I handled a Bersa Thunder .380 at a show yesterday mostly because I was curious about why all the enthusiam for Bersa guns. I'd never seen one 'in person' before.
I thought it was a cheap pistol with the feel of some of the potmetal junk that used to be available before somebody clued in legislators to the concept of a "Saturday Night Special". A good plastic or 'tupperware' pistol is a better buy than one that's got a chance to crack and be useless at any moment of firing.
I won't be owning any Bersa guns and I've got more than 200 handguns currently.
It doesn't cost THAT much more to buy a quality pistol made from good steel or alloy. It might SEEM like a lot but IMO guns like Bersas end up costing much more by not lasting the lifetime that a good one can last.
Do Bersa owners get "Bersitis"? It's a very painful condition in another spelling.
(Bursitis - something to avoid).
Well, you did ask...
Krs
I suspect you handled something else, not a Bersa....otherwise your comment about potmetal junk is totally wrong.
I owned and still own several handguns, from high price to economical and I can unequivocally say that Bersas are at the moment the best deal for the money....opinion of other owners and people that got to know these pistols.
My daily winter CCW carry is a Thunder 40, which I absolutely love, light and compact despite being a full size combat pistol, extremely balanced and deadly accurate.....never malfunctioned.
Steel and alloy quality are on par with any other manufacturers.
I heard Customr Service is excellent (I never did need it) and you can call several different locations not only one in case of need.
Life warranty, +P rated.
The "problem" is that the company does not spend one penny in advertisement so you need to be a real firearm connoiseur to appreciate them.
I do not want to spend thousands of dollars for a reliable handgun because of fancy web sites, glossy advertisement and paid "expert" reviews in specialized publications...sorry
An other reason for their lower cost is that BERSA does not invest much in R&D but rather use other companies (mainly Walther..Beretta in the past) as source of technical "inspiration". The Thunder 380 is basically a clone of the Walther PPK and the Thunders full size have lot of the mechanics in common with the Walther P-88.
On top of that, they are produced in Argentina and Brazil where cost of labor is less.
In firearms stores Bersas are sold out more often than not, the little Thunder 380 is immensely popular, literally it flies off the shelves and for a very good reason....aestetically appealing, extremely reliable, high quality and inexpensive...
A fellow shooter and regular SIG carrier at the range where I go fell in love with my Thunder and wanted to buy the 9 mm version....he had to back order it.
The only downsides are:
1) Exterior finishing is not on par with Kimber, Beretta, SIG and the like...few tooling marks here and there...but overall more than perfectly acceptable...and Bersas come with a cheap cardbord box, nothing fancy......well if you want to spend double for a nice plastic case and more jewel like exterior finishing, get a SIG....more power to you.
2) Expensive original magazines....BUT TOP NOTCH quality of construction...high grade springs and stainless steel followers instead of plastic ones like everybody else....so I don't know how much of a downside this really is.
GZOh
You cannot go wrong with the Thunder full size (9 or 40), IMHO they are among the most visually appealing combat pistols in the market at the moment, simply, you cannot beat the quality, features and reliability for the money.
The Thunder 9 is the official handgun of the Argentinian Armed Forces and Argentina Federal Police.
Several other Police Forces across Latin America use either the Thunder 9 or 40.
The last time I fell for the "myth of the brand" (Tanfoglio aka EAA in US) I had a horrible experience, crappy, or better said, non-existant customer service and continuous malfunctioning...I had to get rid of it.
This is my Thunder 40
If you want to know more about BERSA you can go here. The company has been in business for more than 50 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BERSA
and here for more about the Thunder full size
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BERSA_Thunder_9
By the way BERSA won several IPSC competition too.....
) I didn't think I'd buy another, but eventually got to thinking about a 9mm in that size, and got the Bersa 9 with a double-stack mag. Loved it. I eventually gave it to my middle son for his car gun. Then went and bought another Bersa .380 which is now usually MY car gun, but sometimes my carry gun.
