Blues-be-Gone compliments of Bersa Thunder Pro UC9,,,

[aarondhgraham]

Blues-be-Gone compliments of Bersa Thunder Pro UC9,,,

I called The Evil Pawn Shop Guy yesterday afternoon,,,
He confirmed my blues-breaker had arrived.

This is what was waiting for me,,,
Along with an extra 13 round magazine.



It came with the fired shell casing and the usual paper stuff,,,
What surprised me was that it came with two mags,,,
Everything I read indicated it only came with one.

The Bersa website states that it has the "Integral Locking System",,,
It shows a picture of the key for the lock,,,
But I'll be danged if I can find it,,,
There's nothing in the box,,,
I can't find a lock hole.

It accommodates 13 round mags which I now have three of,,,
Or 10 round mags which I intend to buy two of,,,
Just in case I travel to a 10 round state.

The action is DA/SA with a safety/de-cocker,,,
When the hammer is back, pushing the safety lever up de-cocks the pistol,,,
When the hammer is down, pushing the safety lever up disengages the trigger mechanism.

I have no idea why anyone would want to,,,
But it's impossible to have the hammer cocked and the safety switch on.

It's made with an alloy frame with steel slide,,,
Even then the pistol is still pretty beefy,,,
It does have a fat double-stack grip.

For size comparison, here it is beside my full size CZ-75B.


And here it is beside my Ruger LC9.


This pistol, like my Bersa T-22 and T-380,,,
Brakes down for cleaning very easily,,,
Rotate one lever and it slides apart.

She (I haven't named her yet) was swimming in oil,,,
I took it apart and cleaned the factory crud out,,,
Re-oiled it and am ready to shoot after work.

I have 100 rounds of FMJ in the range bag,,,
I'll let you know how she does after this evening.

Oh yeah,,,
$436.05 out the door.

If I would have went with the all black model,,,
It would have been $40.00 less.

So far, I'm one happy camper.

Aarond

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[Marty8613]

Sweet...

The lock, is that hole above the trigger on the left side. Pretty much an allen key, same key as the Thunder 380. It should have been included.

Buy the HC9 Mag for an extended mag.

My .40 version, shot a little low, until I figured out it was combat sights.

[aarondhgraham]

The lock, is that hole above the trigger on the left side.

Maybe the key is lying somewhere on the workbench where I opened the box,,,
Now I'm going to fret about it all dang day until I get home.

Aarond

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[Marty8613]

Ha ha, well, my Firestorm I bought used, didn't come with the key; but, the BT380 did. I use the same key for both. You mention two other models where newer models have the same lock and key.

And I see now where "can't find a lock hole" .. refers to the box. I would have expected "key hole" since the 'lock' hole, is on the gun.

I speak a few languages, and sometimes small things like this do face palm me. I would say that English speakers, for the most part, are the most inconsistent with their language.

[lee n. field]

The Bersa website states that it has the "Integral Locking System",,,
It shows a picture of the key for the lock,,,
But I'll be danged if I can find it,,,
There's nothing in the box,,,
I can't find a lock hole.

The lock hole is that thing visible on the left side of the frame, between the takedown lever and the trigger.

You can buy a "key" from Bersa's website.

What surprised me was that it came with two mags,,,
Everything I read indicated it only came with one.

Bersa's .380s come with one. The Ultra Carry's come with two.

For size comparison, here it is beside my full size CZ-75B.

Somewhere around here I have a pic of my UC .45, next to a Detonics .45. They're the same size.

[aarondhgraham]

I went home on my lunch break,,,
The key for the internal lock was hidden under the cardboard spacer/divider.

Again I say,,,
Doh!

Aarond

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[aarondhgraham]

Somewhere around here I have a pic of my UC .45, next to a Detonics .45.

Please post that picture if you can find it,,,
I would like to see the Detonics pistol.

I was telling a friend about the UC9 last night,,,
He asked if it came in .45 ACP.

How does it run?,,,
Any problems with yours?

Aarond

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[DA/SA Fan]

Only thing pushing it lower on my list of want to buys, is the ambi-safety. Nice size for a 9mm carry gun but I wish they didn't add the extra width of the right side safety. As it is, I keep going back and forth between the UC and the Thunder Plus. I'll prolly end up with both eventually.

[lee n. field]

Please post that picture if you can find it,,,
I would like to see the Detonics pistol.

I was telling a friend about the UC9 last night,,,
He asked if it came in .45 ACP.

The Bersa seems bigger, but isn't much more than trivially larger.

The Detonics belongs to our office manager. She dropped it in front of me, with the firing pin and firing pin retainer out. "Hubby got it apart, couldn't get it back together. See what you can do. You can have it for the weekend. Bye."

It's just a 1911. I had it fixed before she was out of town.

How does it run?,,,
Any problems with yours?

The grip is fat. The guy I got it from bought it sight unseen, and had trouble gripping it. His fingers are about a half inch shorter than mine.

Runs OK.

It's on its way back to me now, from getting looked at by a smith. I was having some feeding and misfire issues, and I could push the cocked hammer off the sear with thumb pressure. It's a complicated enough gun that I did not want to try fixing it myself. Paying for shipping it out is not something I want to repeat.

[wpsdlrg]

I had a UC9 for awhile, not too long ago. Great pistol. Very accurate. I put about 1800 rounds through mine, in the space of a few months. Never a single problem of any kind. In my opinion, the UC9 has the BEST trigger, of any DA/SA pistol I've ever tried. It even liked my cast bullet loads very much, polygonal barrel and all. I think very highly of the Bersa, at least the UC9 model anyway.

