Phantom Forces Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Article
Gallery
Advanced Stats
format_quote
An American anti-materiel rifle. Hits like a truck, but only chambers a single round, necessitating frequent reloads.
–In-game description


The BFG 50 is an American Sniper Rifle available in Phantom Forces. It is unlocked at rank 65 or could be purchased using credits.

History

The Serbu BFG-50 is a single-shot, breech-loading rifle designed by Mark Serbu and manufactured by Serbu Firearms. It is chambered in the .50 BMG cartridge, a caliber commonly used by anti-materiel rifles, which the BFG-50 is not. It was strictly developed as a civilian rifle and is not designed nor intended for military usage. Production of the BFG-50 started in 1999, and it is considered to be one of the more reasonably priced weapons in the .50 caliber rifle market, going for around about USD $2000 to $3000.[1]

There is a semi-automatic variant of the BFG-50, called the BFG-50A. To deal with the high recoil of the .50 BMG round the rifle uses, the BFG-50A features a hydraulic recoil buffer, which cushions the impact of the recoiling parts in the rifle. Instead of being breech-loaded like the BFG-50, the BFG-50A is magazine-fed, using the same magazines as the Barrett M82.[2] It bears a similar outward appearance to the M107, however, it also resembles the AS50 at the same time to which many inexperienced gun owners mistake the BFG-50A for the former or latter appearance-wise. Serbu Firearms refused to sell the BFG-50A to the New York City Police Department in response to New York, USA, passing an act which banned multiple firearms, such as the BFG-50A to be used by civilians.

In-Game

General Information

The BFG 50 is a single-shot sniper rifle that deals very high damage. It can one-shot kill (1SK) to any part of the body up to 50 studs. Beyond that, it will only 1SK in the head and torso. It is one of four weapons capable of a 1SK to the limbs in CQC. The range is lengthy, as with most sniper rifles. Muzzle velocity is second best-in-class, at 3000 studs-per-second. Rate of fire (RoF), however, is the slowest in the entire game at 16 RPM. This is because, unlike all other sniper rifles, the BFG 50 has no (internal or external) magazine, instead, being breech-loaded and bolt action and thus only holding one round in the chamber at a time. This means the user must reload the weapon after firing, forcing a rather long reload of 3.6 seconds. Penetration is inversely excellent, at a depth of 10 studs. This makes it tied with the Hecate II, M107, and SFG 50 for the second default highest bullet penetration depth; they are all since surpassed by NTW-20, which has 12 studs of penetration depth by default.

The BFG 50 has high vertical recoil, moderate blowback recoil, and some horizontal kick, although, given the nature of the weapon and slow RoF, the recoil is not a huge factor on the weapon's performance. Other handling traits are generally poor. The BFG sports very slow mobility speed and aim down sights (ADS) time, some of the worst in its category. It does, however, have the longest scope sway steady time, making aiming at enemies whilst scoped in for a long time much easier.

Usage & Tactics

The BFG 50's 1SK to the torso at long range is a powerful asset. The larger 1SK area compared to other snipers who have either a limited 1SK range to the torso, or only can 1SK via headshots makes the BFG 50 easier to achieve kills with. This is useful particularly against moving targets or targets at longer ranges. Therefore, unlike other sniper rifles, instead of focusing on the head, one should aim for the chest as much as possible. At longer ranges, this also becomes important given hitting a limb will not result in a 1SK.

The BFG 50's very slow RoF due to the constant need to reload after every shot means missing the first shot is extremely punishing. Such a missed shot will likely result in the user's death, as the BFG 50 has a loud, distinctive and recognizable sound that can be heard from a distance. The user should take cover while reloading, as the process is rather lengthy, and there is no way to cancel the reload and put the bullet back in the gun, as it is a single-shot weapon. When facing an enemy sniper, make sure that cover is around, in case the first shot does not hit the intended target. If the first shot is missed, the firing location will most likely be compromised, as the long reload will be more than enough time for the opposing sniper to train their weapon on the user. It is then recommended that the user moves to a different area, and take a shot from there. Wallbangs are relatively easy to get due to the high penetration depth of the weapon.

