I know it's been asked before but what's the best bang for the buck? One to buy and just shoot,   Max distance around here is 400 yards if I'm lucky
Any info is greatly appreciated!  



        Thanks. FXR!

Gonna need more info than that.  Bench shooting or off hand fun?  Bolt or semi?  Quality vs. price?  Upper or full rifle? Mag fed or single shot? Punching paper accurately or destroying household appliances and steel plate? Weight limit? Your budget....including optic and accessories?

Guess all that would help
Got a good optic came off a Barrett sold a while back
Thinking maybe a bolt gun
Mainly for just shooting steel  no long distance just busting stuff up!
Just don't wanna spend $$$$ on a semi Barrett. Guessing 2500-3000?????
A complete gun
No uppers

Serbu carbine.
Serbu

Agreed...Serbu

Serbu.  Mine should be here next week and I had the same wants as you, only a little bit longer shooting distance.

You and me.  I got the 29.5 nitrided barrel.

Gee, I guess my vote goes to Mark Serbu.
Great weapon and even better service.





PS....Where would you shoot in GA?
My bro lives in Augusta and no .50 friendlies there.

I'll be the oddball and recommend an Armalite.  

I found a used one in the classifieds for a good price and have been pleased with it.

I can shoot in my back yard for know it's about 80 yards, but we also lease some land near Union point and Crawfordville (about halfway) between atl and Augusta
Can get out to about 400 yards there plus nobody complains!!!
Thanks for the input!

Cool Acres in Swainsboro Ga

Same barrel for me.  Group buy too?

Oh yeah.  I have a nightforce scope and badger max50 rings awaiting the rifle. It's going to be like Christmas when it arrives.

I'm also getting a spare parts kit in case something breaks. It was only 79 bucks so it's a little insurance that I can keep it running in case something goes wonky.

I would have too as I love my AR-50 but the OP didn't seem to be interested in a bench rifle.

When you say "Budget" that to me means low cost especially in conjunction with the phrase "best bang for the buck". Without a doubt the best bang for the buck is Safety Harbor Firearms SHF single shot starting new at $1950. Bipod is $140, monopod stock is another $50, carry handle $60, extended rail $250 (in my opinion unneeded, photo show regular no extra cost rail). Maxed out with all these accessories is $2200 - $2450. This is probably over $500 less than the next cheapest option. I have 2 Safety Harbor uppers and shoot mine at the 400-500 yard range all the time. 14" x 16" steel target no problem hitting that every time. Two-ish inch groups at 100 yards. More than good enough for the type of shooting you describe.



Serbu makes a pretty good single shot but your probably talking about $500 more if you do an apples to apples compare. That isn't allot of difference in costs and if it where me that amount would not stop me from buying the Serbu BFG-50. Those are probably your two lowest costs options and still getting a good quality 50 BMG. It starts getting into real money from here. An AR-50 or Barrett 99 is over $3 grand and semi-autos start out at $6000 but you can have $10K into one of those without much effort.

Your optic won't be cheap either. Probably spend a minimum of $300 and "the sky's the limit" for an optic that will take the pounding of a 50 cal.

O P will take any suggestions!!!
Complete guns to uppers!!
      Thanks!!!!

If your looking for a single shot in an AR upper. I suggest Ferret 50 made by Spider Arms. Dave is a great upright guy with some real smarts about building a safe rifle. Check out his site and give him a call. One of the great things about his rifle is that the firing pin is cammed back when the bolt handle is lifted. If a primer should pop and wield the pin forward. the bolt will not open and will need to be sent back for repairs. Unlike some that will let you open the bolt and install a new round. Then when you go to close the bolt. While out of battery the round could go off and send the bolt out the back and through your shoulder while breaking your thumb or your hand. And if something would cause the trigger to trip before the bolt is close (ok not 100% but enough to have the bolt lugs engaging the receiver enough) the firing pin will not strike the primer. Also the break is hand tightened with the use of a belvue (think that is the name) washer. I have a 36" tube on mine and I use a Pelican 1750  case, and still need to take off the break in order to make it fit.

Like I said, Dave is a smart guy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belleville_washer



You knew the sound of the name, and now you know the rest of the story.

