Bersa .380 jammin on Cor Bon HP's

[MaxSE PT99]

Hi all,

Just picked up a Bersa Thunder 380, and went to the range. It ran fine on FMJ's but choked hard on Corbon HP's. Failure to eject, failure to extract.....

Is this normal? Anything I can do to help it?

I have since polished the feed ramp, and when doing so, noticed that the ramp was not completely uniform, ie, it had a small "bump" slightly off center, not a complete half moon shape. Rounded it off with a dremel and the HP's seem to chamber a little smoother.

Any ideas on new HP's that will work reliably? Golden Sabre's? Hydra Shoks? Silvertips?

Thanks in advance for any ideas/comments.

Jon

 

[1911Tuner]

Chokin' on Corbon

Howdy Max,

From the sound of it, my guess is that it's not the gun, but the ammo.
Corbon is pretty hot stuff, and it's likely that the brass is expanding
to the point that the extractor is having a hard time getting it loose
from the chamber. This slows the slide to the point that it's inducing
a short-cycle, and produces failures to eject, if the extractor can
pull it out at all.

Polishing the chamber might help, but it's probably your best bet
to step down on the working pressure a little by using a less
lively ammo. Silvertip .380's are a good place to start. They
have good velocity and expand well in ballistic gelatin at the
ranges that you would have need of a .380 autopistol.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bren]

The problem could be in the chamber or the ammo itself.

Cor-bon would freeze up my Pocket nine rock solid and also jams up my revolver! The revolver shoots anything else just fine. Try other ammo. Bren

 

[Spot77]

I use the Federal Hydra shoks.....100% reliable.

I've never used the Cor-bon in mine....it's not too widely available in my neck of the woods....

For target ammo, I've never had any problems with Win White box, UMC, PMC or the Federal American (in the red box)


Let us know how you make out with the different ammo; there's a lot of us around here that swear by our Bersa .380's.

 

[gbelleh]

I've heard of a Bersa's slide cracking from shooting Cor-Bon. I didn't see it myself, so I can't verify it, but I don't believe the Bersa was designed to shoot a lot of +p or really hot ammo. Mine has fired everything I've fed it perfectly, including various FMJ, Hydra-Shoks, Gold Dots, and Golden Sabers.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Mine feeds the Corbon just fine. In fact, it feeds everything, but I've decided that I'll use the Federal 90-grain JHP in my Bersa as I have the aluminum alloy frame lightweight version and as I do with any of my pistols so built, use ammunition having the more rounded ogive.

While there can be variations between guns in average velocities, out of the the Bersa' s 3.5" tube, I got the following average speeds, based on 10-shot strings:

Federal 90-grain JHP: 969 ft/sec

Corbon 90-grain JHP +P : 1015 ft/sec

So, the Corbon is faster, but not by as much when fired from just the slightly longer barrel (3.96") of a FEG PMK .380.

Federal 90-grain JHP: 1033 ft/sec

Corbon 90-grain JHP +P: 1110 ft/sec

Unfortunately, the Corbon is not reliable in my FEG.

Federal's 90-grain JHP feeds in about everything I've tried it in while Corbon's blunter JHP sometimes does not. I'd go with reliability over anything else.

Here's some JHP's I "tested." The Corbon is in the middle and was fired into water while the other two got the "scientific mud test."

I'd try a few of the Federal's and see how they work in your pistol.

Best.

 

[tbeb]

I had a Walther .32 that was not reliable with Winchester Silvertip's or Corbon's. Someone suggested the Speer Gold Dot. I fired 72 rounds of it without a malfunction.

 

[MaxSE PT99]

Hi all!

Thanx for the quick replies folks.

So, I went to the range today and I was expecting to have some problems with the rest of the Cor Bon's I have, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not a single jam, not 1! I suppose that mabye rounding off that little inperfection in the feed ramp may have helped, along with polishing the feed ramp. Who knows? Im happy, as my gun works 100% now, even after about 100 rounds today.

So I tried some FMJs to see if they would funciton as well, and they work 100% also. Yeah!

So now I'm kinda torn......do I keep using the Corbon's or should I try Silvertips, Hydra Shoks, etc?

I've read very good things about Cor Bon's and also read goo things about Silvertips. So I guess I'll just have to go to the store and buy some of both!

Once again....thank you for the ideas/suggestions! I don't know what exactly made the gun function perfectly, but I guess it worked out whatever it was wrong with it.

Stay safe, and if you happen to live in PA....Shoot down Fast Eddies' new proposed "Safe Gun" legislation.

Jon

 

[1911Tuner]

Cured!

Well...I've always said that the only thing more confusin' than
guns is wimmin! I reckon that's what keeps us goin' back.

Cheers!
Tuner

 

[Dave R]

The Cor-Bon has a pretty sharp nose. That's hard for some pistols to digest.

Try the Remington 102gr. Golden Sabre. It is shaped very similar to hardball, and feeds real well in my FEG, which is similar to the Bersa.

 

[Ala Dan]

WAIT A MINUTE! HOLD THE PHONE!!!

You mean to tell me that a Bersa .380 jammed?

My goodness, a post* in another thread going here states
that the .380 caliber Bersa Thunder is more
reliable than a German Walther PP in .32 ACP!

Just wanted to get my facts straight; as I have
never owned either weapon in these respective
caliber's!

*FootNote- I don't recall the post's title; but the poster
was my friend Dave R!

Actually, I like the .380 Bersa Thunder myself. I have
always felt like that it was a good, inexpensive little
gun; that is light enough to play the role of a CCW
piece for some folks.

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

 

[Bren]

Hang up the phone,,,,,

THEY ARE!

 

[itgoesboom]

I have a Bersa .380, and for the money, i think it is a great pistol.

I did have to have mine repaired after the trigger return spring broke, but from what i have heard, that is pretty uncommon.

After i had it repaired, i took it to the range, and i did experience one jam in about 100 rounds of ammo. I usually shoot up about 50-100 rounds of UMC per session, and then 40-60 rounds of Hydra-shoks, but the time after i got it repaired, they were out of UMC and i had to use CCI Blazers which i am not really fond of. I had one jam out of the 100 rounds, and that was a failure to feed on the last round of the magazine. After that jam, i shot several more rounds of the blazers with no problems, and about 40 rounds of Hydra-shoks with no problems.

Since it happened on a different type of ammo than i usually use, and it digested my carry ammo just fine, i didn't worry too much about it. Although i am now carrying it 6+1 rather than 7+1 just in case the mag spring was wearing down too quick. Not a big deal since i carry 3 mags anyways.

I.G.B.

 

[martin]

Sounds like I need to pick one of these babies up for my exwife. Maybe some Corbon ammo on the side even!

 

[itgoesboom]

Sounds like I need to pick one of these babies up for my exwife. Maybe some Corbon ammo on the side even!

Not if you value your life. As you will see by most of the responses here, and in other threads, these little pistols are very reliable and very accurate.

Just like any other firearms, there is the possibility of getting one that doesn't run right, but its a long shot when it comes to one of these.


Oh, and i should have mentioned, my Bersa also has that little "dimple" in the feed ramp, but its never been a problem.

I.G.B.

 

[greyeyezz]

Just got back from camping, put 4 boxes, 80rds cor-bons through my 383a, gobbled them all up. It also likes Gold dots, you might want to try those.