Bersa Thunder 9mm reliability?

[akanotken]

All,

Thinking of recommending this to a friend who wants a pistol. Would plink and use for HD, and seems very cost conscious. My immediate thought was a police glock trade in, but haven't seen those lately.

Then I thought "bersa .380" as it's got a great rep, but I don't like the .380 as it costs a good bit more than the 9mm, has less power and so forth.

So, that left me thinking about a thunder 9mm. But, I don't know if they are generally reliable or not. ~350 is where I see them priced.

Anyways, I'd love to hear from thunder 9mm owners who have 500 + rounds or so.

TIA

 

[MICHAEL T]

The 9mm Bersa has proven to be one of the most relieable of the mid price 9mm ,
Go here and ask the owners almost 5300 Bersa owners and growing daily Many own ,carry ,and shoot the 9. Bersa is more than just 380.
http://bersatalk.com

My internet home

 

[saturno_v]

Buy it.

At the moment Bersas are the best handguns for the money out there, hands down.

For me the Thunder full size is the nicest looking combat pistol on the market, very ergonomic and incredibly compact and light for its size.

 

[ir3e971]

I have a Bersa Thunder full size 9mm. It initially had failure to feed problems until I tinkered a bit with it. It has been 100 percent for probably 1000 rounds since. Overall it is a good pistol for the money. It has been my only 9mm for several years until recently.

Just purchased an LE turn in S&W 5906 from SummitGunBroker for 300, and find I prefer this pistol over the Bersa. So you may advise your friend to look there.

Another good option for a similar cost is a Ruger semi auto. Those I have shot are very well made and in a similar price bracket.

Just some food for thought.

 

[akanotken]

thx ire3e971. What type of tweaks? buff on the feed ramp or mag related or ??

This field is pretty narrow, but I had the exact same "short list" and had actually considered some of the smiths. One problem there ... they have a bazzillion models. I think EARLY in thier history they had some problems and I really don't know which (if any) to avoid? After posting, I logged into gunbroker searching on 9mm and capping it at $350 (my number, not my friends, I think I can talk him into spending that much). The Ruger stood out as a pistol I respect a lot. I shot one years ago, and I remember it being overbuilt if anything, but I really don't hear many people complain about them .. so that's another option.

Thx for the input.


Back to the bersa:
I'll likely not buy one of these, tho I love the "great gun for the money" category in general, all of my semi's have the safety going in the right direction .. but my friend will likely shoot it some, stick it in his night stand and carry it rarely.

If the son hadn't started college, I'd own a M&P right now .. but he did .. so I'll wait.

 

[HankC]

If you don't like the cost of 380 ammo, you won't like the cost of Bersa mags. They are expensive for a cheap gun.

 

[barnetmill]

prices on magazines:
BERSA THUN9NKLHCMAG MAG 9MM 17RD NK
$65.99 Out of stock, accepting orders.]
Bersa Thunder 380 Magazine 7Rd Nickel $35.99 item #: 091664903912Out of stock, accepting orders.[Add to Wishlist] [Add to Cart]
BERSA THUN9MHCMAG MAG 9MM 17RD MT $55.99 Item #: 091664909082Out of stock, accepting orders.[Add to Wishlist] [Add to Cart]
BERSA THUN45UCNKLMAG MAG 45 7RD NK $45.99 Item #: 091664950473Out of stock, accepting orders.[Add to Wishlist] [Add to Cart]
Bersa Thunder 9mm Magazine, 10rd $42.99

I normally only buy guns with reasonable magazines and available parts.

 

[gotime242]

In stock, here ya go:

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=411535895

 

[dwschoon]

I got a Bersa Thunder 9 Ultra Compact for Christmas and I absolutely love it. Ive got about 500 rounds through it with absolutely no problems. WWB is slightly more accurate than Blazer Brass, but both are acceptable. Blazer had wicked muzzle flash though, and is dirtier. Shooting offhand I can get consistent 4-6" groups at 10-15 yards. I also ran 1 magazine of 124gr Speer gold dots with the same results. A friend had some of the Winchester SXZ hollowpoints, which all fed reliably, but weren't quite as accurate, and had quite a bit of muzzle flash. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this gun to a friend.

 

[ir3e971]

akanotken,

If I remember right, the problem was the extractor. I softened the sharp edges off of it. I also polished up the feed ramp.

It wasn't hard to do, but it took me a while to finally narrow down the darn problem.

There are a lot of smiths. The 3rd generation (5906 is one) are really good. The new one I picked up as an LE turn in has now fired about 700 rounds with no failures. This is with everything from reloads to various quality manufacture ammo.

Good luck finding a good weapon. Take a peek at summitgunbroker.com. There are several types of pistol in this price range.

 

[tekarra]

I have had my Thunder 9 for a good number of years and and have never had a problem that was not attributible to the shooter. I don't know how many thousands of rounds have gone through it, but there have been a few. The only drawback is expensive magazines. The grip is just a bit large for me, but not a problem for shooting.

 

[amprecon]

Another UC 9 owner here, it's my current daily carry piece and has been totally reliable and accurate. I've had it for almost a year now.