I have been giving some thought to buying a value-oriented semi-automatic 9mm that I could use as one of my carry guns. After lots of looking and reviewing I narrowed the search down and ended up finding a new Bersa BP9CC at a good price so I bought it.
I had never held or owned a Bersa, but the specs and reviews looked like the gun would work for me. Plus, if Hickok45 likes it, how could I go wrong?
First impressions were it felt really nice in my hand and seemed to be about the size of a Walther PPS M2 9mm. It looked to be well made and came with two 8 capacity welded magazines. Next step was to read over the manual and give the gun a good cleaning. I do this with all the guns I buy, old and new, before I take them out to shoot. This gives me a chance to become familiar with the gun and make sure everything functions as it should.
This was my first time having to take a pin or slide stop out of a gun to take the slide off. Hickok45 seemed to wrestle with taking it down, so I wasn't really looking forward to that. Surprisingly, it was really easy to line the slide and grip marks up and pop the slide stop out of the frame without having to use anything but the plastic end of a ballpoint pen on the right hand side of the frame to start the process. Slide stop then pulls out from the left hand side and the slide comes off. Barrel and recoil spring then come out of the slide like most of these type semi-automatics do.
After cleaning the barrel, recoil spring, slide stop, slide, magazines, and inside of the frame well to get the rust prevention stuff off and then lubricating the parts and rails (used Ballistol for cleaning and lubricating) I was ready to put it back together. The slide stop popped right back in after lining the marks up and now it was ready to shoot at the outside gun range.
I shot 115 grain Federal aluminum case and Perfecta brass ammunition. They worked equally well, with no FTF or FTE in the 150 rounds I ran through the gun. Casings ejected consistently to the right side without any of them coming back toward me. Gun is very accurate from as far out as the 45' I had available at my shooting station and is comfortable both in fit and lack of recoil. The trigger is lighter than I am used to in a carry gun that has no grip or manual safety, but even with a short reset I didn't have any issues with unintended second shots.
After the time at the range, I brought it back home to clean it and put it up. The take down was even easier this time as the slide stop popped out with just a firm poke of the finger to the right side of the stop inside the frame once the witness marks were aligned. Pulled the stop out by hand from the left side and take down was done in no time. There were marks on the top of the barrel lug from the action of the slide, but no worse than my Springfield 9mm showed after the same amount of rounds. Gun was still pretty clean, so the Ballistol, toothbrush, q-tip, patch and rod, and pipe cleaner routine didn't take long.
I am looking forward to getting the Bersa out again. I will have to decide if I want a manual or grip safety on my carry gun as this one has neither, but this Bersa sure is an accurate and comfortable shooting pistol.
Bersa BP9CC first impressions
Linear Mode
