Serbu 50 BFG Experience

I want to share my experience after purchasing a Serbu 50 BFG - 50 BMG


1) The rifle came from Serbu with the 30 MOA scope base installed backwards. They use a special tool to tighten the base down. A regular wrench is hard to get into the welded scope base. So this makes it a challenge to remount. Also has decent slop with the ability to mount left or right of bore a decent amount of your not careful.



2) The rifles lower has a lot of slop in how it mates with the 50 upper.


3) The bipod cant feature has much to be desired as it doesn’t lock or have a tension control to it. Loose like a door hinge would best describe it.


4) The trigger weight listed on impact guns shows 4 lbs average. Mine is in the 10-12 lbs range. I used impact guns as a reference because they deal Serbu firearms and I can’t access the Serbu website currently

I’m sharing this to help others make a decision that I researched for several weeks before making mine. It was Armalite AR 50 or the Serbu 50 BFG.

The base i can fix myself. The AR lower is pretty sloppy. I guess I can wedge it but for a brand new gun it wasn’t what I expected. The bipod is built like a machine gun bipod, I’ve since learned to deal with it. The trigger however I feel I got a sour deal on. I wanted to send the rifle back immediately for either a refund or at least get the trigger and rail issue fixed.

They advised me of the following:

1) They assuresd if I send the rifle in they could adjust the base and that it would be straight. Which is what it is as I can remount myself but would have preferred it have been right from the factory. But everyone makes mistakes.

2) The slop in the lower receiver is supposed to be there. It’s their tolerances. Although it makes the gun sound cheap and clunky.

3) I can live with the bipod. There are better options tho

4) I really wish I knew about the trigger ahead of time. The reviews I read had guns with 3.5 and 5 lbs triggers. Mine is 10.3-11.7 lbs to be exact. The rifle advertises with a 4 lbs average pull. They advised me they can drop the trigger pull with a set trigger but will cost me $200 to do

If I wanted any of the above worked on I would need to send the rifle back to them at my expense


Their return policy is literally 14 days. I did not see this before I bought the rifle. And is void if you fire the rifle. I contacted them about getting it repaired within minutes of opening the case and seeing the rifle. A refund was for extreme cases and at their discretion. I was advised by the company they would pay shipping both ways as it was their error to begin with. But a couple days later was informed that person did not have the right to tell me that and they would not honor that


I also want to add that I agreed to pay the return shipping if they would grant me my refund


I have $2720 into this 50 and really wish I would have went with a Armelite or Barrett to begin with

To see videos of this rifle visit my Facebook page: Hafeman Precision

i just want want to share my experience as I wish I would have been more educated before buying from them. I’m sharing this here. I know it’s not much of a 50 cal website. But may help someone decide on a 50 if they are in the market like myself

Just watched your overview video and man...that thing is crude. Seriously a welded on scope base riser platform with loose sloppy holes? I don't care how tight you get those bolts, that rail is going to move under recoil with that much slop in those holes.

Upper to lower fit is what it is. First AR I built used a Mega lower with a DPMS upper and it has some slop in it. Not that bad, but enough to make me wedge it.

And a 10+ pound trigger in any rifle is completely unacceptable.

The customer service you got after the sale is the biggest thing though. The way they handed this is just laughable - not in a "haha" way, but rather a "are you fricking kidding me?" way. I'd be spreading the word anywhere and everywhere I can about these folks to make sure someone else doesn't get screwed over by them like you did.

Hopefully the bare bones are at least salvageable once you sort out the rail and get a good trigger in it.

That’s why I wanted to post it. Please feel free to share my review on Facebook if you want. And on here. They had good reviews. But I’m starting to think its from people that were cut good deals on the guns. Or people that don’t understand what there looking at. The base is flat steel on flat steel. The AR 50 is slotted both vertical and horizontal along with the 4 screws to hold it on. I’m most likely going to sell this rifle since I ordered the AR 50 instead. I just can’t bring myself to like the rifle after what I’ve gone through. And if anyone is thinking I just showed you selected negative emails in my Facebook posts if you give me your email I’d be happy to send you the whole conversation of me literally pleading for them not to stick me with the gun unless I pay to ship and swap the trigger.

Wow. That's criminal.

Hopefully you will get it corrected. Shame you had to do their quality control.

Below is my email to Serbu yesterday:

“Mark, I very disappointed in my new rifle to say the least. I can handle the bipod canting easily and can live with that. I can handle mounting the base back on myself. I don’t care for the slop of the lower but would definitely like the trigger reworked. A 10-12 lbs trigger is just to high in my opinion for what the rifle cost and is advertised to come with.

Val told me in an email on the 28th after mentioning the scope base issue “we can cover the shipping expenses as it was our error” I don’t feel that I should have to pay to ship a rifle back when I am well within the 14 days return policy, with a brand new unfired rifle, and noticing these issues within minutes of arriving at my ffl and opening the box.

