Might have blown my butt off today in MacDonald's

[Frozen North]

Are you 100% sure about that? I'm trying to half-cock mine, and it ain't happening. Maybe a design change?

Yep, it half cocks (maybe closer to quarter) with the safety off. It's in my hand right now. It is a newer Thunder 380 CC in nickel finish.

The only way for the half-cock safety to work is for the first (primary) sear to fail and allow the hammer spring to push the half-cock position up to catch it. You cannot place it from cocked to half-cock from the trigger mechanism. I might be wrong though. Isn't that safety supposed to be drop safe?

It is not supposed to be a safety, it just does it. I don't know if the hammer will fall if you dropped the gun on the hammer. The safety has a steel chunk that cams out that blocks the hammer from falling all the way. I would contact a gunsmith or Bersa before I carried this pistol in any other way than with the safety on. It may be cool, it may be a ND waiting to happen.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Bersa also has a Hammer block safety You know, The firing pin can't move till trigger pulled all the way.
+ the hammer block decocker that puts steel in front of hammer. Was in no real danger

 

[saturno_v]

As for parts going down range The Colt Officer had its share or parts flying down range . Not just Bersa. All brands have had a problen of one kind or another.

What I find troubling is that people with that kind of mentality and baseless technical prejudice are allowed to be somewhat professional in the field....the poster of that message did claim to be a Range Officer....can you imagine that??

 

[Pyro]

Not exactly a "safety", but yeah it works as such. It can also be used to keep the hammer decocked but not resting on the firing pin so in case you do drop it on the hammer the round won't go off.

 

[toivo]

Yep, it half cocks (maybe closer to quarter) with the safety off. It's in my hand right now. It is a newer Thunder 380 CC in nickel finish.

Yeah, I see that now. I edited my post, but you beat me to the draw!

 

[Sport45]

Yes indeed. Know how your firearm is supposed to operate so you know when it malfunctions.

I had to call an emergency "cease fire". The reason? My friend was happily shooting his Bersa when the slide took off and shot about 20 feet down range.

You called an emergency cease fire for that???

Why couldn't he shoot something else or just wait for the next time the line was cold to retrieve his parts?

 

[gyvel]

To those who duplicated the malfunction by keeping the slide just out of battery: The same condition can be duplicated on the Walther PP/PPK/PPK/S, the P.38, and all the Hungarian variants of the Walthers. It takes a little extra impetus for the slide to close fully into battery and also drop the hammer when the safety is on. I'm guessing that the Bersa was a relatively little used pistol considering from whom he obtained it, and probably needed a little "break-in" time.

 

[ROGER4314]

You called an emergency cease fire for that???

Why couldn't he shoot something else or just wait for the next time the line was cold to retrieve his parts?

Our range is a private facility where all the members work together in harmony. The members were happy to assist in the search and no one was inconvenienced. In fact, we all learned something about that pistol. The members are always happy to help, loan tools, assist in adjustments or pass a friendly few minutes. If you leave something at the range, they will put it in the storage building for you and if you forget something at home, they'll cover it for you. You couldn't ask for a better bunch of people.

The bottom line, however, is that I was range officer, it was my call and that was my decision.

Flash

 

[Prosser]

IIRC, Gary Reeder LOVES the Bersa .45 1911 carry guns.

Also, one of the San Ramon police carried one, right up until he dropped it, it went off, and he was rushed to emergency, saved only by the fact he was in a police station, and, the guys threw him in a squad car, and went 140 to the hospital. Yes, .45 ACP HPs are effective, and will kill you, unless you are lucky, and get prompt attention from the doctors...

 

[Sport45]

Our range is a private facility where all the members work together in harmony. The members were happy to assist in the search and no one was inconvenienced. In fact, we all learned something about that pistol. The members are always happy to help, loan tools, assist in adjustments or pass a friendly few minutes. If you leave something at the range, they will put it in the storage building for you and if you forget something at home, they'll cover it for you. You couldn't ask for a better bunch of people.

I can understand that. Sounds a lot like the range I'm a member of. I was just confused about the emergency part. On one of our lines everyone would have finished their magazines or whatever and then happily assisted in the search after declaring the line cold.