Attachments are generally not needed for the BFG 50, as they either have minimal positive effects or worsen the weapon's performance. Regarding recoil-reducing attachments, neither the Compensator, Muzzle Brake or grips provide huge benefits. Recoil is insignificant when using the BFG 50, and most of the grips (excluding Skeleton Grip) worsen the weapon's already poor ADS time, and should thus be avoided. Regarding other barrel attachments, the Flash Hider provides little benefit although it is more useful than the Compensator or muzzle brake. With sniper rifles, the muzzle flash does not impair target acquisition given the slow fire rate. With non-telescopic scopes, the Flash Hider is more beneficial, as muzzle flash obstructs a user's vision with lower magnification optics.

Lasers can make hip-firing with the weapon up close more viable, although a user should stick to longer-ranged engagements with the weapon. The Ballistics Tracker helps with target acquisition, highlighting enemies and giving an aiming indication with bullet drop factored in, although the large 1SK area of the BFG 50 and high muzzle velocity of the weapon make the Ballistics Tracker's benefit marginal.

With Long barrel the minimum damage range goes to 350, although useless given the BFG’s already universal 1SK to the torso and head. The BFG also acquires a better muzzle velocity which is helpful for hitting longer ranged shots since it reduces bullet drop. However the Long Barrel does come with the downside of a slower walkspeed and worse handling. When used with .416 Barrett however, not only do the penetration and velocity bonuses stack, giving the BFG 15.6 studs penetration and a 4,788 stud/s velocity respectively, the extended minimum damage range also compliments the .416 Barrett, bringing the 1-hit torso kill range up to 328.4 studs from 236.1 without the attachment. This is by far the greatest non-infinite 1-hit torso kill range in the game.

Suppressors are generally not recommended, if not condemned as they hinder the main strength of the BFG 50; its large 1SK area. Most of them hinder the 1SK capability in some form, reducing the range the BFG 50 can perform a 1SK to anywhere on the body which increases the likelihood of requiring a follow-up shot to kill an opponent. Some suppressors, specifically the Muffler and Oil Filter, can reduce the muzzle velocity of the BFG, making the other great strength of the BFG, its 3000/s velocity, negated. Coupled with the extremely low RoF of the BFG 50, this severely increases the time to kill (TTK) against a single opponent when compared to other sniper rifles. The stealth benefit of the suppressor and staying off the radar whilst firing does not outweigh the detractions.

Exceptions to this are the normal Suppressor and the ARS Suppressor which give no maximum range reduction and the latter giving minimal minimum range reduction. These, however, also give much least radar suppression than their competition.

For those dead-set on using a suppressor, Tracerless ammunition is highly recommended, as not only does it hide your tracer past a certain distance, it also reduces your suppression to 0.25x its original value. This can be combined with the R2 Suppressor to have a 0.25 stud suppression radius, compared to 4 studs without either attachment, along with a bonus of being completely hidden from radar past 105 studs. Using the two together not only all but eliminates visual indication of you firing, it also makes it harder for other enemies to get suppressed once one of their own gets killed, leaving them none the wiser unless they really pay attention.

In terms of ammunition, an option is the .416 Barrett. This increases the BFG 50's muzzle velocity, while decreasing penetration and range. This allows heavily impacting suppressors, such as the Oil Filter, to be used, allowing the user to stay off the radar while retaining the 1SK to the limbs at medium ranges, and simultaneously maintaining a relatively high muzzle velocity.

In case of closer combat it is preferable to shot from the hip and take out your secondary weapon to kill the enemy.

