowed either to the front or rear. For those of you who'd like to order one of these bipods, I'd appreciate some opinions on what height you'd like to have them (i.e., the distance from the bottom of the feet to the centerline of the mounting stud). If we can standardize a few fixed leg lengths that would be great. Also, I'd like to hear thoughts on having the perforated sheet metal wings like the M-60 bipods have. I was planning on adding them to the adjustable leg version, but could do it to this one as well. Feel free to email me instead of posting here if you'd like. Thanks, Mark Serbu

BFG-50 Range Report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 7/31/01 15:57 Wow! I guess these things CAN shoot! Being a member in excellent standing of the Spaz/Spray&Pray school of shooting, I don't get much serious bench time in. Today, during our normal test-firing session, I decided to sight in my personal BFG-50. Took me several shots to get on paper, but once I did I was pretty impressed. The 3-shot 100-yard group shown in the pic was somewhere around .75" center-to-center. This was using Talon ball reloads! I've always loved .50 BMG for its downrange effects, but now I have a real appreciation for its accuracy. I know it's only 100 yards, but I can't do that well with my AR-15 at that range. There are going to be some prairie dogs in Wyoming who are going to get a really nasty surprise next month! :-) Mark Serbu We just had an IOR... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/14/01 17:01 In Response To: WTF: Screw Nightforce, how about some info on IOR (Don) It went out on a gun for a special project- it was the 2.5-10X Tactical model. I sighted it in myself, and I liked the scope a lot. Very good optical clarity (similar, if not equal to the Nightforce). Not quite as sexy as a Nightforce, but for half the price what do you expect? I've got another customer that wants a high quality tactical scope on their BFG, and I'm steering them towards the IOR. Made in Romania, just like my grandfather, so you know it's good. :-) I still like my Tasco SS10X42 (2000 rounds and still kicking!), but the IOR is a step up in optical clarity for those who desire it. Mark Serbu

New stuff (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 8/30/01 19:03

Finally got the first bipods done! We're making them in "standard" and "short" length at this point. The standard length is 1.5" shorter than an M-60 bipod, while the short length is over 3" shorter than an M-60 bipod. If you need a custom length let me know and I'll try to accomodate you. These things came out great and I'm pretty happy with them. The introductory price is $85, but I know I'm going to raise the price to around $100 very soon. They're a pain to make!! I finally did something about the stock BFG-50 brake: I've got a program in the machine which mills out the .50" holes and makes them into a fish gill style cutout. Let's call it the "Shark Brake", as fish gill just sounds too whimpy. :-) Works better than the stock brake, and looks meaner, too. We'll come up with some kind of plan for BFG owners to trade in their old brakes if they want (not for free this time, as this mod takes quite a bit of machine time. Sorry!) Please give us a call at the shop (813) 243-8899 or email me if you want to order a bipod. Thanks, Mark Serbu Pics Posted By: Mark Serbu (CS 1) <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 9/3/01 17:26 In Response To: Serbu BFG-50 Product Report: Brake & Bipod (Chuck KC2K #49)

Thanks for the review, Chuck. I was really surprised at how much better the shark brake felt than the K&P. The other day when I was sighting in two guns on a bench, the K&P felt better. I think that the K&P, having only one large braking stage, felt more abrupt than our brake, which has 4 smaller braking stages. In any case, I'm really looking forward to testing these things on the S.L.U.T. 2 once it gets built. The bipod worked great. We'll start shipping them tomorrow. As you can see in the pic below, these things are pretty well made. Get 'em before I raise the price! :-) Mark Serbu P.S. Some people have asked whether the rotation (cant) feature of the bipod can be left out. The easiest solution will be to replace the bipod retaining washer with an altered part which allows the bipod to be locked between the washer and base. A thumb screw could be added so that it can be locked in various degrees of cant. BFG-50 report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/14/02 21:15 In Response To: Anybody know what the wait is for a BFG-50 now ? (Richard) I wish I knew what the wait was! The last assembled gun we had shipped out today, and took around 60 days from the date of order. And of course I told him 3 weeks at the time. I'm still famous for my terrible time estimates (or "lies", by my few detractors :-). What's happening is that we just got this really cool CNC turning center, and are now able to make all parts except for the barrel in-house. Getting ramped up to make new parts has taken longer than expected, of course. We've got 25 guns that'll be finished (finished receivers, that is) within the week, but will be lacking a few key parts (like bolt handles and muzzle brakes). We're running those parts as fast as we can, and hope to ship these 25 out before the SHOT show. I don't think that'll completely eliminate our backlog, but we'll get closer. Bipods are finally coming along, with a dozen or so shipping by the end of the week. There's a BIG backlog on those. Mark Serbu Re: Serbu BFG finish durability Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/23/02 09:01 In Response To: Serbu BFG finish durability (muskrat) Parkerizing is the finish of choice for countless millions of military firearms around the world, and has been for around 100 years. So either these guys are wrong, or Alex Hamilton is wrong. I'm betting on the military. Mark Serbu Actually... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/27/02 01:48 In Response To: you guys are reading into it way too much.... (andy b. -- for a BFG-50 test-fire, contact....) We're now building every part for the BFG-50 except the barrel, and various bought parts like AR-15 triggers, etc. Anyway, the bottom line is this: you're required to have a manufacturing license (FFL Type 07) if you're in the business of manufacturing and selling guns. The BATF issues regulations based (usually) on law, which you don't want to run afoul of. What constitutes being "in the business" of making guns is a grey area. If an unlicensed individual makes a gun now and then and sells it at some later date, it's up to BATF to determine if they're "in the business". Chances are they don't care about a guy who makes and sells 3 or 4 guns in his entire life. I've never read any regulations that say a

gun made by an unlicensed individual needs any information whatsoever engraved on it. I know that it's perfectly fine for manufacturers and unlicensed individuals alike to have parts made by outside sources. Virtually every machine shop, plating shop or heat treater I've ever used handled or made parts from both these sources, as well as from military sources. And none of these shops has any sort of federal firearms license. As an aside, I often see parts at the heat treaters from some of the major gun manufacturers. They come in huge bins containing thousands of parts. Amazing. Mark Serbu P.S. I suggest, of course, that you call your local BATF field office if you doubt anything that I say. But I bet you'll find out that: 1) I'm right 2) There sure is a lot of grey area out there.... :-) Re: Serbu Arms production delays Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/30/02 20:09 Ivan, Your name doesn't ring a bell, but we've either shipped, or this week are shipping every gun that was ordered in late Nov. and early Dec. I've become known for being really bad at estimating how long it'll take to fill an order. It's not lying (or lieing); I guess it's just a character flaw. You've got to realize...a gun is made up of many parts. Sometimes the parts are made in other machine shops , sometimes they're made in-house. There are delays from outside vendors, and there are in-house delays. I could detail for you what causes all the various delays, but it would come out sounding like a sob story. Bottom line: your gun has probably shipped or will ship tomorrow; But if you like I'll gladly cancel your order. As time goes on we're getting better at this game. One day, we may actually deliver a gun SOONER than I figured it would take. Mark Serbu BFG-50A pics Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/6/02 13:01 here ya go...

