Bought a Bersa--Thanks Horge!

[Lobotomy Boy]

All this Bersa talk from Horge has gotten to me. I picked up a Bersa Thunder .380 today for $190 at Gander Mountain (regular $219, but this was a display model with two small scratches on the side, the last non-stainless one they had). I picked up a couple of boxes of ammo and headed straight to the range. What a great little gun! Right out of the box (literally) I was getting decent groups at a variety of distances. I think that with a little practice (which I intend to get at every opportunity) I could be deadly accurate.

At home I tried to disassemble it but the instructions blew chunks. Fortunately I had bookmarked Horge's excellent website and once I read his instructions cleaning was a breeze. And did it ever need cleaning. Do they soak those things in motor oil before they leave Argentia?

Thanks Horge for the great website and for helping turn me on to a great gun.

 

[Route 66]

I went to the Indy 1500 show yesterday looking to buy an all nickel version. I only saw one and it was $259. That was a little pricey especially when my hometown FFL can sell me one @ $250. It seems like in the past year or so the price of these things seem to be going up steadily.

Anyway I'm convinced they are good value and can do a respectable job at home defense or even carry with hollow point loadings.

The takedown (I handled one in my FFL's shop) is easy. With mag out, depress the takedown button on the right hand side of the frame, pull the slide to the rear, lift the slide and move the slide forward and it's field stripped.

 

[Route 66]

Lobotomy Boy - I forgot to ask, did Gander Mountain have the nickle version? If so do you recall the price?

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

I believe the price was either $239 or $249 for the nickel version.

That was a very nice gun but I it was a little past my budget for the day. I went to a gun show with a $300 limit. I was really tempted by an older Model 27, which was just a little beyond my budget, but I hadn't researched 27 prices lately so decided to pass. I didn't find any screaming deals, except for a KP95D for $310, and the seller would eat the tax. I passed because I did not need another 9mm. Then I found an NIB Bushnell red dot scope I'd been wanting for my PC9, and it was $25 less than the exact same scope I'd almost bought at Gander Mountain the week before ($75 vs $100).

Most of the Bersas at the show were going for $240-$260. I knew Gander sold them for $219, so after the show I decided to pick one up. When the seller offered to take $25 off the price I decided to take Horge's theory of fate and guns at face value and bought it and a couple of boxes of shells.

I've wanted a little plinker like this for years. I used to own a .32 caliber Walther PP and have been tempted by the Sig 230 and 232 many times. I found a variety of used examples, but they all seem to run around $400, which, to me, is a lot of money for a plinker. For $400 I can pick up a new XD9 at Sportsman's Warehouse.

The Bersa is a bit more crude than the Sig--I found a small burr on the firing pin block when I field stripped it and cleaned it--but it seems to work extremely well. And sometimes crude is not neccesarily bad. In his book "21st Century Small Arms," author Steve Crawford writes that the HK MP5K is "too well made to tolerate extended combat use in sand, mud or snow." If that is true, give me a poorly made AK47 any day.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Yee ha! Another Bersa Thunder convert! Welcome to the club. That is a nice gun at an exceptional price.

Safe shooting.

ChickenHawk

 

[alwims]

It's a Cult I tell ya, a Cult. HA Ha ha ha ha

 

[P95Carry]

Hey Chicken!

Yep, another convert - ''another for the club''! I wonder .. two things. Be interesting to get a poll of ALL THR members to see how many have this lil gun - I'd guess a considerable number.

And .... I wonder how many here have aquired such a piece ... because of all our discussions! Good many I'll wager .... I know - I was one!!

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Chris, I'm starting to worry. I plan on buying a P95 and a P97 within the next couple of months, and now I find out you also have a Bersa. Perhaps we were seperated at birth. You don't happen to own a PC9?

 

[P95Carry]

You don't happen to own a PC9

LB....... close!! Funny thing is until last shoot, I had this error fixed in mind ... viz, that my Marlin Camp Carbine was a PC9 ... don't ask me why I continued to make the mistake but I did .... sustained brain fart I guess!

I now have corrected things in my memory bank (ya know - that one brain cell!) ..... and so can say .. nope, no PC9!!

''Separated at birth''? ...... hey - I'm sure you are not as ancient as me!

 

[Madmax]

What is the Web site? I would like to look at it. Thanks

 

[ChickenHawk]

Howdy Chris,

I'll bet quite a few people have purchased Bersa's based on all these discussions!

That, and Horge's excellent website (better than the vendor's in every possible respect).

I don't think I've seen a single thread actually bad-mouth the Bersa Thunder, unless you count those who just don't like the .380ACP on principle.

Cheers!
ChickenHawk

 

[gbelleh]

Madmax,

Horge's website:

http://www.geocities.com/bersa_thunder

 

[ChickenHawk]

Sorry MadMax, I missed the question or would have posted the web addr for Horge!

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[horge]

Wow. I just got back from an extended weekend of shooting
Glad the website was of some use to you.

Congratulations on purchasing a fine pistol, LB, now go and send some serious lead downrange.... again!

 

[dsgrntldPW]

Count me in as one who picked up a Firestorm .380 based soley on the discussions on this forum. Got it last week and will be getting some ammo for it, and my as of yet unfired P3AT, tomorrow. Probably Blazer, as it's the cheapest I can find around here. Then I'll be headed to the range, as soon as my new Steyr M9 gets here, for a little break-in time.

 

[9x19]

Congrats on qn excellent choice.

Although mine are Series 95s (and their purchase predates this board), I've had nothing but good service from my .22, .32 and .380 Bersas (my .22 is the later Thunder variety, and recently acquired to supplant my all steel model 223).

 

[mlheppl]

I've bought two in the last couple of years. One for my wife (I told her it was for her anyways) and one for the mother in law. Great little guns. Sorry but I knew what a good little gun the Bersa was before I knew what a great thread THR was.

 

[alwims]

I just put another Thunder380 on layaway today. I'm so broke right now I can't even afford to fork out $200 for another. I gota stop buying these things.

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

I was using the excuse of buying the gun for my wife until I took it to the range for the first time, about an hour after purchasing the gun. The main reason I decided not to even pretend it was her gun was because it was so much fun to shoot, but there was another reason.

The controls are just a little finicky out of the box. This is nothing an experienced shooter would even notice, but we tend to have developed a feel for mechanical things. We can feel the right amount of pressure to place on a button or lever or a release and don't need to think about it. My wife has a distinct lack of mechanical feel. I was recently laid up for four months after a motorcycle racing accident and when I became mobile again, I found every screw in the house had been stripped. I have since reasserted my dominance over the household screwdrivers. I'm just grateful she never made it out to the garage while I was convelescing.

My wife is preparing to take a basic handgun introduction course and I decided she should have the most simple-to-use gun available. I think I'm going to go with my original plan and get her a S&W 642 (Smith is having some sort of price reduction on those right now). That means that I have to keep the Bersa for myself, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make because I love the woman.