The best other

History

The Serbu "Super Shorty" Shotgun was first introduced and produced in 1996. Designed by Mark Serbu, this weapon is heavily modified - the shotgun itself can be sourced from a Mossberg Maverick 88, Mossberg 500, or Remington 870, with the Remington 870 variant costing more. Along with the 12 gauge, a 20 gauge variant is available as well.[1] It can hold up to three shells - two in the tube and one in the chamber.[2]

In the United States, it is classified as an "Any Other Weapon" instead of a shotgun (specifically, the sawed-off shotgun category, which is illegal in the United States). This is due to the fact that it is manufactured with a pistol grip instead of a stock, making it a smooth-bore handgun.[3] It also features a spring-loaded, folding grip on the slide.

In-Game

General Information

The Serbu has a very small magazine size, having three shells total. It reloads just as slow as the Remington 870. Damage is mediocre, falling behind the other shotguns, but still capable of a one-shot kill (1SK). However, what hinders the weapon most is its pellet spread. The pellet spread cone is even wider than the KSG-12, which makes it less accurate, especially at range. It also has the second slowest RoF out of any other shotgun, beating only the KS-23M. Given its sawed-off barrel, it also has a worse range than the primary shotguns.

Usage & Tactics

Due to having a very wide pellet spread and mediocre damage for a shotgun, the Serbu is best deployed at a point-blank range (up to around 20 studs). This ensures the maximum likelihood of a 1SK against full-health opponents. Outside of close-quarters-combat (CQC), the Serbu becomes mostly ineffective. At a distance of around 70 studs, it may require more than three shots to kill (STK) a full-health enemy, depending on how many pellets hit the target. The Serbu is very unreliable at this distance, as a user would most likely need to reload before being able to kill an enemy. 

Ammo customizations such as flechette or birdshot, however, offers a very viable and powerful option for the Serbu. With birdshot, the performance at point-blank range is greatly increased. The increase in pellet amount allows for more pellets to connect to an enemy, increasing the chances of a 1SK. Since the Serbu already has terrible pellet spread and range, the penalty for using flechette or birdshot is minimal.

The Serbu is designed for CQC, so the weapon's potential with flechette/birdshot is greatly improved. When paired with a longer-ranged weapon such as a sniper rifle or a DMR, it becomes a reliable backup weapon when faced with enemies in CQC.

When using the shotgun, it is considerably better to alt-aim, just like most shotguns. However, it is considerably difficult to alt-aim, so lasers would be useful when using this weapon.

However, the Serbu, just like many other secondaries, does not have the "Other" attachment category. Therefore, if you want to put the grip and still want the lasers, the only choice is to put laser optics like MARS or AMT-Terminator.

Conclusion

The Serbu Shotgun is a unique shotgun, designed for very CQC situations. The very wide pellet spread limits its effective range and the lower damage for a shotgun limits its 1SK ability. Because of this, one should only use the Serbu when needing to switch to their secondary, or entering into CQC environments where the Serbu offers better performance than their primary weapon.