http://www.serbu.com/images/bfg50a1.jpg http://www.serbu.com/images/bfg50a2.jpg More SHOT, BFG-50A, etc. Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/7/02 00:37 This was Serbu Firearms' first time to have a booth at SHOT, and it was great. Looks like we'll finally be exporting some of our guns, and that's a good feeling. No matter what the anti-gun jerks say, firearms export is one of America's best ways of helping the balance of trade with our foreign neighbors. And because we care, we're working on black-colored rock candy bolts for guns bound for "less desirable" destinations. :-) I finally got to meet a lot of the FCSA guys, including the famous Skip Talbot, John Burtt, and the similarly famous Randy Dierks. I met Randy's wife, but can't remember her name. Probably because of the fact that I couldn't seem to look directly at her name tag, though I had no problem looking to the right or left of it. :-) I met others at the FCSA booth, but a lot of names are a blurr. We've got some great people in this organization, and I'm proud to be a part of it. I'm looking to get more active in the 1000-yard matches, and these guys are an incredibly valuable source of information, of course. I think I've finally worked out a mag deal with Bill Ritchie of EDM Arms, so look for a mag-fed BFG-50 sometime in the next 20 years. :-) I met so many Biggerhammer posters at my booth, though we only managed to get a few of us together for dinner on Sat. night. Darin "I clean up puke" Prince bailed on us, but it was good to finally meet him. We ended up going to dinner with Art Pollard and Bobo (man, is THAT guy a nut!). As those of you who saw the BFG-50A know, what was there was not much more than a mockup. The design is pretty much finalized, but some dimensions changed since I got the sheet metal done for that gun. I really figured it was better to have something there that wasn't finished than nothing at all. We're not even thinking of taking deposits yet (you KNOW I don't need to go through THAT again!), but I can give some specs now. Price is slated to be right around $5,000 retail. Weight: 25 pounds ; Length: 56" with a 25" barrel. The gun is designed to use the Barrett 10-round M82 mags mainly because they're plentiful around the world, but we'll be producing our own mags on the same pattern as well. The BFG-50A is gas-operated, and will have an adjustable gas system which will include the ability to cutoff the gas. The barrel/barrel extension assembly comes out as a unit, allowing a smaller package for transport and making barrel (and even caliber) changes easy. Bolt is 3-lug. We plan to make the handguard removable as well. Time frame? You're kidding, right? :-) Talking to a couple of the other manufacturers, it looks like this is going to be the year of the semi-auto. Cross your fingers. Mark Serbu P.S. We're working our butts off on bipods now. We'll be sending them out like AOL CDs next week.

BFG-50 Report Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/13/02 23:47 Remember these? We've been getting a lot of calls lately for order status, and I've been giving out my usual lies. Well, they're not lies when I tell them, but they turn into lies when things don't go as expected. I've finally got it figured out, though. A guy called today and asked for the status on his BFG-50 order. I said, "You're funny". Really, I know what it's like to wait for a gun that you've been expecting for a couple of months. It sucks, especially when you thought you'd have it in a few weeks. In the beginning (around the time of our first deliveries, 5/2000), our delays were caused by the machine shops who made our parts. They'd promise 3 weeks, and sometimes take 3 months! We're now making almost all parts in-house, so the delays are all our fault. Most times, I underestimate the time it takes to turn those pieces of tubing or bar stock into gun parts. We're new enough at making most of the parts that we don't have a good idea how to schedule things. Plus, I didn't realize that the new CNC turning center that we recently bought would be so hard to figure out. Now that I've got it figured out, it's really kicking ass for us. It's SCARY fast! A threading operation on the handguard tube which used to take almost 5 minutes per part on the old manual machine now takes 55 seconds. An internal boring operation on the same part which used to take 2 minutes now takes 4 seconds! In case you like looking at CNC machines, here are a few pics: http://www.serbu.com/images/hwacheon1.jpg http://www.serbu.com/images/hwacheon2.jpg http://www.serbu.com/images/hwacheon3.jpg Another problem we've had recently is that we'd end up making parts in batches which were too small, trying to make just enough to get the current week's guns out. This was done to keep customers from killing us for being so late with their guns and because, hey, we needed the money! Obviously, when you have machines which require some time and effort to setup but once setup will make the same parts perfectly all day long, you want to make a lot of parts. We've been making parts at least 8 hours a day on both CNC machines since we got back from SHOT, and we're still lacking some critical items. The batch of 100+ hammers that we're making won't be in heat treat until Thursday night, about 2 days behind schedule. Because of that we won't have any guns finished this week. Several weeks ago, I would have just made a batch of 40 or so hammers and had them ready for Friday. Actually, I DID do that several weeks ago and that's why there are no hammers now !! So if I told you your gun would ship this week, I guess I lied. :-) Bottom line: We're making a LOT of parts, and will be building 100+ receivers in the next 6 weeks, and another 100+ in the 6 weeks after that. We'll be getting caught up with our backlog and hopefully stockpiling some guns in anticipation of some State .50 BMG bans which are very close. Considering I went into this endeavor thinking that I'd be lucky to sell 100 guns, things have really gotten out of hand. Thanks, guys. :-) Mark Serbu OT: Biggerhammer truck Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/19/02 18:16 One of the advantages of having a shop in a complex is that sometimes you have interesting neighbors. One of my neighbors is a legend in the

jet car business, Doug Rose. (check out pics of his "Green Mamba") http://www.invaderjet.com/art/greenmamba/index.htm Anyway, Doug started up his J-46 jet-powered Chevy pickup truck today. Man, it's really something being 20 feet away from a fire-belching, screaming jet engine as it's firing up!! BFG-50 Price Increase Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 2/23/02 12:49 For those of you wanting to buy a BFG-50, order now! The $1975 price that we've had for the last 1.5 years is finally going away. Starting 3/1/02, we will have a "suggested retail price" of $2195. At the new price, the Shark Brake will no longer be an extra cost option. Over the last couple of years we've done very well selling direct to the public, but now it's time to start working more with dealers. They have complained from

