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peanutpublications

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
56
Location
Rochester Hills, Michigan, USA
Been a while since I've been on here...Since most of you aren't going to recognize me, I helped put together an MOC meetup at the Boston Market in Auburn Hills a while back. Anywho, I've finally joined the ranks! I went shopping with my brother - Taurus850CIA - on Saturday and finally purchased my first handgun...it's a Bersa Thunder .380, and I'm pretty excited. I'm looking forward to getting out soon to put some rounds through it!

Here's a pic for those that like that kind of thing :)
minesmall.jpg
 

xmanhockey7

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2010
Messages
1,195
Been a while since I've been on here...Since most of you aren't going to recognize me, I helped put together an MOC meetup at the Boston Market in Auburn Hills a while back. Anywho, I've finally joined the ranks! I went shopping with my brother - Taurus850CIA - on Saturday and finally purchased my first handgun...it's a Bersa Thunder .380, and I'm pretty excited. I'm looking forward to getting out soon to put some rounds through it!

Here's a pic for those that like that kind of thing :)
minesmall.jpg

Congrads
 

TheQ

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
3,379
Location
Lansing, Michigan
@OP. my wife has the Bersa Thunder .380 -- very similar. Watch for failures to eject, though she could be limp wristing it.
 

TheQ

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
3,379
Location
Lansing, Michigan
Oh yeah, you won't be able to get a SERPA, Safariland, or other common retention holster for it. You'll have to get a generic thumb break retention holster.
 

Bronson

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,126
Location
Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
I've been carrying my Bersa .380 for a few weeks now.

For information on all things Bersa check out www.bersachat.com. I am there with the same screen name.

Here are some tips to make your Bersa experience less frustrating:

1) When you assemble the gun make sure the recoil spring goes on the barrel with the tight end toward the breech. Just slide the spring on the barrel then point the gun at the ground...if the spring falls off turn it around.

2) After the spring is on the barrel turn it so the cut spring end near the muzzle is at the 12:00 position (on top of the barrel). This will make re-assembly much easier.

3) If you need spare magazines go with OEM and avoid the Pro-Mag brand, too many people have bad luck with them. If you register at the above forum after 10 posts you can get a discount code for an online store called Condor's Flight that sells Bersa stuff and has a great rep. for customer service.

Bronson
 

HKcarrier

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
816
Location
michigan
My dad was having FTF and FTE and stove pipes on his...... I think he was partially limp wrisitng it, but it was also pretty dirty... he polished the feed ramp and cleeaned and oiled everything and it was 100% better... slick that puppy up...
 

peanutpublications

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
56
Location
Rochester Hills, Michigan, USA
@ TheQ - I have an Uncle Mike's holster right now. The snap on it is pretty tough, although that could be because I'm not used to it yet, and it's brand new. I'll probably look for a different one sometime in the future.

@ stainless1911 - As of now, it's mainly for home self-defense. Not because we live in a particularly dangerous area, but because I'm a stay at home mom of 2 very young kids. I am not 100% on where I can and can't carry, however I do know it's ok to take it with me should I go for a walk. I will be holding off taking it out with me other places until I am much more comfortable with the laws and where I am/am not allowed to carry. I would not want to be the bad seed that gives open carry a bad name ;)

@ Bronson - Thanks for that site, and the reassembly tips! It actually came with 2 mags, but I'll have to see what brand the spare is.

@ HKcarrier - I'll find out shortly how slick this puppy needs to be...lol
 

Bronson

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,126
Location
Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
he polished the feed ramp

Be careful with this. On an older Bersa board we had a warranty center gunsmith tell us tales of guns that came to him that were ruined because owners or gunshop employees would try to polish the feed ramp. The feed ramp on the Bersa .380 is part of the anodized aluminum frame. Burn through the anodizing and you're left with an unprotected aluminum feed ramp. At that point you have to replace the frame.

Bronson
 

jfrenchudm

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
95
Location
Ortonville, Michigan, USA
I own a Bersa Thunder 380 as well, and I have ejection issues as was previously mentioned, not due to limp wrist, but rather the gun is particular about ammo. UMC almost always hangs up on the second to last round in the magazine. This may be due to a weak spring in the mag., but it seems to mostly happen with the UMC. Not a big deal for me, as it is no longer my carry weapon, but you will definitely wish to run varying manufacturers loads through it to see which works best.
 

HKcarrier

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
816
Location
michigan
Be careful with this. On an older Bersa board we had a warranty center gunsmith tell us tales of guns that came to him that were ruined because owners or gunshop employees would try to polish the feed ramp. The feed ramp on the Bersa .380 is part of the anodized aluminum frame. Burn through the anodizing and you're left with an unprotected aluminum feed ramp. At that point you have to replace the frame.

Bronson




Maybe 'polish' wasn't the most accurate term.. he didn't use any type of abrasive stuff or a mechanical device... I think he just used a cloth and his finger and some sort of cleaner or polish.. but it shined it up good and smoothed it out...
 
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thebigsd

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
3,535
Location
Quarryville, PA
By the way, you are not necessarily relegated to using a generic thumb-break holster. There are plenty of people out there who could make a custom holster for your Bersa. In fact, there are several on this site.
 

Bronson

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,126
Location
Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
but you will definitely wish to run varying manufacturers loads through it to see which works best.

Yes. They do have a rep. for being ammo picky, especially when new. Mine wouldn't run American Eagle ammo. Now, many hundreds of round later, it'll eat just about anything I feed it. Common advice is to run a couple hundred rounds of FMJ, round nosed ammo (not the flat nosed stuff like Winchester White Box) before you start testing out hollow points.

My personal gun has fed Winchester White Box el-cheapo ammo just fine from the beginning but the same warranty center smith previously mentioned said that the majority of ammo related failures they've found were with flat-nosed ammo. Since he has a much wider sample size to draw from than I do I tend to believe him :D

Bronson
 

Onnie

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
664
Location
Maybee, Michigan
One for the side and one hidden in my back, Ive put about 500 done the 380 and dont recall ever having any issues2gun.jpg
 
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