Range report, yet another Bersa Thunder

[Lobotomy Boy]

I shot up a buttload of cheapo A-merc .380 ammo this morning in my new Bersa Thunder without a single failure to fire or failure to eject. We had a blast shooting the little booger. The gun was close to flawless, putting nearly half our shots in the ten ring. The only problem I experienced was that sometimes the slide wouldn't lock open after emptying a magazine. (Well, that and my grip screws came loose after about 250 rounds.) Horge or anyone know of something I can do about the occasional failure of the slide to lock open after emptying a magazine?

Thanks.

 

[arinvolvo]

Give it some more time to break in...and use factory mags.

 

[horge]

Arinvolvo's got it, and this happens to a lot of new Thunder 380's.

Your recoil spring is likely still not broken in. With a little more initial set, the slide can be thrown back and linger that extra fraction of a split second to allow the magazine's feeder platform (aka "follower"?) to come up and force the slide lock up.

Make sure the mag tube is clean (it can get a bit grotty over the course of a session, especially with dirty ammo), and dirt can produce enough friction to retard the rise of the feeder platform. It probably isn't a case of a weak mag spring --I'd assume your mags are factory and new.

Force the feeder platform down, and lock it down in place with a dowel stuck straight through the cartridge counter holes of the magazine tube. Then you can clean the tube interior --it's really the top third of the tube that could be an issue.
For more thorough inspection/maintenance of magazines...
There is some discussion of disassembly covered here:
Magazine Disassembly / Upgrade

Lastly, make sure your ammo isn't weak.
If it's not puching the slide to the rear strong enough to give time for slide lock, then, well.... you did say A-merc, so... dunno.

Glad to hear the Thunder 380 digested even that




hth,

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Thanks Horge. I've run about 500 rounds through the gun over the past week and have cleaned the top of the magazine after both sessions. Judging by how filthy the feeder lips were, your recommendation for cleaning the magazine is a good one.

I just ordered 500 rounds of Seller & Belloit (sp?) ammo. I had good luck with the A-merc, but had enough rounds with questionable-looking brass to make me not reorder any of that stuff again.