the beginning that there wasn't enough margin for them, and there really wasn't. Dealers get a better price break now, and I'm sure there'll be dealers willing to sell for well under the suggested retail price. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten phone calls from dealers that go something like: "I'm looking for a .50 for my customer, and I'm trying to find the one which will make me the most money". Since they could hardly make any money on a BFG-50, they would end up pushing some other .50 rifle on their customer; one which possibly had the sole benefit of putting more money in their pockets. This new pricing will at least make us more competitive with dealers like this, will help us sell more guns, to make us more money, so we can hire more people, so I don't have to deburr parts anymore, and so I can quit working every day!! Okay, I'm sure I'll still work every day, but at least I can concentrate on NEW STUFF! And wait 'till you see what's coming... Mark Serbu all correct.....plus 3...maybe more.... BFG Post-It Notes Posted By: raymond- <rgdong@juno.com> Date: 2/23/02 01:25 Sticky notes inside my BFG folder were these notes. Wondering if any others to add...or correct: Early production bipod lugs were brittle. Replaced free of charge. Mark welded BFGs have an "S" stamped on the bottom of the rx group behind the trigger. Only about 18 of these exist. The rest were done by Welder-boy. Lighter trigger (3-4.5#) designed in Summer of 2001 and fitted to all new rifles. Owners of earlier creepy trigger could swap for new design free of charge. Muzzle brake redesigned in Fall 2001 to newer Shark design. By sending in the original brake, Mark would recut them and send back with the more efficient design. One can also order w/o returning the old but the cost is higher. I may have missed it from Mark, but it's possible that early production BFGs had slightly longer barrel. Conclude this based on owner comments that their BFG fits nicely, and horizontally, in the shipped case. Early BFGs had to be positioned inside the case in angled fashion to fit. Any other factual or trivia notes to add from BFG owners? Posted By: Jay Bell(CS#8) <m10a1@yahoo.com> Date: 2/23/02 03:54 In Response To: BFG Post-It Notes (raymond-) things ya missed: used epoxy for first 10 buttpads, epoxy broke loose within 10 rds. Within 1 week, NEW buttplate with a screwed on buttpad was in hand, FREE OF CHARGE. Earliest trigger frames were milled. Newest models are investment cast, then machined. No strength is lost here, its not a structural bearing part. Earliest guns had standard engraving on the receiver with firearm data:maker, location, serial#, etc, with Laser Engraving OVER the parkerising. Later models have CNC engraved Data that is much deeper and clearer. things ya didn't: Early production bipod lugs were brittle. Replaced free of charge. happened to me. Had the new bipod lug within 1 week. I have one of the rare "S" marked serbus, I own #0008;-) to paraphrase Ash of "Evil Dead" ...."Shoot SMART, Shoot S-MARKED!" My Earlier BFG is indeed longer, i have to fit crossways in the case. Havent upgraded my trigger or brake yet, I have the Armalite brake right now. I like the "creepy" trigger, feels like the trigger on my ARs and my M16. and just to annoy you: First 25 were sold at the ultra low cost of $995, these funds basically financed the startup and production of these rifles, and we were told that at the outset. First 25 sold were picked from a contest consisting of the first 25 people to send an email to an specific address that he would post on his website at 10AM on a friday. All 25 first guns were sold in about 40 seconds i think he said;-) We're getting better....I think Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 3/11/02 01:17 In Response To: Anyone know the delivery time - Serbu (Waiting patiently) We've finally started using some software to help with ordering, invoices, and generally keeping track of stuff. We now have the Energizer Bunny welding for us, and he's getting really ahead on building receivers. Just got in a bunch of barrels and are expecting more in a couple of weeks. 200 trigger group castings are due here any day. Guns are going out with bipods, and we've just sent out all the backordered bipods. If you were waiting and don't get yours this week, please call the shop! It's looking like we'll be all caught up on our backlog and might even have some guns in stock within the next 30 days. MAN....these are some GOOD drugs I'm on, eh?! :-) Mark Serbu

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 4/6/02 21:20 In Response To: BFG-50 receivers for sale! (pic) (Mark Serbu) The change visible in the receiver pic is the lack of a welded-on scope base. Starting with serial number 359, scope bases will be mounted with screws. There's the obvious practical reason for this change, but there's also an absurd reason that I won't post here. It has to do with something that all the other manufacturers seemed to know about but I just learned recently.

In answer to other questions: The first receivers we're selling are for the standard BFG-50. We'll be selling bare carbine receivers later, but we have to get the guns done first! We plan to do the same thing for the removable barrel gun.

Posted By: M MAG <kmaguire2@cfl.rr.com> Date: 9/26/02 07:45 In Response To: Light 50 (FMSniper) Just another Bolt action upper for the AR15. Only this one ejects unfired rounds. 17-20 lb depending on scope bipod etc. Under a grand? Yes for now! But don't email me, the Proto will be at the Creek table B-19. Now I must go and Flog my crew. Capt. MMAG

Newest AR-15/.50 cal upper, price 995.00 Posted By: mmag.biz MAG 50 <kmaguire2@cfl.rr.com> Date: 10/3/02 12:45 This has taken me 2 years of begging ang pestering Mark to finish. I wanted to use as many off the shelf BFG parts as posible and keep the price hundereds of dollars below the competition. I have a great product at the best price out there. I will be doing a lot more with the web site after Knob Creek. My proto will be at table B-19 in the pole barn. I'm not taking deposits but will be making a list as this Grand Introduction Price will be for the first 50 or so units. I now have my 10/22 replacement housings in stock and the very last preban drums will also be at the creek ,also I have a mag follower that activates the bolt stop on 9mm/M-16's using converted UZI mags. Call 407 415 5520 Or go to www.mmag.biz MMAG's New MAG-50 AR-15 Upper Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 10/3/02 19:59 In lieu of answering all the email messages sent to me on this, I'll just post some info here. First of all, yes, I did completely design MMAG's MAG-50 upper. Some of it (scope base, barrel, muzzle brake, handguard, bipod attachment) is directly lifted from the BFG-50 Carbine. The features that make this design unique are the following: 1) The bolt travels on the same centerline as the original AR-15 bolt. Because of this, a BFG-50 style hammer is used which imparts almost 50% more energy to the firing pin than does a standard AR-15 hammer. This is possible because of the increased windup of the hammer spring. 2) The hammer can be manually recocked by reaching through the ejection port. In the event that an incredibly hard primer is encountered and won't go off on the first try, the hammer can easily be recocked. No unlocking of the bolt is required, reducing pucker factor to zero. 3) The bolt handle acts as a redundant safety lug. 4) Fixed headspace. If you want to change barrels, you unscrew one barrel and screw in another; no messing with gauges. Virtually any size or brand .50 BMG barrel on the market can be made to fit. 5) Can eject an unfired or misfired round. Because of the bolt design, there's enough travel to allow this. I'm sure I don't need to stress how important this is. 6) Plunger ejector. In an internal hammer-fired bolt action (which I invented...none existed before the BFG-50) you don't have a striker spring acting to keep the lugs in contact with the receiver, as it is in a traditional bolt-action rifle. Without a plunger ejector if you have an undersized round (and there are LOTS of them out there, trust me!), you WILL impact load the lugs and the receiver. So aside from doing its duty of ejecting spent cases out of the gun, the plunger ejector serves a much more valuable purpose. 7) Replacable scope base. Angled or flat, you can change it to whatever you want. 8) Custom buttstock. Mike's offering it as an option, but I think it's a must have. Now you can shoot a .50 BMG upper on an AR-15 and not have the marks embossed in your shoulder to prove it. Fits any AR-15 lower and accomodates a sling as well. 9) I designed it, and it's under $1000!! :-) That's about all I can think of for now. I'll be glad to answer questions here on Biggerhammer, but please don't call the shop about the MAG-50...Call Mike! Mark Serbu MMAG's website http://www.mmag.biz MMAG Mag-50 Optional barrel lengths. Posted By: MMAG <kmaguire2@cfl.rr.com>

