Serbu Firearms

Last updated
Serbu Firearms
Company typeFirearms Manufacturer
Founded1995
FounderMark Serbu
Headquarters
OwnerMark Serbu
Website http://www.serbu.com/
Serbu Super-Shorty My Serbu.jpg
Serbu Super-Shorty

Serbu Firearms is an American manufacturer of firearms based in Tampa, Florida, founded by mechanical engineer Mark Serbu. [1]

Contents

History

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida in 1990, Mark Serbu found employment building flight simulators, founding Serbu Firearms as a part time occupation in 1995. In 1999, he quit his job as a flight simulator designer entirely to dedicate to his firearm business full-time. [1] [2]

The company is known for manufacturing simple and affordable .50 BMG rifles, such as the single-shot bolt-action BFG-50, [3] [4] the semi-automatic BFG-50A [5] [6] and the single-shot break-action RN-50. [7] [8] [4]

Serbu Firearms is also noted for its now discontinued production of the Super-Shorty, a compact 12 or 20 gauge pump-action shotgun with front and rear pistol grips. In the United States, it is regulated as what is called Any Other Weapon under the National Firearms Act. [9] [10]

Controversy

Soup Nazi incident

In 2013, Serbu refused to sell their model BFG-50A semi-automatic .50 rifles to the New York City Police Department after the passage of the NY SAFE Act that classified their weapon as an assault weapon. Instances like this, in which a firearms manufacturer refuses to supply state entities with weapons that are forbidden to their private citizens, have become more common. Following their refusal to sell the rifles, Serbu then had T-shirts printed with an image of the classic Seinfeld character The Soup Nazi, played by actor Larry Thomas, and the words "No Serbu For You". Thomas, a gun control advocate, contacted Facebook and the T-shirt printers to have the shirts removed. Serbu has since removed the image of Thomas and replaced it with one of himself. [11] [12] [13]

RN-50 explosion

On April 9 2021, firearms YouTuber Scott DeShields Jr., known for his channel Kentucky Ballistics, suffered critical injuries while recording a video shooting the model RN-50 rifle using old .50 BMG SLAP rounds. The gun exploded as DeShields fired the last round, sending shrapnel into his face and torso, lacerating his jugular vein, broke his nose and puncturing his right lung. He went through extensive emergency surgery at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was discharged after eight days, referring to the malfunction as a "freak accident" and blaming it on a faulty cartridge. [14] [15] [16] Mark Serbu released a video statement on the incident in his YouTube channel, to "assure people that the RN-50 is a safe gun", saying "It's a terrible thing. I’ve got 10,000 guns out there with my name on them and I don’t want anybody getting hurt with them". [17] [18] DeShields later recreated the accident with a remotely-fired RN-50, and found that other rounds from the same batch were also loaded to excessive pressure. [19]

Related Research Articles

Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to keep and bear arms, and have more liberal gun laws than neighboring jurisdictions. Gun control typically restricts access to certain categories of firearms and limits the categories of persons who may be granted permission to access firearms. There may be separate licenses for hunting, sport shooting, self-defense, collecting, and concealed carry, each with different sets of requirements, privileges, and responsibilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semi-automatic rifle</span> Type of autoloading rifle

A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. In contrast, a bolt-action rifle requires the user to cycle the bolt manually before they can fire a second time, and a fully automatic rifle fires continuously until the trigger is released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action (firearms)</span> Functional mechanism of breech-loading

In firearms terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm that handles the ammunition cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on muzzleloaders, as all those are single-shot firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assault weapon</span> Terminology used in United States firearm legislation

In the United States, assault weapon is a controversial term applied to different kinds of firearms. There is no clear, consistent definition. It can include semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and sometimes other features, such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor, or barrel shroud. Certain firearms are specified by name in some laws that restrict assault weapons. When the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use." The commonly used definitions of assault weapons are under frequent debate, and have changed over time.

BFG may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Firearms Act</span> 1934 US law regulating firearms including machine guns

The National Firearms Act (NFA), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236 was enacted on June 26, 1934, and currently codified and amended as I.R.C. ch. 53. The law is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes an excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The NFA is also referred to as Title II of the federal firearms laws, with the Gun Control Act of 1968 ("GCA") as Title I.

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing is an Australian-owned, American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition located in Christiana, Tennessee. It was founded in 1982 by Ronnie G. Barrett for the purpose of building semi-automatic rifles chambered for the .50 BMG ammunition, originally developed for and used in M2 Browning machine guns. Barrett began this work in the early 1980s, and the first working rifles were available in 1982, hence the designation M82. Barrett personally designed every part of the weapon. He marketed the weapon and mass-produced it utilizing private funds. He continued to develop the rifle through the 1980s, and developed the improved M82A1 rifle by 1986. Barrett was acquired by the NIOA Group on 17 January 2023, solidifying the long-standing relationship between the two companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Thomas (actor)</span> American actor

Laurence Tomashoff, known professionally as Larry Thomas, is an American actor, best known for his guest role as Yev Kassem/the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. In addition to making personal appearances as the Soup Nazi, Thomas has appeared in a number of films, TV shows, and commercials, and appears at autograph-signing shows across the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammerless</span> Firearm design lacking an external hammer

A hammerless firearm is a firearm that lacks an exposed hammer or hammer spur. Although it may not literally lack a hammer, it lacks an external hammer that the user can manipulate directly. One of the disadvantages of an exposed hammer spur is the tendency for it to get caught on items such as clothing; covering the hammer by removing the hammer spur reduces this from occurring.