Conclusion

With a universal 1SK to the torso, the BFG 50 is a slow, heavy, and easy to use weapon, able to be used comfortably by almost anyone whether it is a newbie or professional. The BFG 50 may sometimes find itself in close range combat, but its single-shot renders it useless in these cases, leaving such situations best to a secondary or melee.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Extremely high damage—1SK to the torso and head at any range.
  • 1SK anywhere within 50 studs.
  • Generally higher default scope FOV increase.
  • Long steady time.
  • High muzzle velocity.
  • Second highest base penetration depth (tied with 3 others, Hecate II, M107, and SFG 50), surpassed only by the NTW-20.
  • Greater mobility than all other primary anti-materiel rifles, and even some non-anti-materiel sniper rifles.
  • Great barrel/ammo attachment flexibility, tied with the Hecate II.

Cons:

  • Long reload time.
  • Single-shot weapon—reload necessary after every shot.
  • Long ADS time.
  • Lowest RoF in-game (tied with SFG 50).

Trivia

  • The BFG has a semi-fictional secondary counterpart in the game known as the SFG 50, essentially a sawed-off version of the BFG.
  • The BFG 50 is one of the few weapons in Phantom Forces that does not have a detachable magazine, along with the Mosin Nagant, Obrez, Henry 45-70, SFG 50, GB-22, SASS 308, every revolver (primary and secondary), The FT 300 (Although it can gain one with the Marksman Kit attachment), and every shotgun (barring the DBV12, Saiga-12, USAS-12 and the AA-12 which have magazines), all of which have internally stored ammunition.
  • Prior to an unknown update, the BFG's firerate in-game was listed as 30 RPM. This was changed to 16 RPM to reflect the true RoF of the weapon.
  • The BFG 50 has the reserve ammunition of many other sniper rifles, with 42 rounds, but it can only chamber one round at a time. During the alpha, it had 21 rounds in reserve, the least of any sniper, tied with the SFG 50.
  • In the Alpha, the BFG's firing sound was very similar to the Intervention. This was later changed into the current sound, which sounds somewhat like thunder. The SFG 50 shares the same audio file, despite the shortened barrel length.
  • There is a joke that the acronym "BFG" likely stands for "Big F***ing Gun". This is due to its cannon-like sheer power in-game and size of caliber.
    • It is also likely a reference to the game Doom—one of the first popular first-person-shooters—and its infamous-yet-straightforwardly and similarly named BFG-9000.[3][4]
    • The manufacturer(Serbu Firearms) never actually specified what the name stands for, so whatever BFG stands for is up for debate.
  • In the CTE, with M1022 LRS (Long Range Sniper) Ammo, the BFG had 6,000 studs per second for bullet velocity, at the cost of being headshot only and only packing 21 rounds like its Alpha counterpart. With the 1SK ability and the blazingly fast muzzle velocity, the BFG with M1022 LRS Ammo had the fastest TTK in the game, beaten only by the Railgun on Base Luna (which is now removed from the game).
    • Currently speaking, since it is the only Sniper Rifle to have access to .17 Wildcat Rounds, which are super bottlenecked .50 BMG rounds and have relatively the same function as M1022 LRS, it can attain 6000 studs per second of velocity. So, in a way, it holds the crown for "fastest" minimum TTK of all one-hit kill weapons.
    • The Possible 7200 Studs/s muzzle velocity is the fastest in game, tied with the Hecate II, and only possible with .17 Wildcat and a Heavy Barrel.
  • The BFG is one of only three weapons in-game made by Serbu Firearms, the others being the Serbu Shotgun and GB-22.
    • The SFG technically counts as being made by Serbu Firearms, though it is a fictional gun, and thus never really made in real life.
  • Until the Aim & Accuracy update, the BFG 50's muzzle velocity was the highest out of all weapons, which was surpassed when the Intervention's muzzle velocity was increased to 3,200 studs/s in the update.
  • When equipping a Muzzle Brake, the model for the attachment appears to be the same as the default barrel attachment for the Hectate II.

Update History

Update Description Note
Late Alpha Introduction 21-round reserve.
23/12/2015 Re-introduction Predates version numbering.

42-round reserve.