Date: 10/5/02 21:26 Due to the demand for a longer barrel we will be offering a 30in Lother Walther (29.5755inch)or 36inch(35.7555inch) for an additional 250.00 This option will be availible on the first 50 uppers. I will email all a confirmation number on monday. MMAG Knob Creek show. Posted By: MMAG <mmag@cfl.rr.com> Date: 10/17/02 10:23 I was completly overwhelmed by the interest in the MAG-50 at the creek. My first 50 upperes have were all spoken for just before I left for Kentucky. I have over 100 Mag-50's now on order at the 995. price. I had only intended to do 50 and then bump the price up a little. If I havn't returned you call or email yet it's because I'm ehausted from a week of whirlwind activity including a the Creek and a two day dive trip off the Maryland coast for treasure. Now full steam ahead on getting out the first MAG-50's. I have a new email addresss see above. Thanks All MMAG MY recomendation. Posted By: MMAG <mmag@cfl.rr.com> Date: 10/17/02 10:36 In Response To: I also need this answer (Mike Greenblatt McBros EDM) First the Socom billit,then the DPMS single shot, then the DPMS stainless, then a Bushmaster, then what ever you own now as there are over a thousand AR/50cal uppers out there now and I have never heard of one breaking the lower or even elongating the pin holes. I would though suggest that you look at one of my H/D butstocks with the big recoil pad. MMAG

MMAG reality check ! Posted By: Scott PErkins <2scott@bellsouth.net> Date: 10/29/02 05:53 In Response To: "For The Money??"For the money the MAG50 for $1000 (james(M99,NXS,ALA)) It's time for a reality check on the MMG. I'm new here and Serbu has obviously an established credibility. But what I have read is that Serbu designed this ( or partially designed part of it ) as a paid contractor only. It has his stamp on the concept only. What we dont know is not just the ethics of the new startup proprietor, ( even if he were a stand up guy ) his experience in owning & operating a business, dealing with employees, overhead, and handling unforseen vendor/supplier problems is questionable. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, what is his capitalization? Even if he had all the ducks in a row with HARVARD MBA credentials, if he is underfinanced the only way he might make it is to let all the deposits finance his buisiness. I am mostly involved in aviation and similar to enthusiastic gunsmiths starting a business are pilots wanting to offer a service or build planes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost by guys looking to fullfill their life long dream after saving for years for an airplane. Now, I am not casting any sarcism here, I just think we should do some investigation. On the most elementary level first note that there is not even a "hard" address. I am always leary of sending money to PO Boxes. Get my drift? Also, no names of proprietors either. Dont get me wrong. If I had chance to buy a dozen of them and carry them away after test firing all of them I would do so with cash. After all, at $1000 bucks I'd consider them investment potential. I need to see some incorporation papers showing all principals and some financial statements etc. Excessive you think ? Not really , you are investing in this company or put another way, financing or lending this guy money. Can you ever borrow money from anywhere without answering a lot of questions ? OK Mr. Serbu, tell us what you know or think. You get the benefit all the disclaimers you wish. Guys here will be spending money based soley on what you now say. Also, please clear up whether you expect to be providing ongoing subcontracted services of any type etc. ThanksScott in Atlanta

ps. tell us what it feels like to fire a 16.5 pound 50 cal if you have. ( as in MMAG ) http://www.mmag.biz 46"tot 16.5 LB 22"BAR $1000 OPEN LETTER TO AN ASSHOLE.... Posted By: whit <engelbr@swbell.net> Date: 10/31/02 13:08 In Response To: Re: Based on your logic..................... (Team Ferret) >All shellholder asctions are unsafe, OK. This is correct. >BTW, did your friend ever regain the full use of his right arm? Excuse me? WTF business is that of yours? Keep it up, and you might just find out how my arm is doing. Why don't you just have a great big cup of shut the fuck up? Regards, whit John Whitworth Engel President/CEO Engel Ballistic Research, Inc. Posted By: Jay Bell (Club Serbu) <m10a1@yahoo.com> Date: 12/25/02 20:47 In Response To: Which bipods fit...The M60 and what else?? if the lug is the same as the BFG the mods below will do you. If the lug is diffeent(yet replaceable like the BFG) just put a smaller polt in...easy enough. Remember that the m14 bipod was made to attach to the m14 gas cylinder. I have a couple hundred shots thru this setup below, and have had no issues. the M14 bipod is a little shorter than the 60 bod, and a lot more stable. I suspect that that cheap $50 chinese ones will work just as well...I plan on picking up one or 2 to see.

Serbu bipod lug Diameter question Posted By: Don Williams <williams@wyoming.com> Date: 1/4/03 12:17 I just did a topic search on the Serbu bipod and read most of the posts. The string from last week got me to thinking after I saw Jay Bell's Pic's of the M14/M60 mod. Would a Fal bipod work in a pinch on the BFG-50? I do know they come in at least 2 length's and they are stout enough to hold the weight. Anyone have the diameter of the stud handy? I'd suppose it would be about .5" just because that's common. The only down side of using the Fal bipod would be the points of the legs digging into the bench if you shot it sitting but you could make support blocks out of 2x4's if that mattered.

Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/4/03 15:11 In Response To: Serbu bipod lug Diameter question (Don Williams) Diameter is .700, in case it isn't obvious from the picture. :-)

BFG-50 with 36" stainless barrel (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 12/30/02 12:11 In case anyone wonders what a BFG-50 looks like with a heavy, 36" stainless barrel, here it is. We've finally standardized the countour to what you see. This is a $250 upgrade over the standard BFG-50 (so it's $2445 + slightly more for shipping). Weight is right at 30 pounds as shown with the bipod. It's a real kitten to shoot with that extra weight!