There is a very recent vid on YouTube where an individual claims that two consecutive Safety Harbor weapons went Kaboom.  He shows all the pieces and doesn't sound like a yahoo.  He was injured by the first, and says he test-fired the second with a long string, and it blew up.  On one of them it looks like a bolt lug sheared off.

Never heard of a SH ever blowing up. Care to post a link? I know there is a guy who posted here about his Zel was shipped to him with wrong brake (to small) and blew apart the barrel when he pulled the trigger.

http://youtu.be/jXGwk2EH1CQ

I would also recommend the AR50

Dam. Not good. To many variables to determine if it was the SH or the individual that was the cause. Was hoping to get a email address from that vid but it wasn't posted. Would have to ask him some questions. If he was shooting 215 gr of H50BMG, he was pushing it a bit. Have a couple hundred shot out of mine with no issues. I clean and inspect it allot before I shoot it too. Need more info on this.

That suxs right there I still cant decide what to get!

I emailed safety harbor to see what they had to say. Until all the facts are in, I wouldn't blame either one just yet. Could be to hot of rounds, the guy may not of done a good inspection before shooting, wrong brake, etc.. Tell you one thing, sure as hell wouldn't have shot a second any rifle of same brand until I found out why the 1st one blew up.

Don't expect a reply....that was my experience with them.

No doubt the AR-50 is a stouter gun. It outta be there's just allot more metal there. The Anzio, Ferret arms and even the Serbu are fairly similar designs to the Safety Harbor. These are lightweight tube receivers made up of welded parts. I have literally hundreds, if not over a 1000 rounds through 3 different Safety Harbor's and I haven't had a Kaboom. May just be lucky but I don't shoot any exotic ammo or anything remotely considered hot. Sure like to hear what caused 2 guns in a row to explode. Two right in a row sounds very suspicious to me. You would think Safety Harbor would have requested the rifles be sent back ASAP to analyze the parts and figure out what happened? Bad on them if they don't work this problem in the most urgent manner possible. There's more to this I'm sure but 2 rifles exploding with 2 rounds being fired really raises a red flag, not only with the gun but the ammo being used.This is only the 2nd time I have heard of significant problems with Safety Harbor but until this is sorted out I would have to agree and not recommend someone buy one. I have 2 and like them and will continue to shoot them. Makes me nervous whenever I hear something like this happening. Then I recall all the other Kaboom's with other rifles like Bohica and even Barrett and it starts to be put into perspective. 1) this can be a dangerous hobby and 2) anything made by the hand of man can fail when you least expect it.

Me to. Its a great rifle for the money

One thing about most .50s is that it seems likely that, for the many small-shop .50 rifles, there isn't a large enough sample size to tell if many designs are truly safe.  That is, a few (like the poster above) probably shoot a lot, and nothing happens.  But many, or maybe most, are shot a few times, or not shot at all.  Are those rifles safe, or are they accidents waiting to happen?  And the design itself may be safe, but a badly heat treated bolt makes it a pipe bomb.
Compared to something like a Remington 700, with millions made, and shot often, they are a known quantity.  Not so with .50s because by definition they aren't shot nearly as much due to cost, recoil, and lack of .50-friendly ranges.
I doubt we'll ever really know what happened to those Safety Harbors.  The fact that one blew up with handloads and the other with Talon remanufactured will probably raise questions about where the fault lay.  I personally would like to think that it should be pretty hard to blow up a rifle, even a .50.  If it says anything it's that some of these rifles are on the ragged edge of "safe".
I looked at the SH and Serbus, clearly rifles with a lot of design commonality, but I've only heard of one Serbu blowing up (supposedly due to bad ammo) and one blown up deliberately in some kind of test.  Otherwise they have a solid reputation.  The SH however does have a lot of material cut away for the forward bolt handle and the magazine.  Is that a factor that ate too far into their safety margin?  Who knows?

& this one

https://youtu.be/hqmaojMESDU

See below

[Deleted]

Double post

I love my AR50.  It is a beast!  I don't worry about it going kb when others are shooting it.  

No regrets here.

I watched the video and I don't know what it is but for some reason it's not passing the smell test for me.  I do not own a SH 50 but have another upper type 50 and have fired a lot of MY OWN reloads.  The only time I had a problem with ammo too hot was with box of American Eagle.  There have been just too many SH sold without the Kabooms for this guy to have two.  I can't imagine that load blowing up a rifle if that is truly what it was.  There is a lot of powder in any 50 BMG round to play games with.  Does anyone else feel the same as me or am I being to hard on the guy?

