Are Bersa's any good?

[Alan Fud]

My very first handgun in the early 1980's was a Bersa pistol and I couldn't get a mag through it without at least one jam (usully two or three) and I promptly traded it in. I noticed that a lot of members proudly own them. Has the quality improved significantly since then to the point where you can trust your life to one?

 

[Mr Jody Hudson]

The .380 has a great reputation.

I just purchased the itty-bitty-.45 and so far it is excellent!

 

[pinetree64]

I had one for a brief period. It was a nice gun, but a litttle larger than I wanted for CCW. I ended up with a Keltec 32. The Bersa was more fun to shoot and I shot my more accurately than expected. I think they ar a great bargain.

tjg

 

[cool45auto]

Yes. Ours has worked perfectly.

 

[copycat]

I bought the .380 for my wife. Tryed to run corbon through it had lots of jams, since changing ammo it has been flawless. I have about 300 rounds through it.

 

[CWatson]

I would never have ever bought a 380 of any kind,until a buddy kept bringing one to the range and after a year it didn't fall apart .Well I thought he might have just been lucky but I liked the way it shot and my wife is comfortable shooting it so I started researching and began reading rave reviews of it on the web.

Mr. Camp's review on this site pushed me over the edge and I bought one.Best $220 gun you can buy in California.Spare mags are steep right now but every now and then CDNN investments will sell the factory ones for $20.Right now mine has about 550 round through it,about half various hollow points and never a jam.It is a very natural pointer for both me and my wife.

The only thing I would do different now is get the Firestorm model,all black with a rounded trigger guard,when I bought my dou-tone model(which looks nice) I did not know they were the same gun made in the same factory.I think being all black with the rounded guard would make it conceal easier.

CW

 

[Matthew_Q]

I got a Bersa Thunder .380. Absolutely reliable, and pretty dang accurate, too.

Simply put, it's the most bang for the buck. $200 bonez. Best gun money I ever spent.

 

[Ala Dan]

Seasons Greeting's & Happy Holidays Alan-

My only experience has been with the Bersa .380
ACP "Thunder" model. What I found out will amaze
you! Very reliable with different loading's, including a
variety of JHP's; "combat accurate", light weight, and
very affordable. Last time I checked, my dealer was
selling them at $219; and couldn't keep 'em in stock.

Grant it, its not a SIG, Walther, Browning, or Beretta;
but its better made than those cheap looking KEL-TEC's
that I've run into on the street's!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[cidirkona]

I trust my life to mine - it's also alot of fun too - easy to clean.
-Colin

 

[Tony Z]

Ours has at least 900 rounds through it. It has functioned flawlessly with all the differant ammo that I have tried. I have not found a commercal round that wont function reliable it the Bersa Thunder 380.
It has been my wifes carry pistol for several years and still looks new. For the 199.00 we spent on it new, it has been accurate, reliable, and a pretty good looking firearm.

In fact when fireStorm came out with the all black one, my wife purchased it to go with her Nickel one. It has about 400 rounds through it and has been just as reliable.


Tony z

 

[megatronrules]

is this the thunderer model you al speak of or just the .380 model? I think there are two differant bersa guns chambered for the .380.

 

[horge]

I too was influenced by Stephen Camp's review into purchasing the Bersa Thunder 380, and was so impressed with the firearm (my first very-own pistol) that I saw fit to give my own beginner's-POV review some whiles back:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51948

So far, the Thunder 380 feeds virtually any commercial .380 ACP cartridge reliably. I note that weak cartridges can fail to cycle the slide properly
---and cheap range reloads are sometimes lightly charged compared to commerial defensive ammo.

I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone



horge da newb

 

[rde]

Mine has been great. Like many I read the raves, the review from Mr. Camp, then bought one, and as a result of it's performance have to agree that it is seriously one of the best bargains out there.

 

[JShirley]

So, Alan when you describe having "jams", what are you speaking of? Did you have failure to feed, extract, double-feeds, what? These are typically called malfunctions. A "jam" requires tools or disassembly to repair.

John

 

[itgoesboom]

I think I am probably the only person here who has had a problem with one, and I think it was a fluke. The trigger return spring on mine broke after roughly 500 rounds or so. Bersa did fix it for free, and right after I got it back, I had one failure to feed with CCI blazer.

Since that failure I have put numerous more rounds, almost all of them the Hydra-shoks that I carry it with, without any problems.

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I am about to replace it, and my wife is requiring that I get rid of one of my pistols, and the Bersa would be the one to go, but I am going to try and hold on to it long enough for her to forget that I have it. Despite the broken trigger return spring and the one failure, I still trust this gun with my life, just not with CCI blazers.

I.G.B.

 

[Alan Fud]

JShirley, I had both ... "Jams" & "Malfunctions". I had simple failures to extract which were corrected by racking the slide. I also had situations where two rounds were trying to make their way into the barrel with one all the way in and partly coming out and the other round partly in the magazine. These, required at least a pen and sometimes a screw driver to correct -- made me feel very uncomfortable trying to pry things loose with the gun in that state.

But from what I am hearing, their quality control has greatly improved over the years since I owned one.