0.8.4 Fixed displayed RPM to match actual RPM
0.13.3 Minimum damage increased to 100
1.0.20 One-hit-kill to limbs range capped at 50 studs.

Head or torso shots still one hit kill at any range.

2.0.0 Rebalanced as part of CTE changes
4/4/2017 Received TEC-9's damage. RoF increased to 600 RPM.

Ammo set to 30 mag, 420 reserve.

April Fools update. Reverted shortly afterwards.
3.4.1 Firing sound slightly changed
3.12.0 Aiming speed slightly increased
4.0.2 Fixed glitch where ejected casings became cubes
4.3.0 Penetration increased to 10 (from 5) Apparently penetration was shadow-nerfed in a previous update.

References

Weaponry
Primary Weapons

Assault Rifles

AK12 - AN-94 - AS VAL - SCAR-L - AUG A1 - M16A4 - G36
M16A1 - M16A3 - AUG A2 - K2 - FAMAS F1 - AK47 - AUG A3 - L85A2
HK416 - AK74 - AKM - AK103 - TAR-21 - StG-44 - M231
Type 88 - C7A2 - G11K2 - Type 20

Personal Defense Weapons

MP5K - UMP45 - G36C - MP7 - MAC10 - P90 - Colt MARS - MP5
Colt SMG 633 - L2A3 - MP5SD - MP10 - MP5/10 - Uzi - M3A1
AUG A3 Para - K7 - AKS74U - PPSh-41 - FAL Para Shorty
PP-19 Bizon - Kriss Vector - MP40 - X95 SMG - Tommy Gun
RAMA 1130 - BWC-9

Light Machine Guns

Colt LMG - M60 - AUG HBAR - MG36 - RPK12 - L86 LSW - RPK
HK21 - HAMR IAR - RPK74 - MG3KWS - Stoner 96 - ChainSAW - MG42 - M1918A2

Sniper Rifles

Intervention - Model 700 - Dragunov SVU - AWS - BFG 50
AWM - TRG-42 - Mosin Nagant - K14 - Dragunov SVDS - Hecate II
M107 - Steyr Scout - WA2000 - NTW-20 - FT300 - M1903

Carbines

M4A1 - G36K - M4 - L22 - SCAR PDW - AKU12 - Groza-1
AK12C - Honey Badger - K1A - SR-3M - Groza-4 - MC51SD
FAL 50.63 Para - 1858 Carbine - AK105 - Jury - KAC SRR
Gyrojet Carbine - X95R - HK51B - C8A2 - OTs-126 - Can Cannon

Designated Marksman Rifles

MK11 - SKS - SL-8 - VSS Vintorez - MSG90 - Beowulf TCR
SA58 SPR - SCAR SSR - M21

Battle Rifles

Beowulf ECR - SCAR-H - AK12BR - G3A3 - AG-3 - HK417
Henry 45-70 - FAL 50.00 - M14 - HCAR

Shotguns

KSG-12 - Model 870 - DBV12 - KS-23M - Saiga-12
Stevens DB - AA-12 - SPAS-12 - DT11 - E-Gun - USAS-12

Secondary Weapons Pistols

M9 - M17 - G17 - M1911 - Desert Eagle L5 - GI M1 - Hardballer
Izhevsk PB - M45A1 - KG-99 - Five Seven - ZIP 22 - Makarov PM - AM III Grizzly - GB-22 - Desert Eagle XIX - Gyrojet Mark I - GSP - G21 - G23
G40 - G50 - M2011 - AF2011-A1 - Alien

Machine Pistols

G18 - 93R - TEC-9 - Micro Uzi - Škorpion vz. 61 - MP1911
Arm Pistol - ASMI - PP-2000

Revolvers

MP412 REX - Mateba 6 - 1858 New Army - Redhawk 44
Judge - Executioner

Other

Serbu Shotgun - SFG 50 - M79 Thumper - Sawed Off
Saiga-12U - Obrez - Coilgun - SASS 308

Featured Article
Advertisement