No. I think your onto something. I felt the same way when I saw he had two Kabooms right in a row. Two rounds, two Kabooms is very unusual wouldn't you say? Not saying it couldn't happen but I find it very coincidental and suspect. There are allot of Safety Harbors out there. I see many for sale and I know a couple people just in my shooting group that own them. The reason? They are inexpensive and readily available, without a 12 month wait. Been involved shooting 50's and have known about the SHTF 50 for at least 10 years. This is only the 2nd bad failure that I have heard about, not counting some quality issues. I really hope Walter Kelly digs into this and addresses any short comings with the greatest of urgency. This kind of incident can ruin your reputation and kill your business, just like it did Bohica.

I have continued to shoot my Safety Harbors putting probably a 100+ rounds down the pipe this summer. It does worry me a little sometimes, but what are you going to do? If you've been around this sport long enough you will see things that put a fear in you. I have seen or heard about regular rifles and handguns exploding in people's faces. Even Remington is not exempt from an occasional Kaboom. Vids of Remington and SW M&P15 kabooms.

Youtube Remington 700 Kaboom

m&p kaboom

As someone mentioned in a previous thread. Wondering if all the metal removed on the receiver to add the magazine well has weakened it? The two Kaboom incidents have both involved magazine fed models. Mine are both mag fed models gulp......

I've shot literally thousands of Talon re-manufactured 50BMG rounds thru my Armalite AR-50 and my State Arms Shorty. Enough rounds to wear out the barrels and justify re-barreling both rifles. Approximately 5200 rounds thru the AR-50 and over 3800 rounds thru the Shorty which I bought used and have no previous data for round count. I have found the Talon ammo a bit hot for everyday use in a bolt action rifle, as I believe it is loaded to a mil-spec for the MaDuece.

My Shorty has survived a loading of 240 grains of H50BMG behind a 750 grain Amax = a loading NOT RECOMMENDED, and I shot over 120 rounds with this loading. My standard Amax loading is now 218 grains of H50BMG for best accuracy.
My AR-50 has shot the same loading but it did not like it as an accurate round. I proceeded to load 800+ grain brass solids from Lehigh with powder charges as high as 252 grains of V.V. 20N29 and 254 grains of Reloder-50 (higher in some testing as noted below). My standard loading now is the Lehigh 510-170 808 grain brass solid with 246 grains of RL-50 for best accuracy.

I have, but have not used yet, 16 pounds of WC860 with intention of using it as a reduced charge for fire forming match brass behind 647 grain Ball and API projectiles this Winter, shooting the API into piles of snow here in Wisconsin.

I have Virgin H5010 (original batch), WC860, WC872, US869, H50BMG, RL-50, and V.V. 20N29 available for use, with RL-50 and H50BMG reserved as my Match powders now.  V.V. 20N29 will be used for my 2-mile test rifle using a 820 grain brass bore-rider thru a 45" SS 1:13 twist barrel.

Although not impossible, I too do find the story, as told in the video, a bit hard to believe - blowing up two rifles in two separate incidents using two different types of ammo, one a reload with 215 grains of WC860 and the other a Talon re-man round. But to blow up a rifle, or two, is somewhat unbelieveable. I know other shooters with the Safety Harbors design and they have been extremely reliable and safe, although too light for an extended shooting session of over 200 match rounds

His demonstration in an AR-50 is unrelated to the problem and does nothing for his argument. The AR-50 is known within the FCSA as a rifle that is almost blast-proof with any type of safely manufactured ammo. I've shot loads thru mine that have blown the primer out of radically expanded case heads and resulting in 800 grain brass solids fired in excess of 3400 fps. Headspace was checked and no excessive wear has occurred, although throat erosion was excessive. (I do not recommend this type of testing for anyone.)

I've had bad luck also within a Match with my AR-50 shooting poorly due to excessive throat erosion caused during an extended high pressure test phase (noted above), and a stuck projectile in my Shorty which required drilling out center to relieve pressure allowing remaining jacket to be hammered out.  Both rifles have easily survived accidents.

I would like to hear Safety Harbors side of this situation.

Makes me want to pick up an AR-50.  Your experience with it Doug really is a great selling point on it's safety.