New Bersa Thunder .380

[TX-Dennis]

I put another 100 rounds thru the BT 380 this evening. Zero failures and it's turning out to be a really good shooter. One bad thing happened... I lost the rear set screw for the sight. My first time shooting, the rear sight blade came out however I was able to find it, the little spring & the set screw. This time, nope, set screw is gone... I'm gonna give their CS a call & see if they can send me a replacement & if not, I'll order one up, it's only 2 bux...

Mine came loose, too. Luckily my son noticed before it fell out and we were able to tighten it back up. I've seen several stories about this happening to others as well.

 

[durango]

My wife has the Combat version. It is comfortable to hold and incredibly accurate. It has more of a kick than my Glock 42 but it hasn't failed in anout 350 rounds so far. I bought some Promag brand magazines from Cdnnsports and they have run flawlessly.

 

[CaptRon956]

My factory bersa mag runs flawless and so does one promag, the other pro mag I have fails to lock the slide back every now & then. The only difference i can see between the factory & promags is the spring on the promags are a bit stiffer.

 

[Ndbackroad]

I have a Thunder two tone. Always used factory mags and PMC Bronze 90 grain. Always perfect. A .22 is next.

 

[Disabled1]

I once owned a Thunder series Duo-Tone .380 a while back. There were (6) of us in a shooting group and we always went to the ranges together. We were always trading, selling, or giving each other firearms. I traded it to one of the members for a Feg 9mm, which looked just like a Browning Hi-Power.

 

[GaryS]

I alternate both, although lately I've been carrying the little Bersa more. It's in my pocket as I type this. Which is probably more than most of you care to know.

My Bersa is a Thunder .380CC. Which might be the only one in MA since they aren't approved for sale here. Nice gun, but early on it gave me fits with FTF and FTE issues. Even a trip to a Bersa warranty station didn't totally fix that for me.

I should mention that I didn't buy this new, so I had only the sellers word for condition, but it sure looked good.

I researched and found that they can be fussy on ammo. In my case, it didn't like Federal 95gr JRN ammo for some reason. I traded and sold that away and after putting several hundred rounds through it, it now is very reliable.

One thing I didn't like about it was the unreliability of the slide hold back with no magazine or when pushing a new magazine into the well. I ordered a new slide catch and slide catch spring from Bersa, suspecting that one or both wasn't in spec. I also ordered a recoil spring since it only cost a few dollars and I generally like to change those on any used semi auto I buy.

The problem there was the Eagle somehow sent the wrong recoil spring. Between vacation trips and other things, it was only yesterday that I got the right spring installed.

It turns out that my magazine not holding back was likely the caused by a weak recoil spring. Apparently when it was compressed, it still didn't exert enough pressure on the slide to push it firmly enough against the slide stop.

I wonder if a weak recoil spring was part of the problem with the failure to extract and failure to feed problems I had?

Lesson learned. From now on ALL new to me semi autos get new recoil springs as soon as I can get ahold of one.

I've have found the Bersa to be a little "barky" due to it's blow back operation. It's also very accurate, even with very low profile sights.

It was my every day carry for about 4 years. I switched to a 642. Both are great for front pocket carry.

 

[GRU_ 7_ mech]

I had a dual tone I traded in on a Beretta Nano.....what a mistake that was. The Bersa was a great gun, but since I had another 380 and I got caught up in the 380 vs 9mm great debate and ( cost of 380 vs 9mm for range use) chose the Bersa to trade in. I have since gotten rid of the time and money pit known as the Nano for a SD9. I would have another Thunder 380 in a minute.

 

[CaptRon956]

I forgot about this thread until now. But in all honesty, I sold my bersa .380. It is without doubt a neat pistol, a good shooter and accurate. But the reason why I sold it was because after carrying it for a week, I asked myself, "why are you carrying a 380 pistol that is practally the same size as your 9mm M&P shield?

Reliability? Yes, it went bang with every trigger pull however I too would get the occasional FTE, even after 600 rounds on occasion, say, 1 out of 25-40 rounds a empty case would get caught in the slide and after the first or secong mag, the slide would not lock back after the last round. But it did go bang with every trigger pull & was accurate. But in the end. I sold it... I do like Bersa pistol's but as a serious carry gun, not that much... At least not the thunder .380...

 

[KSDeputy]

I bought a satin nickel BERSA Thunder.380 & a satin nickel BERSA Thunder .22lr. They both shoot well, and they both came soaked in oil.

 

[Buford57]

I am a fan. I picked up an all satin nickle CC model used a couple months ago for $239. Had FTFs on the 5th, 6th or 7th round on the first trip to the range (which occurred 5 min after I bought it). Cleaned the inside of the mag and haven't had a misstep of any kind since. After a couple hundred rounds of ball and a couple of test magazines of Hydro-Shoks it went into a Desantis Nemesis and into the rotation. The red dot sights are easy to pick up and I was surprised to find a loaded chamber indicator that isn't the size of a safety or a rear sight.

It is the same size as my 642 except for width, where I lose 0.3 inch and has almost double the capacity at 8+1, all of which go into a smaller group at 15 yards than the 5 in the S&W.