I was just down in Texas for Christmas and New Years visiting with my kinfolks and such. Stopped in at Academy Sporting good and stuff. Saw a Little .380 ACP called the "BERSA Thunder 380". Why I left there at 70 degrees to come back to this frozen tundra of Northern Illinois, I'll never know!!! Well, a good job had a lot to do with it!!

I did a little research and found out about the Bersa Thunder 380, 7 Rnd, Bersa Thunder 380 Concealed Carry, 8 Rnd and the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus, 15 Rnd.

Lot of reports on the Internet & YouTube say they are great. I am finding it difficult to understand why a product so inexpensive can be so good? It looks and felt like a decent product but I just don't have enough feedback from real folks that have them or have first hand knowledge of them. Help a brother out here, Please.

__________________
Rick
American Blacksmith

might be something along the same lines as the Marlin Model 60, Model 70 and Mossburg 500.
they are each just very good at being what they are without the gold plated price tag to make you feel better about em

__________________
it just needs more voltage

I think they also came out with a .45 a couple of years ago that also got good reviews. I don't think I have ever come across any negative info on their 380's.

I tried a Bersa .380 at the local indoor range. That example would not feed hollow points at all but seemed fairly reliable with fmj's. I bought a CZ which feeds both reliably.

__________________
Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Don't take this as Gospel. I think Illinois has the melt test. I other words the Bersa alloy won't qualify for Illinois sales.

__________________
SOS USA

I have had a Bersa .380 for several years and they are very nice little pistols. I haven't had a problem with mine. They are along the same lines as the Walther ppk's.

One of the first guns I ever bought was a Bersa 380, the Concealed carry version. I liked the looks, feel and ergonomics of the gun. It is basically a copy of the Walther PPK.

That being said I had lots of trouble with it. Cost me more to send it back to their factory authorized service dept than the gun cost. Went back twice before I gave up. It was working when I traded it which you will get nothing on.
Yes ,it has a lifetime warranty but so does Taurus but you need to pay the shipping. At that time it only came with one magazine. I even joined their forum and discovered many folks had similar problems.

Fail to feed. fail to eject, little "e" clips that hold the trigger bar on feel off several times. When it worked it was fine but i would not trust my life to it.

Others give it glowing reviews, maybe I had a lemon. It's too bad as I really did like the gun as far as grip and general looks. But with today's .380"s you can get a better gun with the same capacity and much smaller.

I will take a Ruger or KT over it any day. Even the new SW Bodyguard is a better deal than the Bersa.

If I buy a new gun today, it's going to only be from a brand that picks up the shipping on warranty issues. A low price is not worth it if you have to pay $60 or more to ship it back.

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

Own four: BT380, BT380CC, Firestorm 32 and Firestorm 22. Nice reliable firearms IMHO. The Firestorm 22 which is made by Bersa is picky about ammo, but the others have functioned well.
Do check out Bersa Chat and Bersa Chapterhouse.

Gray

__________________
Graytwo

i have a Bersa thunder .380.

its blued (al. frame steel slide). though im not attatched to the gun i have to admit that it is a good shooter and to me it is what the ppk should have been.

p.s. the ppk gave me slide/hammer bite while the bersa does not.

__________________
I'm only allowed 30 characters

I've had a Bersa Thunderer .380 for several years now. I live in IL, and I bought it in IL, to answer the question raised by one of the above. I have had no problem with it, it is very comfortable to carry, and to shoot. It is accurate within what you would expect from a small .380, mine will shoot consistently into 3" at 10 yards. I'm very happy with mine. It has a good trigger and food fit. The price is well below $300 for a NIB one. What more do you want for a small carry gun?

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I've had my Bersa Thunder .380 CC for a couple of years now and could not be more pleased. It is very accurate and pleasant to shoot, conceals well and at less than $300 OTD was an excellent value. YMMV

I have the Bersa Thunder 380 and it has been a good pistol. It took a good 400 rounds to break in but now has no failures to eject and works consistently. Very accurate and comfortable to shoot as it absorbs the recoil well. I have found that you can't limp wrist these pistols or you may have an occasional failure to eject. I put a Crimson Trace laser grip on it so it is good in low light as well.