50 bmg gun test. results Posted By: jcb9901(Ferret50 ,OH) <jcb9901@yahoo.com> Date: 12/28/02 17:45 For a Real Kick, Try a Big Fifty: We Test a Quartet of BMGs ArmaLite and Serbus .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridgechambered rifles get our nod, but what about Barrett and Ferret?

The Serbu BFG-50, $2,195, outshot the others in the test with handloaded Hornady A-Max bullets. Its smallest group was 1.3 inches at 300 yards. The .50 Browning Machine Gun (.50 BMG) cartridge was developed by John Moses Browning, based on a recognized lack of firepower in available weapons during WWI. Brownings cartridge and gun designs were adopted into U.S. military service in 1918. The Browning M2 aircraft and heavy-barrel machine guns were adopted by the U.S. Army in 1933. Nearly two million M2 machine guns were produced in several varieties during World War II, and the round is still in active use today. Modern saboted ammunition gives around 4,500 fps muzzle velocity, and the round has proved itself against lightly armored vehicles at ranges up to one mile. Modern shooters took to the round quickly once good bolt-action (and some semi-automatic) rifles became available for something less than a kings ransom. Theres lots of fun to be had through managing the big cartridge in the big .50. Firearms that use the .50 BMG cartridge are the largest weapons that a U.S. citizen can own without a special federal license. Some state and local governments have restrictions on their possession and use, but most do not. However, finding a range that allows the .50 BMG can be difficult. Some ranges prohibit its use because of the excessive noise and shock waves, and/or destruction of the backstop. Nominal ballistics show a 750-grain bullet traveling about 2,700 fps, and the lighter 647-grainers can achieve 3,000 fps. Stopping all that power can be taxing for some ranges. Most of todays .50-shooters use the big guns for long-range target shooting, and of course just for the joy of firing them. They can and have been used for hunting, in limited circumstances. As such, theres actually a variety of ammunition available for the .50 BMG cartridge. We used full-metal-jacket, match, and handloaded armor-piercing-incendiary bullets for our tests. Handloading for these big cases is relatively easy, but we found some specialized tools are needed. It should be noted that that some states, local governments, and ranges have restrictions on the possession and use of armor piercing, tracer, and incendiary ammunition. The latter two can cause a fire on the range. The manufacture and importation of all fully automatic weapons for civilians was banned by the U.S. Government in 1986. Any Class III weapon legally owned prior to 1986 can still be legally transferred for a one-time $200 federal tax. Some states and local governments have additional restrictions. For more information consult the BATF and your state and local government. The fullauto M2 can be purchased from Sportsman Guns and Ammo (936-756-4867) for about $15,000 to $20,000. The current-production semiautomatic M2 can be purchased from TNW for $11,000. We decided to start our .50 BMG investigation with the more affordable single-shot bolt-action rifles that range from $1,775 to $3,100. We gathered an ArmaLite AR-50 ($2,745), a Barrett M99 ($3,100), Serbu BFG-50 ($2195), and a Ferret 50 ($1,775) and shot them with a variety of factory and handloaded ammunition. None had iron sights, nor scopes nor rings. All included scope bases in the form of a sight rail. Heres a look at what we discovered about the big .50s in shoulder-to-shoulder testing. ArmaLite AR-50, $2,745 The ArmaLite is one of the most popular and well-known .50 BMG rifles. It was the heaviest rifle we tested, weighing in at 34 pounds. (The Fifty Caliber Shooters Association, [435-527-9245, www.fcsa.org] match rules state that rifles which weigh less than 32.5 pounds with all shooting accessories attached are in the Light class. If they weigh between 32.5 and 50 pounds, theyre in the Heavy class. Rifles weighing over 50 pounds are in the Unlimited class.) Click here to view the ArmaLite AR-50 features guide. The AR-50 had a unique muzzle brake. It helped to give this rifle the lowest felt recoil of the rifles tested. It felt about like shooting a 20-gauge shotgun with light loads. In terms of felt recoil, the Serbu rifle was nearly as comfortable, and it weighed 9 pounds less than the ArmaLite. But a youth or small woman could handle the recoil of the AR-50 with ease. Another bonus is the shooter doesnt feel the shock wave generated from the muzzle blast, because the brake vents the gases at a 45-degree angle. The blast, though, will usually cause the shooters on both sides of your spot on the shooting bench to take a few steps backward. The muzzle flash was quite spectacular, as was the volume of each shot. We found that all of the .50s were exceptionally loud, and we recommend the wearing of both ear plugs and ear muffs anytime you mess with .50 BMGs. We estimated them to be about twice as loud as a .30-06, but the noise was acceptable with the proper protection. The only unusual affect of shooting any of the big .50s was the sensation of our teeth vibrating, and small particles of dirt falling on us that had been shaken off of the tin roof over our shooting position. Although ArmaLite supplies Tylenol with the rifle, we did not experience any headaches after shooting any of the rifles. The steel of the AR-50 was manganese-phosphated (Parkerized), and the aluminum stock and small parts were anodized. Overall, the ArmaLite had very good fit and finish, we thought. The bolt fit was snug enough that youd want to avoid getting sand blown into it, but it worked very well throughout our testing. The ArmaLite was the longest of our test rifles at 59.5 inches. Most protective rifle cases are too short. We obtained a serviceable soft case ($165) from the ArmaLite web site, but it lacked the desirable protection that a hard case would give to so bulky and heavy a rifle. No hard case was offered on the web site a substantial oversight, in our estimation. The buttpad and cheek-piece assembly (buttstock) were easily removable by taking out two Allenhead bolts. That shortened the length of the rifle by 9 inches; thus, the rifle could be packed into a standard hard case, and would then fit into the common storage vault. The AR-50 had a few features not found on the other rifles tested, one of which was an adjustable cheekpiece that was comfortable and easy to use. We mounted a 4X-16X Pentax Lightseeker scope on the rifle. Our first concern was well met by this scope; it gave more than adequate eye relief. At no time did we feel that our eye came too close to the scope during recoil. The ArmaLite scope mount was easily adjusted, and held its zero after being removed and reinstalled numerous times. The scope had a basic crosshair reticle that worked well for our purposes. The 16X scope was adequate for shooting at 300 yards, but we felt that our 22X Nightforce would have been better for 1,000-yard shooting. The trigger broke cleanly, and we felt it was the best trigger of the rifles tested. The AR-50 and the Ferret 50 are available in left-hand versions (for no extra cost), but the AR-50 was the only one that has a flat-bottom stock with a groove that allowed the optional Prince bipod ($200) to be easily slid back and forth. The legs of the bipod were not adjustable for length, and we found they raised the front end of the barrel a little too high for some of our shooters, about 10 inches. Because of that flat-bottom stock, the rifle was the most stable when rested on sandbags.