Unless an injury was involved, of course. Then we'd have dropped magazines, cycled and locked open guns and immediately assisted.

No offence intended.

 

[JustSomeDude]

You called an emergency cease fire for that???

Why couldn't he shoot something else or just wait for the next time the line was cold to retrieve his parts?

Our range is a private facility where all the members work together in harmony. The members were happy to assist in the search and no one was inconvenienced. In fact, we all learned something about that pistol. The members are always happy to help, loan tools, assist in adjustments or pass a friendly few minutes. If you leave something at the range, they will put it in the storage building for you and if you forget something at home, they'll cover it for you. You couldn't ask for a better bunch of people.

The bottom line, however, is that I was range officer, it was my call and that was my decision.

Flash

By the way, what failed on that pistol that the slide went downrange? Since it is a blowback design, the barrel is pinned into the frame. Just curious, because I can't really picture how that happened.

 

[Pilot]

If you want to carry a .380 in that size range spend the extra money and get a Beretta M85FS. Rock solid, accurate, reliable, well built. Is it worth a hole in your body carrying a cheap pistol?

 

[nelson133]

I am familiar with the Bersa pistols and I find it hard to believe that the slide actually flew off the gun. If the gun had been assembled incorrectly maybe the slide would not engage the frame rails but I doubt the gun would fire.
As stated above, the gun is very similar to the Walther pp series and is a blowback design. The barrel is pinned to the frame. For the slide to fly forward, it would have to shear off part of the frame.
I am very skeptical of this story, not that any gun could fail in any number of areas, just that this doesn't seem possible. Were there reloads involved? Certainly you could blow a gun to pieces with an overload or perhaps a squib followed by a normal round.

 

[Cornhusker77]

I've noticed on mine that if I ease the slide into battery, it can stop just short of being in battery and the hammer won't drop.
Just let it slam home, and it'll work fine.

 

[ROGER4314]

I am very skeptical of this story

I was there, saw the event at a distance of less than 10 feet and assisted in retrieving the parts. What model was it? I don't know or care. I started pistol shooting in the early 60's and had never seen the slide of ANY firearm take off for the back 40.

The shooter/owner is a retired Army Sgt with firearms knowledge and training. Could he have assembled the pistol incorrectly? Perhaps, but if that result is POSSIBLE with a proficient shooter in control, the firearm design is flawed. After we found the parts, he reassembled the pistol and muttered something about "getting rid of it." My conclusion was that nothing broke but I couldn't swear to it. I know him pretty well. I'm sure he'd sell it if you want to investigate it personally.....snicker/big smile.

Edit....Heck, I just called James and got it from the horse's......errr.... mouth. The gun was a Bersa Thunder .380. He said the take down lever had been worn/modified which allowed the lever to shift, releasing the slide. I asked him how that could have happened. His reply was that the rest of the gun did not have much wear so he felt that a previous owner had attempted to modify the sear and also hit the take down lever. He said there is a notch/detent/lump? on the take down lever that was modified. That is NOT Bersa's fault if someone modified it improperly. It does point out that modifying a firearm if you don't know what you're doing is foolish and hazardous. It also points out that even a small mod on that take down lever can be disastrous! How's that for getting to the bottom of things?

Reloads? James does not reload. It's possible that he purchased reloads. Couldn't say.

Emergency? At the time, I didn't know if we had a KB (kaboom), ammo mismatch, defective gun, possible injuries from shrapnel or what happened, so I took it seriously and shut the firing line down. The failure was not hazardous but it's 6 months later........How were we to know that at the time? I knew every person on that firing line personally and there were no complaints about an immediate investigation.

Flash

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

Edit....Heck, I just called James and got it from the horse's......errr.... mouth. The gun was a Bersa Thunder .380. He said the take down lever had been worn/modified which allowed the lever to shift, releasing the slide. I asked him how that could have happened. His reply was that the rest of the gun did not have much wear so he felt that a previous owner had attempted to modify the sear and also hit the take down lever. He said there is a notch/detent/lump? on the take down lever that was modified. That is NOT Bersa's fault if someone modified it improperly. It does point out that modifying a firearm if you don't know what you're doing is foolish and hazardous. It also points out that even a small mod on that take down lever can be disastrous! How's that for getting to the bottom of things?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOdtdQhMEfI The barrel is fixed to the frame. In order for the slide to fly off, the barrel would have to go with it resulting in a catastrophic failure of the gun or the slide would have to go back further than it can with the take down lever in the down position, lift up to clear the rear rails, then fly off. If you notice in that video, you can see that the take down lever has to be held down because of a spring. I'm sorry but I just cannot see what you described happening.

