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Old 02-22-2022, 04:40 PM
teletech teletech is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Default Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid
So, this guy was playing with SLAP rounds in a single-shot 50 and the thing blew up on him and nearly killed him. He survived and the maker of the rifle sent him another one to play with and blow-up.
The test video is here FWIW. Not a ton to learn other than he couldn’t reproduce the failure with the ammo used in the accident, which isn’t very comforting at all to be honest.


The test consists of one round at standard pressure, then 12 rounds loaded “hot”, whatever that means, then one round loaded to over the maximum design yield of the firearm. This isn’t really a very useful test. For all we know the “hot” rounds were only like 70KPSI. It would have been a lot more useful to shoot those, since those rounds were a potential cause of the failure, but first to shoot rounds designed to produce 70, 80, 90… KPSI and up to about 170. That way you could empirically verify some utility between arbitrary “hot” and “this will destroy the gun”.
The company response was to say this design will fail at ~185,000PSI and it will fail by the breech blowing out. A normal round generates 60KPSI, so it’s fine. Now, rather than just do a little PR, the company could easily have done a redesign and cut a couple shallower windows near the front of the chamber area that were designed to squib-out at ~160PSI so the person sitting directly behind the breech-cap would have a much better chance of not being killed by shrapnel in the event of a catastrophic failure, but no. This seems a bit irresponsible to me really, but to each their own I guess.

Anyway, 50 rifles are expensive and pretty special-purpose. They are also way worse to be around when something goes wrong, so there’s an argument for being very careful about the ammo, the rifle, or really both.
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Old 02-22-2022, 04:45 PM
Mrnurse Mrnurse is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Never underestimate the power of nit wit manufactures and buyers.... so it blew up the 1st time and then he gets a new rifle and that blows up.... nothing to see here folks.
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Old 02-22-2022, 05:15 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Old news.....
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Old 02-22-2022, 05:34 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Blew a chunk of the gun right through his jugular. Had to plug him with a thumb before he pumped dry.

V. poor design of the rifle.

Better choice.
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Old 02-22-2022, 05:45 PM
Greyman50 Greyman50 is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Have Never understood the “ because I can” mentality, designing a firearm in .50 Cal MG cartridge. I agree, the M-2 is it.F7835CCA-06E9-4C37-B7C8-7448CE219DDC.jpg
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Old 02-22-2022, 06:04 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Old 02-22-2022, 06:31 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Have Never understood the “ because I can” mentality, designing a firearm in .50 Cal MG cartridge. I agree, the M-2 is it.Attachment 561366
Just love the idea of what amounts to a grenade going off inches from my face....
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Old 02-22-2022, 08:34 PM
Greyman50 Greyman50 is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Just love the idea of what amounts to a grenade going off inches from my face....
Yep, hit the nail on the head. Sorry but many of these have never had to use such in “ real life” situations. Until one sees the end results of 50 cal, 60 mm, 81 mm or 4.2 mortar or any other artillery they dont know. Know guys with 50 rifles but no desire to fire one. Also know more with sub machine guns and they are Fun.
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Old 02-22-2022, 09:03 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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I couldn't possibly disagree more.

If anything, Scott's attempt to recreate the accident being unsuccessful with the Slap Rounds only proves what a freak accident it was, (just as he himself concluded) and that it wasn't the RN50's fault because only a deliberately massively overcharged handload was able to successfully blow up the rifle.
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Old 02-22-2022, 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Forte Smitten Wesson View Post
I couldn't possibly disagree more.

If anything, Scott's attempt to recreate the accident being unsuccessful with the Slap Rounds only proves what a freak accident it was, (just as he himself concluded) and that it wasn't the RN50's fault because only a deliberately massively overcharged handload was able to successfully blow up the rifle.
^This. You should read some of the blow-up threads on the CastBoolits forum. Pistol powder getting mixed in with rifle powder, double charges, you name it, they've done it. The long thread on the guy trying to blow up small ring Mausers was most instructive.
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Old 02-22-2022, 09:39 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Nope. No interest in a .50 BMG.

I remember a small stature guy who bought a. 50 BMG bolt action rifle back a while ago. The rifle was as tall as he was.

I thought, well, have fun shooting that.
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Old 02-22-2022, 10:44 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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I just recently sold my bolt action Armalite AR50, they were banned from the local range and I had nowhere convenient to shoot it. I put a few hundred rounds through it over the years with no issues. It was a well designed rifle and I let anybody who was interested shoot it. The recoil was almost nil due to the weight of it, I had a couple of 12 year old's shooting it with no issues.

I would never consider firing a Serbu 50. Well designed firearms have provisions for the directing the blast away from the shooter in the event of a kaboom. If a Serbu blows, it blows up right in your face as that unfortunate guy found out, he was lucky to survive.
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Old 02-23-2022, 02:54 AM
teletech teletech is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forte Smitten Wesson View Post
I couldn't possibly disagree more.

