Serbu Firearms

American firearms manufacturer

Serbu Firearms

Company type| Firearms Manufacturer
Founded| 1995
Founder| Mark Serbu
Headquarters|

Tampa, Florida

Owner| Mark Serbu
Website| http://www.serbu.com/
Serbu Super-Shorty

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

## History

[edit]

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

[edit]

### Soup Nazi incident

[edit]

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 who had not authorized the use of his likeness, contacted Facebook and the T-shirt printers to have them removed. Serbu had since removed the image of Thomas and replaced it with one of Mark Serbu.[11][12][13]

### RN-50 explosion

[edit]

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, breaking 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]

## References

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1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ RN-50 Blow-Up. Archived from the original on 2021-05-01. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
19. ^ My 50 Cal Exploded...AGAIN !!! (Recreating My Accident) on Kentucky Ballistics