 

[SwissArmyDad]

I owned bersa thunder .380 for several years. One of the best values for dollars spent, IMO.

Very well made, very reliable, simple design.
Being familiar with it's operation, I'd say that the OP simply fully engaged the safety/decocker and decocked the hammer. No problemo.

I'll reiterate, too, that this pistol is not meant to ride around cocked. It's like having a revolver cocked in your holster. (A No-no)

As for that range incident with the parts flying downrange...that's just strange! I wonder if the guy hit and rotated the takedown lever on accident, and racked the slide, at the same point lifting it up and back off of it's rails. Once he let go of it, it took off downrange... EDIT: or maybe as it came back on recoil, it lifted up slightly and came off the rails by itself. I see now where the poster noted that the pistol did have some Mickey mouse gunsmithing done to it.

Bottom line of these types of pistols is: simple, simple, simple. lol!

 

[Miked7762]

He said the take down lever had been worn/modified which allowed the lever to shift, releasing the slide.

Interesting. The takedown lever isn't what holds the slide in place. You can rip the lever right out and the slide still isn't going anywhere.

He said there is a notch/detent/lump? on the take down lever that was modified.

Again, interesting. There's no notch or detent on the takedown lever at all. There is nothing on the lever you can damage, wear, remove, add, or modify that will cause it to move or shift on its own.

So a modified takedown lever caused the slide stop to disengage, the slide to move to the rear, stay at the rear and pitch up enough to clear the frame rails but not tangle on the barrel or front of the frame, somehow clear the magazine, and then throw itself forward without dragging on the barrel and fly 20 feet? And all without any broken parts? Your friend should have bought some lottery tickets, it was really his lucky day.

 

[vellocet]

Strange post. Now, I have heard of people having their butts blown off AFTER being at McDonalds, but that was from the food, not guns. My suggestion to the OP is to carry an unloaded gun with a magazine in his pocket. It is a foolproof? solution to his problem.

 

[fatcat4620]

I read your title and said the same thing happens to me at taco bell.

 

[wep45]

best flush dat bersa down de comode dude before you become seatless

 

[ROGER4314]

Guys, the horse is dead & it's time to get off. The only thing I know for sure is that I picked the slide up forward of the firing line. Why it was there.....I don't know. At this point, I don't care. Adios.

Flash

 

[bdb benzino]

Guys, the horse is dead & it's time to get off. The only thing I know for sure is that I picked the slide up forward of the firing line. Why it was there.....I don't know. At this point, I don't care. Adios.

I think what theses educated people are getting at is that he is either not telling you what really happened, or he wasn't even using a Bersa and someone was mistaken. People here are well educated enthusiasts and if you say something that is not even possible you will get called out, don't get mad your info was just off!

The part I didn't like was your first post in this thread where you stated how crapy they were after what you witnessed, and now it sounds as if it was not even a Bersa at all.

In my experience of owning a 380, a ultra compact 9, and a full size 9 is that Bersa is very well made and reliable.

 

[chicharrones]

EDIT: or maybe as it came back on recoil, it lifted up slightly and came off the rails by itself. I see now where the poster noted that the pistol did have some Mickey mouse gunsmithing done to it.

You know, I could almost see that happening if the take down lever was held down somehow. Since the takedown lever pulls down on a block that prevents the rear of the slide from coming off its rails, it would seem possible that if the rear of the slide cleared the rails and if sliding forward into another round in the magazine the rear of the slide might go up and over the barrel.

So. What we need here is a volunteer to recreate this possibility by pinning the take down lever in the down position and firing their gun with a full magazine. Okay, please don't anyone actually do that.

 

[Bufford t. Justice]

Step 1: Buy a boat Step 2: Fill Bersa barrel with cement Step 3: Attach bersa to bow line and use as anchor. Problem solved.
1911's forever