Bersa 380 as carry pistol

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gmh1013

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How many carry one for CWP?
Its small, light, cheap....if you did have to use your pistol for SHTF the police will take it away for years from what Ive read. If this was a SIG or Colt I would be pissed and get back all scratched up.
I know when I lived in AZ somebody who did fire one round from his SIG and city of MESA kept his pistol for over 2 years.....when he got it back it looked
like it was dropped from 20000ft.
I have had my 380 for a year and shot over 500 rounds from it with only one FTF when I first got it.
The ammo for me is not a problem, I have over 600 rounds of 380 ammo.
I would use some Speer 90 grain Gold Dot JHP ammo for CWP work.
I have an extra clip so I would have 15 rounds which would be enough for any
situation I would hope.
 
bernie_sm.jpg


They work good.
 
I carry mine almost every day and I've never had any problems with it in either an OTB or IWB rig. It's small, light, and has good ergonomics. I've put nearly 1,000 rounds through it with less than a dozen jams or FTF's - and all those were with cheap Eastern European ammo. Plus as you pointed out I wouldn't be heartbroken even if I never got it back after an incident.

On a related topic, I walked into my local Wally World Tuesday night (4/21/09) in the 'burbs of Charlotte, NC and walked out with two 50 round boxes of Remington UMC 95 gr. FMJ .380. They limited me to two boxes but they appeared to have eight to 10 more on the shelf. That's the first time I've seen .380 available in any brick-and-mortar retail store since December. Perhaps this thing is starting to ease up a bit?
 
I've put about one thousand rounds through mine with no malfunctions at all. Great gun
 
Yeah my heartstrings are being tugged to get or a LCP.

I like both and can't decide.
 
on ammo availability, not really. here in GA....

1. atlanta arms and ammo is temp. shut down
2. its distributors are rationing
3. our guy went to pick up 800 lb. of powder and carried the last 167 out
4. zero bullets are not scheduled to arrive till june
5. at current rate of the frenzy slowing down, 'nominal levels' scheduled to be in november.
6. primers bottomed out end of march, supply is low.

i had 5k CCI 500 sp supposed to arrive april, still not here, but recieved 1k remington primers (***?) so satisfy the 6th k.

i had 3k zeros scheduled for 1st week may, it is delayed.
 
just make sure you test your carry ammo, as with any pistol. i had a couple wide-mouthed golden sabers hang on the feed ramp, but strangely the gold dots which look bigger are fine. if all else fails, decent ball ammo will hurt the BG too.

as long as it goes bang and feeds the next round fine, you should be good to go making a BG poop bricks. :)
 
have lots of good, fun choices in the safe (fs92, hi-po, sp101, etc. the one that always finds a way to be my daily carry is a bersa - go figure. :)
 
yep. the bersa gets tossed in cooler weather though for my 40 cal at the end of t-shirt season though. woudl i still like to be shot with one with a heavy coat on? nope. :)
 
If your comfortable enough to trust your life to it, then you already have all the answer you need to justify carrying it. On the other hand, I think worrying about getting your gun confiscated so much that you deliberatly choose to carry "less gun" (i.e. cheaper, not as reliable) simply because you "won't miss it" I think is not the soundest way to protect your life. I do believe that you would indeed "miss it" if you were to lose that on account of carrying what's cheap.
 
I have one that I alternate as a CCW with either my XD 9mm or my XD .40 S&W. The Bersa is a rock solid performer and easy to conceal in the warmer weather.

Would I prefer to carry the larger caliber all the time? Of course, but I'm comfortable with the .380 when I alternately load the mags with both ball and hollow point ammo. IMO it's as good a choice as a .38 revolver.

Sometimes the larger pistols are just not practical depending on the destination or mode of dress. Also as one who has had back sugery, I find the Bersa is more comfortable on the hip than the larger calibers.

I prefer to carry the larger guns on my belly band holster or shoulder holster because it distributes the weight across my upper torso above my previous injury.
 
To EHL:

I can't speak for any of the other posters, but I never intended to imply that I wouldn't miss my Bersa because it is "cheap". I merely meant that my Bersa is not in any way a collectible. My Bersa was not "cheap"; it was a great value for its price. There is a difference.

With nearly a thousand rounds fired, I have never had any kind of malfunction when using US-made factory ammunition. I do trust my life to my Bersa and I am completely comfortable with my decision to do so.
 
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i have one...bought it for the wife.

It's a great little gun, no recoil.

I wouldn't carry it over my S&W 442/642, glock 26, or Kimber Ultra, but it's better than .22, .25mag, & .32acp.
 
My wife carrys a Bersa .380. Claimed the Glock19 was too heavy.
At least she carrys something.

I will give the Bersa one thing. It is very reliable. I trust is will go 'bang' every time. We both qualified for our concealed licenses using Bersa. The final shots for the test were at the back of the range.
 
I have a Bersa Thunder 380 and it's a great gun.
I'm convinced you cannot buy any other gun that is anywhere near the same quality for that price.

Having said that, I just got a S&W 637 to replace it.
The Thunder 380 is too big for pocket carry. It'd be a nice IWB or OWB gun, but if I'm gonna carry IWB/OWB then I might as well carry my Sig 228.

The Bersa just doesn't fit a need for me.
It's a great gun, but I'll probably sell mine just because it won't be used much.

If having your gun taken away is a concern then you won't find a quality piece for any cheaper than a Bersa.
 
u will

shoot a bersa better than the lcp, due to its size and weight. I just never hear a bad word about the bersa guns, don'rtown one but never ehar bad things about them For the money they are IMO a super buy, maybe tobig for carry when one has the lcp to choose from but other than that if u gonna waist band carry it, then definitelty the bersa.

Nice gun all around..
 
I have 2, one of which is always with me as a CCW or back up to the Glock 26. On a trip, the G26 assumed room temperature (broke ejector), and the Bersa Thunder .380 became the primary CCW for the rest of the trip. Neither has ever had a hang up, and the wife and I used them to requal for our Texas CHL.
 
Most of the time I carry my G33-357sig but every once in a while I will carry my Bersa .380. I trust it completly as a carry weapon with 102gr Golden Sabers.
 
Both my wife and I carry the BT380. They are great reliable guns. My wife has put well over 1500 rounds through hers without a hickuk. I have only about 1000 because I am too busy reloading her mags.
 
There is much to be said for the reliability - especially for the price - but there are any number of compact 9mms of the same general size available, and I would prefer the more powerful cartridge.
 
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