I’m hoping you can help me come to some real conclusion on this. I will not agree to pay the shipping back to you as that is wrong. I would pay the shipping back if you agreed to just return my money. At that point I would be completely done bothering your company and you could ship the rifle to someone else. I will also delete the review I did and keep from mentioning the rifle issues on forums and what not.

If this doesn’t matter to you just let me know. I will attach the base and sell the rifle in the distant future. With the 10-12 lbs trigger. It would be sold as new and I’m sure that person would contact you for the same issue. I don’t want to mess around modifying the trigger and don’t think I should have to as the rifle is brand new. The reviews on the rifles were good but had way better triggers then mine was sent with.

I’m really hoping we can arrive at a better conclusion then relying on your new customer with a brand new rifle from you to ship it back on that persons dime to fix stuff that the rifle was shipped with.

If the issues I’m referring to are within tolerances and considered to pass inspection then at least tell me that. I will pass that information on to others as to what they can expect from their purchase. If not then please make this right.

Either:

1) Allow me to pay the shipping to return the rifle and refund my money. You can keep the $100 it cost to ship here in the first place, I would however like my deposit back as I received a rifle that should not have made it past inspection and is technically not to the specifications I agreed to when making that deposit. As in the trigger pull issue. I assure you I will leave a satisfied customer if you do this

2) Or at least pay the shipping, as Val states in the email as it was your error. At very least get the trigger to a more manageable pull and please correctly install the base back on the rifle. Then at least when I receive it back I’ll have a rifle I actually want to shoot or if I sell it, the person receiving the rifle will at least be happy with their purchase.

Either way just please don’t leave me hanging $2720 later.....”

Sincerely,

Jordan Hafeman

Serbu’s Response:

Jordan,

“I apologize - I wasn't actually allowed to make that call, so I shouldn't have said that without knowing. Being a small company, we can't afford to pay it both ways, but we would definitely cover it back. A rail being backwards is something that can be easily fixed, and while I am very sorry that we messed it up, it could be done with a small wrench yourself if needed. There won't be any slop on it if you tighten the middle two down almost completely so that it barely moves and you can center it without it going all over the place. Then you tighten them fully, along with the two outer screws.

Shipping shouldn't be too bad for you, as the $100 cost we charge includes the case, processing/handling. It obviously varies with where you are in the US, but we charge one fee for everyone to make it easier. It would be a lower amount for you.

I know you were dissatisfied with a few things, so we can troubleshoot/fix those things when it's here. The set trigger is something we offer for it to be lighter pull, but it is $200 extra. We can also assure that the rail is tightened properly. You can just send the trigger group by itself if you happen to get the rail tightened down in the meantime.”

Thanks,

Valerie

Marks response in my first request to return the rifle to Serbu:


“Sir,
I understand that you’re wanting a refund on your BFG-50 rifle. Our refund policy is in place to handle extreme issues with our products, not minor QC problems. If you’ll return the rifle to us we will inspect it and make sure it’s to correct factory specs before being returned to you.”


Thank you,
Mark Serbu

I guess an "extreme issue" would have to be taken up with your next of kin.

Please share on other sites your members of as well. I’m only a member of this site but did look at many other forums for info. May help someone like me make there decision in the future. I’m not going to say Serbu doesn’t put out good rifles. But if you get a lemon at least you know what to expect

Rifle has been listed for sale on this site. Cutting anyone who buys it a good enough deal to send the rifle back for a trigger upgrade at least. The rifle can be found in the classifieds here if you or someone you know is interested.

Just a quick update:

Took the rifle to my local custom rifle builder/master gunsmith. I shoot fclass team for them. He decided we should take a look. I had a pending trade before the bolt decided to no longer close on my brand new rifle. So I had to back out of the trade as I couldn’t allow myself to trade something that did not function

The bolt on the rifle quit working. Had to replace the trigger to allow the hammer to get low enough so the bolt would close. Put a polished trigger on the rifle. Brought it down to what the rifle was supposed to be when I bought it (6 lbs ish). Also pinned the base in line with the bore. Which was about 3 hours work in itself as there was so much slop in the scope base we had to run the rifle on a Bridgeport to line it up. We also wedged the lower to at least take the annoying slapping noise of steel against steel out of it. We put about 8 hrs of work into this rifle total to get it to what I would call satisfying

Fired 10 rounds through it. Then got rid of it at a considerable loss.

I emailed Serbu the other day and called them twice. No response back, which is why we tore into the rifle ourselves.

Im so happy to see the rifle go. What a POS. A very simple design that had potential if people would do some quality control before shipping out a rifle. Much happier with my AR 50A1