New Opinions on Bersa Thunder .380

[TCB in TN]

Long story short, pigs have started to fly, Lucifer is putting on a turtle neck, and my wife (who is not an anti, but has had NO interest in guns) has begun to learn to shoot. A local tragedy has spurred my wife to want to learn to shoot, and in fact her, my mother, and another female cousin have now signed up to take a couple of training classes including their handgun permit class.

We have made some significant progress on the learning to shoot front, and she is becoming a pretty safe shooter and has begun to pick up some real good shooting habits and can actually now hit what she is aiming at. (Last week put 39 out of 40 rounds in the black on an 10 in target at 20 yards with my Ruger MKII .22. She has started learning how to handle some of the bigger stuff also, not quite where I want her to be yet, but we are getting there. So here is the rub. I wanted her to use a little 38 snub or something like that when she gets ready to CC, we went to several shops and picked out a lot of different guns for her to handle and see what she is comfortable with. Turns out the one small pistol she really liked to handle was a .380 Bersa Thunder. She handled better than 30 guns, and just really liked the feel of it. The way it points, the size, and pretty much everything about it.

The only problem is that I don't know a thing about them. So you Bersa guys, please give the the run down, with an eye to whether you would trust your wife's life to one. Thanks and sorry so long.

 

[MIL-DOT]

I don't own one, never have owned one, never shot one,may not have ever even seen one, but I have two fairly knowledgeable and experienced freinds that own/have owned them, and speak very highly of them. Most of what I've read about them has been pretty positive,as well.

 

[B yond]

I own and carry one. I'm happy with it. The only tim it's ever malfunctioned was after it sat for 2 months having been put away dirty after several range trips. This caused an accumulation of hardened soot on the feed ramp which caused two stovepipes out of 50 rounds. After a quick cleaning it's back to running smoothly.

They do have some sharp edges on them, and mine (black finish) will rust if left in a room with a wet fart, so i recommend getting a chrome model and/or wiping it down with a silicon cloth daily.

They point well, stay on target easily, conceal easily, and are very reliable if kept clean.

 

[gotime242]

Absolutely go for it.

I had a bersa that i carried for a while, but sold it for a KT p3at just to have something a tad solid.

Super accurate, and reliable. I would buy one again.

 

[rocinante]

I had a 380cc for a while and when I shot it it performed no FTE or FTF but my kid and my mother in law every now and then would get a FTF. I think they might of been holding weird or interfering with the slide. I liked the little gun but it had more muzzle flip than I would of expected.

 

[LWGN]

Well, my husband trusts his wife's life to one...

The Bersa .380 Thunder is what I chose, also.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=4549553&postcount=21

It is a great weapon. The gun-nuttiest person I know (and I know LOT of self-described gun-nuts) also carries a Bersa .380, but his is a double-stack - too big for my rather diminutive hands.

 

[panther22]

My wife has been carrying one for over two years. It only gets cleaned when she remembers to tell me to do it. But it never fails with any ammo we've ever bought for it.
She has 2 uncles who think they are old hands with guns. Both shoot S&W revolvers. She has shot better scores then both of them with her Bersa.
We really like that gun.

 

[usp9]

I'm not a huge Bersa Thunder fan but if I were to buy one it would be the Bersa Plus model to take advantage of the higher magazine capacity.

 

[jpatterson]

This is a pretty good video on YouTube with a guy talking about his. I have heard nothing but good about them, but I have also never shot one. Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgt65OL7t3c

 

[TCB in TN]

I meant no offense LWGN, in fact your comments mean a lot to me. So that settles it, I am going to call my cousin (who owns a gun shop) and get him to get her one in the satin finish. Will make her first gun a surprise Christmas present. Thanks for the help!

 

[MaterDei]

I bought one for my daughter when she turned 18. Great bang for the buck. The trigger is awesome given the price point. I almost wish I had kept it for myself.

 

[benEzra]

Excellent gun. My first pistol was a Bersa 383DA (same gun, older name) and it was my CCW gun for years.

 

[Steve Raacke]

I've owned a Bersa Thunder .380 for several yers. It is my everyday, take everywhere Conceal Carry and Open Carry pistol. It's light, accurate, and the gun fits my hand like it is part of it.
I highly recommend it.

 

[hso]

We had two in classes and they both developed problems. Of course that was after pushing 500 rounds through them in a day so their failure after a high volume of fire may not indicate a problem for lower round counts.

 

[[email protected]]

i own a bersa 45 and after seeing it, a friend of mine bought one. i am told by a local gun shop owner that the local police from our fairly large city carry the 380 as a back up, and in this area, many of the leo's are gun nuts/hunters.

 

[gbelleh]

The Bersa Thunder .380 is my wife's favorite gun too. It's always been reliable and she shoots it very well. They're good little guns.

 

[browningguy]

I've had one for a couple of years, very good factory trigger, excellent sights, pretty darn accurate for such an inexpensive pistol. I highly recommend them.

 

[BULLSI]

The nickel finish looks the best. I had a couple of fail to feeds useing brazzer brass loads on the last round in the magazine during the break in period. Mine likes the fiocchi rounds I have read others say their gun doesnt shoot those well so ymmv. I have shot some winchester and magtech rounds also and those ran well through it.

Great little gun for a .380 and priced right imo

 

[robctwo]

I have owned one for several years. One of my first center fire pistols. Accurate and reliable. I have small hands and it fits me well. The only criticism I have of it is that there is a lot of felt recoil for the size of the round. That's the trade off for the weight and blow back design. If she feels comfortable with that amount of recoil, she will be happy. I prefer my Beretta 84 for the range. Wider grip and heavier soaks up some of the recoil. More rounds. Not as slim to conceal. Bersa goes in the pocket with a pocket holster.

 

[gazpacho]

The Bersa Thunder is a perfetly fine pistol that traces it's lineage back to the Walther PP. Comparable pistols woulks be the Sig 232 ant the Beretta 85. Both are of higher quality manufacture, but are significantly more expensive.

Bersa also makes a 22LR version sold under the Firestorm brand name. It is identical in form and function.

 

[saturno_v]

Bersas are the best pistols for the money at the moment in America, hands down.
I do not own the Thunder 380 (all the people I did talk to that own one love it) but I do own a Thunder 40 full size and I could not be more happy with it.

 

[Pilot]

For less expensive practice and more stopping power a compact 9MM like the CZ PCR or P-01, Sig P-6 and P239 may be a better choice.

Nothing wrong with the little Bersas though. Let her shoot one if you can and see if she can rack the slide to chamber a round.

 

[actaylor]

Another vote here in favor of the Thunder .380. I have one and it's my favorite CCW gun. No problems at all with it, easy to carry, very accurate and a great value.

 

[tn-dave]

Go to http://www.marschalgrips.com/?content=Bersa-models and let her pick out some grips. The only negative I have about the Bersas are the "cheap" feeling plastic grips

 

[Brian41]

DO IT!!! the best shooting small autoloader i've ever owned! Better than a PM9 or ppk if you ask me... easier to shoot and more accurate. Love them!! Absolutely reliable all the time.