If anything, Scott's attempt to recreate the accident being unsuccessful with the Slap Rounds only proves what a freak accident it was, (just as he himself concluded) and that it wasn't the RN50's fault because only a deliberately massively overcharged handload was able to successfully blow up the rifle.
In dealing with life-or-death pressures next to my face, I want more safety.
I think the logical conclusion based on the other rounds not blowing the new gun is "Freak accident" = improper heat-treating or metallurgy of the original gun.
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Old 02-23-2022, 03:17 AM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Yep, hit the nail on the head. Sorry but many of these have never had to use such in “ real life” situations. Until one sees the end results of 50 cal, 60 mm, 81 mm or 4.2 mortar or any other artillery they dont know. Know guys with 50 rifles but no desire to fire one. Also know more with sub machine guns and they are Fun.
I can't remember which aviation book I read it in, but the author, a WWII fighter pilot, graphically described the effect of a .50 BMG hitting a human being. Not pretty...
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Old 02-23-2022, 06:12 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Right about Castboolits, been on there for many, many years. I cringe reading some of the clap- trap posted . Just MORE Reasons to only go shooting with guys you Know are not inclined to do stupid things. BTW, some posts on here give me the same feelings.
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Old 02-23-2022, 06:44 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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The minute I saw the design of that 50 cal., I said to myself "No way would I ever get behind one of those and pull the trigger!" From an engineering point of view it is a very poor design.
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Old 02-23-2022, 07:38 PM
Greyman50 Greyman50 is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Worse than a crankshaft grinding machine with no guards, LOL
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Old 02-26-2022, 10:24 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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The RN-50 was designed by a high school or college age YouTube person awhile ago, then licensed or sold to Serbu since it was so cheap to make at home. He also made improvised pipe and wood 2"x4" shotguns, as well as other off the wall junk. The kid's name on YT was Royal Nonesuch, hence the RN-50 name.
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Old 02-27-2022, 04:34 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Nope. No interest in a .50 BMG.

I remember a small stature guy who bought a. 50 BMG bolt action rifle back a while ago. The rifle was as tall as he was.

I thought, well, have fun shooting that.
Nephews FIL owned at least 4 of the single shot 50 BMG rifles. I doubt he weighed 150 and his daughter doesn't now hit 120. They both shot them in competitions. It isn't your size if you know how to handle recoil.
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Old 02-27-2022, 05:34 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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I agree the single-shot's design does not inspire a whole lot of confidence in me. However -- the design did not lead to the failure. And, the result would have been as potentially fatal as his first blow-up, even in a rifle design known to be safe for the .50 BMG.

He has lately proven this by using the same load in a Barret .50 -- which promptly disassembled itself in to about a million pieces. Fortunately, he had it set up behind a concrete block wall and pulled the trigger with a 150' string while sheltered behind a truck.
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Old 02-27-2022, 06:35 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Tuc tuc. Just because you can doesn't mean you should!!!!!!
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Old 03-02-2022, 11:00 AM
teletech teletech is offline
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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I agree the single-shot's design does not inspire a whole lot of confidence in me. However -- the design did not lead to the failure. And, the result would have been as potentially fatal as his first blow-up, even in a rifle design known to be safe for the .50 BMG.

He has lately proven this by using the same load in a Barret .50 -- which promptly disassembled itself in to about a million pieces. Fortunately, he had it set up behind a concrete block wall and pulled the trigger with a 150' string while sheltered behind a truck.
Well, not exactly...
He got another sample rifle and ran all the other "hot" rounds like the one that caused the first kaboom through that rifle with no failure of the rifle. Then he intentionally blew up said rifle with a much hotter round specifically designed to produce more pressure than the rifle was built for.
The fact the new rifle held against all the other questionable SLAP leaves open the slim possibility that he got unlucky and fired one that was much hotter than the rest, but strongly suggests the blow-up rifle was weaker than the new one. To me that suggests poor metallurgy like improper heat-treating.

He then blew up the Barret with the same catastrophic failure round.
This smells like deceptive showmanship and I suspect the Barret was provided by the maker of the Serbu in order to promote this false equivalency.
If you wanted to actually compare the two rifles, you would use progressively hotter rounds until you reached a failure point and compare. All he showed was two rifles designed to fire 65K PSI rounds would do so and that they would both fail if you put over three times that in them. Would they have both survived 80K, 100K,... or would one or the other fail much before the other?
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Old 03-05-2022, 03:16 PM
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Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid Serbu rn-50, a 50BMG single-shot I would personally avoid  
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Default The Barrett M82, a .50BMG Semiautomatic I would personally avoid...
At least if I planned on loading sketchy SLAP Rounds or otherwise intentionally overloaded 190,000psi ammo into it...


So much for the Serbu RN50 being structurally weak or otherwise flawed by design, I suppose... The Barrett blew up far more violently/destructively than the RN50 did.

I wonder if Barrett will be sending Scott another to test like Serbu did for the RN50? At the very least, they'll surely redesign it in order to address this flaw. After all, that's what responsible gun designers do, right?
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