Bersa Firestorm 22

I have one that I bought new several years ago.

I'd imagine yours may be already broken in, but if not I can tell you that I had to download the mags to 9 cartridges to feed properly. I also have to use "full strength" .22 ammo like CCI MiniMags to cycle and eject properly.

The magazines broke in fairly rapidly allowing me to fill them up to 10 rounds each. The gun itself still prefers .22 ammo on the stronger side than the weaker side for proper slide function.

Having said all that, I like my Firestorm in .22 LR. It's a fun little retro built blaster.

What he said^

I had one. One of the very handguns I wish I kept!

Congrats in your 22, lot of fun in a small package.
I bought one new few months ago from Bud's. No problem yet, nice trigger, sights are ok, better than my Walther PKK 22 (sights are minimal to say it politely). Aguila, CCI std worked fine; Federal Auto match just 2 nose dives, less 240 rounds in total. No ignition problem, any way testing is still in progress. Accuracy accordingly or a tad better for what I paid for. No regrets at all the Bersa 22 pistols, it's being in the market for more than 40 years.

We got one for my wife, many years ago, shoot, probably 15-20 years ago now. It was her first "carry gun" back when she could still carry. She (we) loved that little gun. As stated above it had to run CCI min mags to be 100% reliable, but at the range, it was just,"OK", with Federal bulk pack ammo. She/We just shot the CCI stuff most of the time. I don't know how many thousands of rounds she/we put through that gun before we sold it. We almost immediately regreted that. We should have held onto it. Good little gun.

We came close to buying another one last year, but decided on a Walther PPK/S instead.

I have one. Neat little plinker. I don't use it very much, partly because I mostly do revolvers for my rimfire and partly because it's not particularly exceptional in any aspect (accuracy, reliability, etc.).

When you disassemble, be sure to put the recoil spring back in the same way; not clear if it matters but it would be best to do this IMHO.


The founder of Bersa Chat used to frequent here quite a bit. Sadly he has since passed away, but the board still has a lot of useful info on this gun and all things Bersa.


https://www.bersaforum.com/forums/

chicharrones said:

I have one that I bought new several years ago.

I'd imagine yours may be already broken in, but if not I can tell you that I had to download the mags to 9 cartridges to feed properly. I also have to use "full strength" .22 ammo like CCI MiniMags to cycle and eject properly.

The magazines broke in fairly rapidly allowing me to fill them up to 10 rounds each. The gun itself still prefers .22 ammo on the stronger side than the weaker side for proper slide function.

Having said all that, I like my Firestorm in .22 LR. It's a fun little retro built blaster.

Click to expand...

Agree with the CCI MiniMags. I feed mine a steady diet of CCI Velocitor's and Stingers. I mostly use my Bersa .22 as an introductory training handgun for new shooters but it's also a great plinker.

I have the Thunder .380 and will eventually add the .22.

I've had a couple bersa/firestorm 22s
. I wish I hung onto them.

10 rounds, groups touching at 25 yards. Since it is blow back just like the 380 you need strong ammo especially while new and expect 500 round break in.

Stingers/ velociters should run well. Keep it lubed. After a few range trips cci mini mags etc should run well. My firestorm eventually started to feed federal, blazer etc cheaper ammo nearly 100% (after springs broke in I imagine).

They are finicky. It's always a matter of finding the right ammo. The one I used to own had to have CCI.