Bersa Thunder 22

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FMJMIKE

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I was in my gun store Friday and glanced over and saw this. I had been considering getting a FireStorm FS-22 but could never find a black slide model. I have always lusted for a black slide over a silver finish grip frame model. So when I saw this it went on the credit card. I fired a couple mags of Federal bulk pack when I got home. Accuracy was excellent for such a small and light handgun. I only had one round that failed to feed. It's a keeper..............:D
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I have two Bersa pistols:

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In this pic, the top one is a .380 and the bottom one is a .22.

Note that mine are the Firestorm derivative, which are pretty much identical to the "regular" Bersa pistols except for some minor variations to the grips and sights, and also the trigger guard on the Firestorm variant is rounded instead of the finger-hook shape.

Don Hume makes a nice IWB carry rig for the Bersa:

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firestorm .22 is my first handgun. i wrote a review on this board years ago. it's a good fun plinker but too light and small for target work. more practical role might be a good trainer for the Bersa .380 Carry model. the one i had the spring is a little too strong so use hotter ammo like mini mags. remington golden bullet and viper also works pretty good.

just a nice compact fun gun. nothing really practical about it. similar but not as pretty or expensive as the Beretta 87 though.

wil terry said:
WOULD that be an electroless nickled steel frame or a lightweight aluminum alloy frame ???
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lightweight aluminum alloy. natural aluminum oxide anodized finish similar to the FEG PA63.
 
http://bersachat.com home for all the Bersa's

The 22 is loved by all members that own one. Don't for get will be a 1000 32 Thunders imported . Their all ready been taken by the Dist. so should be coming to a store near you soon 1000 was all Bersa would make for America.
 
otomik said:
firestorm .22 is my first handgun. i wrote a review on this board years ago. it's a good fun plinker but too light and small for target work. more practical role might be a good trainer for the Bersa .380 Carry model. the one i had the spring is a little too strong so use hotter ammo like mini mags. remington golden bullet and viper also works pretty good.

just a nice compact fun gun. nothing really practical about it. similar but not as pretty or expensive as the Beretta 87 though.

lightweight aluminum alloy. natural aluminum oxide anodized finish similar to the FEG PA63.
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Plenty good for standing target practice IMO.


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FMJMIKE, I'm curious. Have you located a source for spare magazines?

I ask because I'm interested in the Bersa .22 but I want a few spare magazines to go with it. I've not been able to locate any source that sells magazines for the gun. Even Bersa's website shows the magazines are out of stock.
 
Dogguy said:
FMJMIKE, I'm curious. Have you located a source for spare magazines?

I ask because I'm interested in the Bersa .22 but I want a few spare magazines to go with it. I've not been able to locate any source that sells magazines for the gun. Even Bersa's website shows the magazines are out of stock.
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I bought them here http://www.condorsflight.com but it looks like they dont have any right now.

I had a great experience with them. E-mail him.. I think his name is Mike. Quick response... good guy.
 
I bought the Firestorm versions in both .22LR and .380,...both great shooters,..absolutely no regrets,..have had since I think Spring of 2006....wife and I both shoot snot out of the .22......380 is a house gun,....along with it's bigger counterpart,..the MiniThunder in .45 ACP.....
 
I bought a Firestorm .22 recently. The extractor pin was loose, and it worked upwards enough for my extractor to go flying off like a piece of brass about round 42 or so. (I was able to find the extractor.)

So I would check that pin (it sticks out of the top of the slide) and loctite it if you find any play.


Gun did great up until that point, and is fun to shoot. I plan to run it hard once I get another factory extractor spring (which got lost).
 
CCI Mini mags are the only cartridges that will run perfectly in my BERSA Thunder 22.

Remington Golden bullet is hollow point (HP) and is brass coated lead. It will hang up on rough ramps. However, it works well when the magazine is underloaded to 7 rounds, or so. Federal is very inconsistent, it will fire 2 or 3 magazines flawlessly, and then have the next 2 or 3 mags with failures to extract because of not enough energy.

My only thought in buying the BERSA Thunder 22 was to have something that would fit in my pocket. I would go CCI Mini mags, which have never failed in any way, full magazines, everytime.
 
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I bought my daughter a Thunder in .380 a few years back. For the price I paid, it is one heck of a pistol. The DA trigger is great, especially considering the price.
 
CCI Mini mags are the only cartridges that will run perfectly in my BERSA Thunder 22.
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Mine:
Mini mags = 700 trouble free.

Federal 550 bulk pack (walmart) = about half the box with lots of FTE. I dount think it was cycling the slide well.

CCI Blazers. 100 trouble free.
 
Just picked one up myself. It's a bit too soon to tell if it's going to be a keeper, but it's looking good. Had some initial issues with light strikes, but that seems to be going away. Seemed to be mainly in DA mode. The hammer appears to have some drag on one side. I think the shooting is clearing that up.

It definitely likes hotter copper washed ammo.

Accuracy is decent. I really dislike the red dots. POI/POA is a bit of an issue, pistol shoots a few inches low.
 
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