"The Soup Nazi" is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.50 Caliber BMG Regulation Act of 2004</span>

The .50 Caliber BMG Regulation Act of 2004 is a law in the state of California that effectively banned all .50 BMG-caliber rifles from being sold in the state. The law took effect on January 1, 2005.

The .416 Barrett (10.4×83mm), centerfire rifle cartridge is a proprietary bottlenecked centrefire rifle cartridge designed in 2005. It is an alternative to the large-caliber .50 BMG in long-range high-power rifles. It was designed in response to a request for a medium/heavy rifle cartridge combination that was issued from Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division in late 2004.

The Barrett M90 is a bolt-action, bullpup rifle chambered in .50 BMG. It was designed and manufactured by Barrett Firearms Company. In 1995, Barrett stopped production of the M90, and replaced it with the M95.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun laws in California</span> Californias gun law

Gun laws in California regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of California in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M30 Luftwaffe Drilling</span> Combination rifle/shotgun

The M30 Luftwaffe Drilling ("triple") was a survival weapon issued to Luftwaffe pilots during World War II. It was used by airmen operating in Northern Africa. The M30 was intended to be used for hunting and self-defense against a variety of natural predators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serbu Super-Shorty</span> Shotgun

The Serbu Super-Shorty is a compact, stockless, pump action shotgun chambered in 12-gauge. The basic architecture of most of the production models is based on the Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun, with Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 receivers also available. The shotgun features a spring-loaded, folding foregrip. A 20-gauge model is available on special order.

To buy a firearm in France, in line with the European Firearms Directive, a hunting license or a shooting sport license is necessary depending on the type, function and magazine capacity of the weapon.

Featureless rifles are rifles with modifications made to remove prohibited features from Modern Sporting Rifles. The term is most commonly used with rifles manufactured or retrofitted to comply with gun laws in California.

References

  1. 1 2 Morgan, Philip. "Tampa man grows business making and selling firearms". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  2. "Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms". www.smallarmsreview.com. 2013-01-25 [September 2006]. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  3. estaff (2002-12-17). "For a Real Kick, Try a Big Fifty: We Test a Quartet of BMGs". Gun Tests. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  4. 1 2 Brune, Evan (2018-09-02). "An Official Journal Of The NRA | Top 5 'Budget-Priced' .50 BMG Rifles". Shooting Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  5. McCollum, Ian (2020-09-25). "Big-Bore Simplicity: the Serbu BFG-50A". Forgotten Weapons . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  6. Criswell, Jack (2019-03-15). "A Look at the Serbu BFG-50A Rifle and Some .50 BMG Physics". Ballistic Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  7. Searson, Mike (2016-01-30). "AfterSHOT: Serbu Arms RN50 - Party like it's 1993". Recoil. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  8. Martin, Clay (2017-07-26). "A .50 BMG for Everyone: Serbu's Lightweight, Single-Shot RN-50 — Full Review". GunsAmerica Digest. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  9. "SUPER-SHORTY 12-Gauge Mini-Shotgun by Serbu Firearms, Inc". DefenseReview.com. 2002-02-01. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  10. Johnston, Jeff (2019-07-10). "An Official Journal Of The NRA | NFA Rules on Shotguns: Everything You Need to Know". Shooting Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  11. Blum, Sam (2013-04-02). "No catchphrase for you! Seinfeld's Soup Nazi in a stew over gunmaker Serbu". The Guardian . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  12. Berman, Jillian (2013-04-03). "'Soup Nazi' Convinces Gun Maker To Pull T-Shirt With His Face On It". HuffPost . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  13. Higginbotham, David (2013-04-09). "No Serbu For You, Soup Nazi Wants His Image Back :". Guns.com. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  14. Massie, Graeme (2021-05-06). "YouTube weapons expert left with horror injuries after gun exploded in his face". The Independent . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  15. Dutton, Josh (2021-05-08). "YouTuber suffers horrific injuries after 'freak accident' on camera". Yahoo News Australia . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  16. Chisenhall, Jeremy (2021-05-17). "Viral Kentucky YouTuber nearly dies when .50-cal gun blows up in his face on camera". Lexington Herald Leader . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  17. Brown, Lee (2021-05-18). "YouTuber shares video of rifle exploding, almost killing him in 'freak accident'". New York Post . Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  18. Serbu, Mark (2021-05-01). "RN-50 blow-up". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-05-01. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  19. My 50 Cal Exploded...AGAIN !!! (Recreating My Accident) on Kentucky Ballistics