Click here to view "Accuracy & Chronograph Data." The AR-50 had no malfunctions, except that we found the bolt was hard to close on some of the military-surplus ammunition. The rifles accuracy was impressive with all the ammunition fired except the IK-head-stamped surplus, which in fact did poorly in all the rifles. The ArmaLite got its best accuracy, a 2.8-inch group at 300 yards, with the Arizona Ammunition match load. Barrett M99 .50 BMG, $3,100 Barrett Manufacturing makes the Model 82A1 semiautomatic box-magazine-fed .50 BMG rifle ($7,300) that is in current use by the U.S. armed forces. In 1999 Barrett started producing the more affordable and more accurate Model 99 in the same caliber. The Barrett Co. also produces a variation on the M99 known as the M99-1, with a fluted barrel that is 4 inches shorter and weighs 4 pounds less than the model we tested. That variant also costs $200 more than the standard version. Click here to view the Barrett M99 .50 BMG features guide. The Model 99 Barrett weighed 25 pounds as tested, which put it into the Light rifle class. Although it weighed 9 pounds less than the AR-50, the Model 99s recoil was only moderately greater. Barrett claims that the felt recoil is equivalent to a .300 Winchester Magnum (about 55 foot-pounds), but it felt very manageable, more like a .308 Winchester to us. The muzzle blast was substantial, but less than that of the AR-50. All the parts of the Barrett were evenly matte-black finished, and we thought it was of generally excellent quality throughout. The overall length was 50.4 inches, so it would fit into a standard hard case. The Barrett also fit into our gun safe without a problem. With the bipod at its lowest setting, it raised the Barretts barrel approximately 9 inches off of the shooting bench. We found that to be slightly high, but workable. The bipod could be quickly removed by pulling out the takedown pin, and that let us put the rifle onto sand bags. The Model 99 can be taken apart for cleaning more quickly and easily than any of the other rifles tested. The process involved pulling out three takedown pins. The rifle came with a Swarovski 10 x 42 Habicht scope that also had the Barrett name on it. We found it to be a good-quality scope. The magnification was adequate for 300-yard shooting, but we did not care for the Christmas-tree reticle. The top line was for 500 yards and the bottom line was for 2,000yard shooting, and there were several lines in between. We thought this reticle might be useful for shooting at targets of varying distances from the same firing point, but for the majority of target shooters, this will not be the case. In practice, we were restricted to the top quarter of the viewing area for all our 300-yard shooting. The trigger on the Barrett was the heaviest of the rifles tested (6.5 pounds), but it broke cleanly and didnt really cause any shooting problems. Barrett claims that the Model 99 should give accuracy results between 1 and 1.5 minutes of angle, and we found that to be true for our rifle. The Talon remanufactured ammo produced groups of 4.1 inches at 300 yards, and the Arizona Ammunition match load had groups of 2.9 inches on average. Serbu BFG-50 .50 BMG, $2,195 Although Tampa-based Serbu has been manufacturing the BFG-50 for well over two years, it is one of the lesser-known manufacturers. We think that will quickly change. We can only guess what designation BFG stands for, because it is not stated on the website, but we dont think its Big Fancy Gun. There is nothing fancy about the BFG-50, and it gets the job done for a great price. Click here to view the Serbu BFG-50 .50 BMG features guide. The BFG-50 was the lightest rifle in our test, but we feel it had the least felt recoil for its weight (about like a 12-gauge shotgun with standard loads). Clearly, its brake worked well. Not only was the muzzle brake effective, it also produced less shock wave for bystanders than that of the AR-50, in our estimation. It was the smallest-diameter brake of all four rifles tested. The overall length of the BFG measured 51.5 inches. The scope we mounted onto the Serbu turned out to be the best of the bunch, in our opinion. It was a Nightforce 5.5X to 22X Varminter with 56mm objective, and an illuminated reticle. There were conventional crosshairs, and also convenient range-finding circles below the crosshairs that gave distances of from 300 to 800 yards. This scope had the largest objective lens and definitely transmitted the most light of the scopes tested. The trigger was the lightest of the rifles tested. It broke at 3.5 pounds with a bit of creep, but not enough to be bothersome. There is currently not a left-hand version available, but the company is considering one. The optional bipod ($120) raised the barrel approximately 9 inches above the bench, and it was fairly comfortable. With handloaded Hornady A-Max bullets, this rifle outshot all the others in the test. Smallest group was 1.3 inches at 300 yards. The rifle also did well with the Talon surplus ammo, getting one group of 3.2 inches. The steel parts of the Serbu were Parkerized evenly and well. It had a slightly looser bolt than the ArmaLite, but it was by no means sloppy. We thought the Serbu had very good to excellent overall fit and finish. It also had the best extraction of the test group, strong and very positive. Serbu also makes a carbine version of the .50 with a 22-inch barrel, and an overall length of 41.5 inches. The carbine version weighs 17 pounds. Ferret 50, $1,775 (upper only). About $2,000 complete Spider Firearms manufactures the Ferret 50. This is not a complete rifle, but instead is a complete AR-15 upper receiver, including barrel, bolt, scope rail, and bipod. Attach a good lower AR-15 receiver made by DPMS, Rock River, or several other companies, and then you have a complete rifle. There is no gunsmithing needed. Just remove the bolt stop, buffer and buffer spring from your AR-15 lower unit, position the Ferret 50 on top, and slide in the two pins that join the upper and lower receivers together. We found the most difficult part of assembling the Ferret 50 to be knocking out the pin that held the bolt stop in place. Click here to view the Ferret 50 features guide. Since the upper receiver of an AR-15 rifle is not considered to be a complete firearm, according to the BATF, it can be sold directly to the public without having to fill out any forms. So if you already own an AR-15 and dont mind swapping out parts, this is a low-cost way to get started shooting .50 BMG. But we think it would be easier and perhaps more convenient to dedicate an AR-15 lower to the Ferret 50. It also would be a good idea, in our opinion, to install a lead weight into the butt stock and add a thick recoil pad. We put a 2.5-pound weight into our test rifle, which brought the total weight up to 24.5 pounds. That still kept the Ferret in the Light rifle category. If you need to purchase a lower receiver, it must be done through a FFL dealer, who will conduct a background check and require you to fill in the federal form, but you do not need to indicate the caliber on the form because the lower does not have a caliber. Some people are apprehensive about putting a .50-BMG upper receiver onto a lower unit that was designed for the .223 cartridge, and we admit that we had some doubts. But we tried both a DPMS California-legal lower (it would not accept a magazine) and a standard Bushmaster lower. Both held up to the punishment of the big cartridge without showing any signs of wear. This upper receiver had a looser bolt fit than the ArmaLite, but not too loose. The finish was overall matte black, and of very good quality.