Bersas are great lil guns , I traded off my wife's Sig P230 to get her the Bersa . She now suffers from carpal tunnel and the slide mounted safety gives her a surer grip to chamber the round . I like shooting it and as has been pointed out earlier I don't get slide bite like I did from the various Walthers I owned . I've not had one malfunction while I've shot it . BUt that being said , I still like my 3913 ALOT more than the Bersa .

__________________
39-2,59,3913,M&P40
1006,1066

The Bersa Thunder .380 is one of the best kept secrets. It's a great little semi-auto for the money.
Here is a Bersa Thunder that I semi-customized years ago. They are very nice shooters.

__________________
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Hi Mortech,
I agree. +1 on our 3913 & 3914 as well over our .380's.
They are physically about the same size except for caliber.
586L-Frame

Bersa is an import gun. I worked for the company for many years that was the exclusive importer and distributor of Bersa Firearms. They are basically the same as a trade name scope. They are made to spec. We as a company changed the spec. on them when we wanted to change the price point on the handgun.

We marketed them as a medium line handgun. And my company handled all the warranty work on the handguns. We had an in house gun smith. We also exclusively imported and distributed Charles Daly products.

Personally when I sold the Bersa product I would not have owned one. The quality was so-so at best. The price was high for a so-so product. And they were extremely inaccurate.

Now keep in mind I also sold Taurus through this time frame. And Taurus was also a complete piece of junk in those times.

The times I am talking about are the 80's through very early 90's. And the name of the Company was Outdoor Sports HeadQuarters Inc., and was based out of Dayton, OH.

Bersa had alot of different pistols and alot of different names. So without knowing exactly what one you are looking at-I would pass. But that is just an opinion. Companies can change over the years. For expample people say Taurus quality has increased. But I know I would never buy one. Tom.

My wife has a Bersa Firestorm 22. It was her first carry gun. Not ideal, but it served her well until she was ready for something bigger.

With CCI mini-mags, it would run like a Swiss watch. With cheap ammo though it would choke. So we only shot CCI mini-mags in it. We never bench tested it or anything, but she could punch a lot of little holes in a target with it.

Spare magazines for it were sort of pricey, but it's not like we had to have a dozen.

She's graduated to a Glock 19 now, but the Bersa still goes along on most trips to the range.

__________________
John 3:16 .

As I type this, it is 22 degrees outside, and there is about an inch or two of snow and ice covering my yard. BRRR! But at least this is the exception, rather than the rule here, close to Dallas.

I just wanted to say that Academy Sports will ship any firearm they sell back to the manufacturer, if warranty work is needed. I've purchased several handguns there, and they always mention that. The last gun I bought there, the sales clerk said that the free shipping was for two years, so there may be a time limit.

A Thunder 380 was my first CCW. They are able to sell cheap by using lower-grade metal, off-shore labor, and a straight-blowback design - no barrel link/pivot. They're accurate and I had no feed problems with mine over several hundred rounds.

It's not a bad gun by any means, but I found the recoil to be rather unpleasant. Swapped to a 642 after about six or eight months, and now carrying a PM9.

I have a Bersa Thunder with the 7rnd mag. Used to own its precurser - the Berea Model 383. I do like it and it functions well. One point of note: The single stack Thunder can be purchased as a "deluxe" witha 9 rnd mag. I picked up one of these "deluxe" mags from Bersa and have had constant feeding problems with it - usually at rnd 4 or 5. I have read the similar complaint from others. The 7 rnd mag feed flawlessly, however. I think the Bersa is a quality product and good bang for the buck, but stick with the standard 7 rnd mag in the single stack version. I have no experience with the dbl stack 15 rnd Bersa Plus.

Oh year: edit: VERY accurate for a small pistol.

I was looking through my pictures for something else and I came across this one.

This is the e- clip that fell out several times at the range and even after a new replacement.

Just a "minor" part that connects the trigger bar. The trigger just flaps in the breeze without it.

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

It would have to be extremely cheap for me to buy one. Ruger .380 LCPs can be found for well under $300.00. Keltec .380s even cheaper. Makarov's can still be for $225 or so.

I saw new KT PF 9's at last show for $245. If I was in the market that would be my choice.

__________________
SOS USA

I own both a Bersa Thunder 380 Plus and a Bersa Thunder 9UC. Both are great guns. You can't go wrong for the price.

__________________
Misty

Thanks everybody for your inputs! I really appreciate it! I take it all in consideration and I'll let youknow!

Thanks again!

__________________
Rick
American Blacksmith