Let me add that I've been going through the exact same thing just as of the past few days. I am a Glock/Kahr striker fired pistol fan, no safeties, no hammers, no muss no fuss kind of gun guy. But I could just never get used to carrying those types of guns with a round chambered.
I've even gone the 1911 route but never felt comfortable with the cocked hammer, always checking the safety to make sure it never mysteriously came off safe, annoying.
I wanted something Kahr sized, DA/SA, yet with a manual safety. The only guns I could find were in .380 caliber, so I took the dive and went with the Bersa Thunder .380. Let me say that for about $270 it is a steal. These are very well made guns and they just shoot great. But, it's in .380 (which costs $10 more for a box of 100 than 9mm does), so I started looking for something in the same size but in 9mm. Kahr has it hands down size wise and in quality and performance, but it has no manual safety.
I went to the local gun store and checked out the CZ RAMI and the other CZ offerings, too thick. I checked out the small 1911's in 9mm, almost as thick as their .45acp counterparts and then again, cocked & locked doesn't appeal.
I thought of the Para LDA, which has a nice trigger set-up I might add, but still almost as thick as it's .45acp counterparts.
Then I checked out the S&W 908, the affordable 3913, I found it to be very ergonomical-less, it felt like an out of balance brick and with no personality to boot. Sigs are thick and expensive.
Then Bersa struck again with their Mini Thunder 9, I do admit it is also kind of thick in the grip, but close in size to their Thunder .380. Here's a pic to compare sizes.
The Mini Thunder is probably very close to the Sig 239 in size but for only $340 at my local dealer, including background and taxes how can I go wrong? I'm going to order one today.
What a wonderful discovery in these great little very affordable pistols by Bersa.