The Ferret had the greatest felt recoil of any of the rifles we tested. We judged it to be similar to that of a .30-06, but it was certainly manageable. The muzzle brake was of a different design than the others tested, but it produced a similar shock wave for the bystanders. Our rifle had the 29-inch barrel, which gave the rifle an overall length of 53 inches. The system easily disassembles into two pieces for a more compact package. We topped our rifle with a Tasco SS 16x42 scope. The Tasco was the lowest-cost scope tested, at $300, but it is also the only one that lost its zero between shooting sessions. Although this happened only once (the Tasco kept its zero after it was reset), it was enough to make us doubt the scope. The eye relief and light transmission were adequate. The trigger weighed in at 4.1 pounds and broke cleanly. There is a left-hand version of this rifle currently available. We felt this rifle had the best bipod of the rifles tested. Its legs were adjustable to a length that was short enough to permit shooting in a very comfortable seated position. We did experience some failures to fire from light strikes on the primers, but most of these cartridges fired at the second attempt. Unlike the other rifles tested, the Ferret did not have an extractor. Therefore, when we encountered a round with a dead primer we had to remove three screws from the rear of the receiver and remove the entire bolt in order to get the round out. We were not impressed by this design feature. Gun Tests Recommends ArmaLite AR-50, $2,745. Buy It. If you want the lightest-recoiling .50 BMG rifle and dont mind the 34-pound weight, the ArmaLite may be the one for you. We found it to be a dependable, well-built rifle at a reasonable price. Barrett M99, $3,100. Conditional Buy. The rifle was well made and accurate, but all the other rifles tested cost significantly less money. Some even had slightly better accuracy. Perhaps the M99s main advantage was that it was the most quickly disassembled, and if thats important to you, consider the Barrett. Ferret 50, $1,775 (upper). Dont Buy. We do not recommend this AR-15 .50 BMG conversion because of the very slow reload time when a dead primer is experienced. That may not happen every time you shoot it, but you can generally count on things like that happening at the worst possible time, and then the limits of the design make themselves known. The rifle had acceptable accuracy, but for a little more money you can get the most accurate rifle in the test. If you like the idea of being able to acquire a .50-BMG upper directly from the manufacturer without a lot of hassle and paperwork, the Ferret might be worth a look, but we didnt much like it. Serbu BFG-50, $2,195. Best Buy. This rifle, we felt, was clearly the best value for your money. It was the most accurate and had the lightest recoil for its weight, and offered all the glamour of the big .50 for the least output. In short, it was the best (and loudest) bang for your buck.

Dennis Chaney's BFG-50 carry handle (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/4/03 11:12 Like most stuff Dennis makes, this thing looks great and works great. How does it install? The black anodized aluminum block mounts under the scope rail and attaches to the receiver tube with two 8-32 screws. The handle is removable, and comes off by simply taking out the pull pin. It's definitely a handy accessory. Since Dennis isn't motivated by money (unlike most of us mortals), I think Serbu Firearms, Inc. will have to take the ball and run with this one if there's enough interest. So please email me if you want one, and I'll try to come up with pricing and (yuk, yuk) delivery times. Mark Serbu Dennis <bigdadd@microd.com

More Dennis Chaney BFG-50 accessories... Posted By: Mark Serbu <gunfreak@tampabay.rr.com> Date: 1/8/03 20:43 The picture shows Dennis' cool mounts for the BFG-50. The forward assembly connects the BFG's bipod block to a spring-loaded mount which attaches to a standard Midway part. The fully adjustable rear monopod has a roller which rides in a track on the supplied aluminum plate. Neat stuff! Email Dennis on this one if you're interested. His email is: bigdadd@microd.com Mark Serbu P.S. The titanium brake and cheek pad are also custom made by Dennis, of course.

Re: Mike at MMAG or maybe Mark Serbu I have a ques Posted By: Mark Serbu <Mark@serbu.com> Date: 1/20/03 13:38 The MAG-50, just like the BFG-50, has a hammer which winds up considerably more than the AR-15 hammer. Because of this there is much more energy delivered to the firing pin. No heavier spring required. Trigger pull is in the 4-pound range on the MAG-50 and BFG-50. Both use AR-15 triggers, but their hammers' sear location and angles are different. We changed out hammers for early BFG-50 customers because we came out with the different sear angle which lightened up the pull quite a bit. Never really had non-firing problems. Re: Let me restate my question... Posted By: Mark Serbu <Mark@serbu.com> Date: 1/20/03 16:49 Sorry, I should have been clearer. I said, "The MAG-50, just like the BFG-50, has a hammer which winds up considerably more than the AR-15 hammer", meaning it comes with the hammer. This hammer has a different sear angle than a stock AR-15 hammer, hence better trigger pull.

Brandy Pic Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 2/12/03 22:51 In Response To: Hey Mark! (.510 SOUL) Here ya go. For the record, she's still married to Welder-boy. Oh, and we'll have a MAG-50 on the table, and Mike (MMAG) will be at our booth sometime during the show.

He's the guy in charge of your replacement parts! Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 2/17/03 21:43 In Response To: Who's the goober on the left? ;-) (The Dog (N TX, BFG & Rebel)) Did I tell you about the bolt recall? #115 didn't get the aluminum bolt it was supposed to. I'll be sending it post haste. :-) BTW, it's not the SHOT show days that are long, it's the nights! And it doesn't help if one of your booth guys is a man-whore and you have to deal with the logistics of getting him home early in the morning from some strange woman's house. In the pic, left to right: Mike Maguire, Brandy, Jason (man-whore), Mark Serbu, Mike Newsome. Can anyone guess what my button says?

Re: Good one, Mark... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 2/17/03 22:38 In Response To: Good one, Mark... (The Dog (N TX, BFG & Rebel)) Hey, just because I don't always use my Dimage 7 in raw mode doesn't mean it's not a decent camera!! Maybe you can read the button from this pic. Yes, that's Walter next to me, and he's probably been drinking too much. He's not usually that goofy. :-) Okay, for serious extra credit, who am I talking to on the cell phone?

Prince BFG Monopod!!! Posted By: Al B. <res05g5b@REMOVE-THIS.gte.net> Date: 2/16/03 21:24 Well fellow Serbu fans...Darin aka Prince50 is at it again and just developed a great monopod for the BFG and Carbine. It is well designed, well constructed and a great boon to raising and stabilizing the butt of the rifle. Best contact him quick as there are about (500) BFG's and Carbines out there...and not quite that many monopods, yet! You can get him at DLPRINCE1@aol.com Oh yes...there are currently 2 less of these monopods...so move QUICK! Al B. Prince-Serbu BFG Monopod Posted By: Al B. <res05g5b@REMOVE-THIS.gte.net> Date: 2/17/03 23:16 This is a hasty picture shot indoors...but I hope you can see the durable simplicity of this device. Contact Darin about availability....I've already gotten inquiries! Al B. In case the link does not work:

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/3833694/1045541205521_Prince_BFG_Monopod.jpg

Re: BFG50 Headspace Tolerances Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 3/15/03 12:29 In Response To: BFG50 Headspace Tolerances (JustOneShot) Art, I can't really answer your question from a reloader's standpoint because I don't reload; I can only answer from a mechanical/functional one. All BFG-50s leave here with the headspace between 3.1332 and 3.1392 inches. The headspace dimension is from the base of the cartridge to a theoretical point on

the shoulder, and it's not really measurable on a cartridge. You're probably looking for an optimum case OAL, and I'm sure there are guys here who can post some meaningful numbers which will answer your question. I want mag-50 can I still get one for 995.00? Posted By: grinch <grinch5326@hotmail.com> Date: 4/20/03 09:33 i saw it before but an now ready to get one or two :) can I still get it at this price? is surbu making the parts for this company? or did he just design it? Not sure about the price... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 4/20/03 10:41 In Response To: I want mag-50 can I still get one for 995.00? (grinch) you'll have to talk to Mike or Frank from MMAG for that. But yes, I designed it, and we're making most of the parts. Why do you think it's so late? :-) Mark Serbu Remove Serbu muzzel brake Posted By: Kirt Klingonsmith <birhaps@charter.net> Date: 4/20/03 09:31 What tool do I need to remove Serbu muzzel brake------ Is it right or left threads? Thanks in advance. KKK50 Re: Remove Serbu muzzle brake Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 4/20/03 10:43 In Response To: Remove Serbu muzzel brake (Kirt Klingonsmith) The brake has right hand threads. You'll need to heat the brake up to about 300 degrees to brake the Loctite. It should unscrew fairly easily once the Loctite gives way.

MAG-50 UPDATE (video!) Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 7/21/03 12:57 http://www.serbu.com/images/mag503.mpg Finally, here's pre-production unit #1. The video is of Mike Maguire shooting it. Note the almost total lack of recoil! The main reason for the delay of the MAG-50 is my customers!!! We've been so backed up on BFG-50 orders for so long that the MAG-50 had to take a back seat. (Oh, and I'm not complaining about the sales, btw!) Looks like we might actually get caught up on BFG-50 orders this week, so the MAG-50 will take priority. Not exactly sure when the first MAG-50s will ship out, but I'm hoping it's just a matter of a few weeks at this point. Ferret Barrel... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 7/22/03 00:24 See the pic! The muzzle could be threaded 1 5/16-16 LH to fit your new brake, but there are 2 problems: 1) The Shark Brake for the Ferret is 2.00" OD and so is considerably larger than the original Shark Brake 2) The barrel would be non-standard if threaded that way (i.e., would cost more). Wouldn't it be easier to just leave it standard and have an original Shark Brake on it? Elk stakes...how are they?

Something different... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markNOSPAM@serbu.com> Date: 8/1/03 10:07 This is a pic of a custom gun we're doing for a customer. It's in his own caliber (a .50 BMG necked down to .458) and it's hard chromed. Kinda looks like stainless. Sorry about the weird cropping of the picture, but there's some secret squirrel stuff in the rack I didn't want to show.

Ferret Shark Brake update (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 8/5/03 10:47 Here's the first one as it came off the machine. Just needs parkerizing and it's done. Will definitely be shipping out by the end of the week. I'll be sending confirmation emails to everyone who emailed me with orders by the end of today. If you don't get an email, then contact me asap. Mark Serbu (813) 243-8899 P.S. To email me remove the "DIESPAM" from the address above. I've discovered that some people weren't doing this. I've also discovered that some bots are apparently smart enough to remove "NOSPAM" from addresses!

OT: SUPER-SHORTY in the movies... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 8/13/03 17:12 One of my guns, a 12-gauge SUPER-SHORTY AOW shotgun, was used in the movie, "Bad Boyz II". I'm hoping to get time to go see it soon. If you don't know about the SUPER-SHORTY, check out: http://www.serbu.com/shorty.htm

Here's a "real" one... Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 8/20/03 13:39 In Response To: MMAG??? (Jeff) They're getting very close to delivery now.

Shooting the SWR suppressed BFG-50 Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 9/5/03 14:57 The rifle is basically a BFG-50 Carbine but with a special barrel to match the contour and threads of the Barrett M-82. This was required becasue the SWR suppressor was made to fit the M-82. What's neat is that the Carbine with the suppressor is exactly equal to a standard BFG-50 in overall length and weight. Sound reduction was impressive...Joe Gaddini says it does 30 db reduction. Recoil boost was impressive, too; I got my first "idiot mark" ever today, right above and between the eyes. Luckily it's very small and hardly noticeable. For subsequent shots I moved back far enough away from the scope so that I didn't get bitten again. Fired about 25 rounds while sighting in and screwing around. BIG recoil push, but tolerable. Not having all that blast around for each shot is definitely a very different experience. The SWR suppressor is probably destined for the military, but there might be a civilian version. Check out SWR at: www.swrmfg.com

.50 BMG SLAP ammo for sale! (pic) Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 10/20/03 12:02 This is the real deal. Standard SLAP is $20/round , SLAP-T (tracer, with red sabot) is $25/round. Quantity price breaks on 10 or more rounds. These rounds won't chamber in all rifles (I know they don't easily chamber in a BFG-50), so they're being sold for collector value only. Call the shop (813) 243-8899 or email (remove DIESPAM) to order. Thanks, Mark Serbu

Posted By: Mark Serbu <markDIESPAM@serbu.com> Date: 1/19/04 08:58 In Response To: A sincere thank you for your help (bill in florida) Yeah, we are. Though our negro part-time employee, Mike, told me the other day, "MLK day is the day I stay home and Fuc* white women". I just gave him "the look"...you know, the one that a boss gives you that says "the next really, really nasty, disgusting, smelly job that needs to get done around here is YOURS!". All that aside, Bill, if you want to come visit today that's fine. Just call first, after 10:00am (I think I'm part black, so I'm taking the morning off). :-)