Alas, I have become quite weight sensitive, as regards my carry pistol. The Bersa was just a bit too heavy. And, though I liked the UC9 very much, I was not able to shoot it as consistently as I would have liked. So, in the end, it had to go. It was likely the last DA/SA pistol I will ever have. I have reluctantly transitioned to a Glock 26, which I shoot very well and with excellent consistency.

I miss the DA/SA's though.....the Bersa probably most of all.

[gyvel]

The grip is fat.

That's kind of the impression I got from looking at the photos. I've never actually handled one anywhere, but I always like the looks of them.

I, too, am cursed with short fingers and fat grips have always been a problem for me.

[aarondhgraham]

Yes, she has a fat grip,,,
But that's normal for a double-stack 9mm.

Here is a picture comparing it to the grip on a standard CZ-75B in 9mm.

Except for the length (13 vs. 16) they're very close to being the same.

I joke and say I have K-Frame hands,,,
The CZ was the only full size Wonder 9 I could hold,,,
The grip on the Bersa approaches my limit but I think I'm okay with it.

If you have J-frame hands,,,
This might not be the pistol for you.

Aarond

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[aarondhgraham]

I got to the range yesterday evening,,,
I shot just under 100 rounds of various ammo,,,
I used up all of the loose rounds from previous trips.

It fed Federal FMJ, Tulammo steel FMJ, and PMC FMJ with no problems.

The only bad thing was that I was suffering from CHS,,,
My groups were HUGE with no center at all,,,
But this wasn't the fault of the pistol,,,
I wasn't hitting with my LCP either,,,
Usually I'm pretty good with that.

Too much coffee during the day or something,,,
I'll go again this weekend in the morning,,,
I think I was just tired last evening.

The first DA trigger pull is long,,,
But it didn't seem overly heavy to me,,,
The following SA trigger pulls were short and crisp.

I'm going to agree somewhat with wpsdlrg about the trigger,,,
I don't think it's the very best I've ever tried,,,
But it does have a very nice break to it,,,
I have no problem with it at all.

Now if I can just solve that CHS problem.

Aarond

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[lee n. field]

I, too, am cursed with short fingers and fat grips have always been a problem for me.

Marschal is the only maker of aftermarket Ultra Carry grips, that I am aware of. And I'm not sure if those are any thinner than factory.

[aarondhgraham]

One of those grips was very beautiful.

At a minimum of $92.00 I don't think I'll be buying any grips,,,
But it's nice to know they are out there.

Aarond

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[lee n. field]

Spend your money on extra magazines. Those are expensive, too.

[aarondhgraham]

I have a third already,,,
It was supposed to be a second,,,
I was surprised when the pistol came with two.

The three I have are the 13-rounders',,,
I think I'll purchase two of the 10-rounders'.

That will give me the five I like to own,,,
And give me the capability of taking it into a 10-round state.

Five magazines is not a magic number,,,
It's just that the nylon gun rugs I buy have four mag slots,,,
So one in the pistol and four in the pouches seems like the logical thing to do.

Or it's just my OCD tendencies going to town in my brain.

But you are correct,,,
Bersa magazines are not cheap,,,
Condorsflight.com lists the 10 rounder's for $43.00.

Aarond

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[maconite]

I just picked up a 45UC last week myself. I love it, so far, but have not had a chance to take it out to shoot it yet. Seems to be raining every weekend - and I needed to cast a few SWC's to load for it. I've got several hundred now and a couple of hundred loaded rounds. At the moment I'm loading 4.5 grains of Trail Boss topped with a 200 grain SWC. Manually they feed well. We'll see.

Mine came from a local pawnshop. I'd gone to get my daughter a Firestorm .380 and just happened to ask if they had a 45 UC by any chance. NO ONE else in the city, or even as close as Moss Pawn up in Jonesboro, had one at any price. The pawn shop guy says, "I just got one in a few days ago." Holy smoke! I found one! Of course, I didn't have the money to get it on top of the firestorm - and that was a birthday present, so there was no delaying that purchase. But I plopped down $50 for him to hold on to it for a week for me. Mine was out the door, with only one magazine and no key for $345 - and it's in perfect condition.

I find the grips to be a bit wide as I used to carry a Colt Officer's Model with a single stack mag, but I'm sure I can adjust easily enough to the staggered mag the Bersa has.

There's a local company DSP (Don Son Products) that makes custom grips with laser engraving that I'm going to talk to this weekend - of course rain is predicted AGAIN - and see if they can't (or won't) cut a set of grips for it for me. If they will, I'll let you all know how to contact them. They seem to be real straight up people. Don (the father) is a licensed ammunition manufacturer. I got in on his 'good side' by showing up with a 5 gallon bucket of range rifle brass that was already tumbles and inspected on my first visit... kind of a housewarming gift for them. They'd just had the 'retail' doors open for a few weeks when I came in.

I'd post a picture of it, but it's in the bed stand drawer at the moment and wife's sleeping. Maybe tomorrow.

maconite

[michael t]

http://bersachat.com Home of Bersa on the net. I sometimes give away mags for the 9mm or 45 in Karma drawings . These are factory mags . We also have for members with 10 or more posts a 10% discount with condorsflight.com .

Come visit we offer more than the couple copy cat Bersa boards as we are the largest and now the oldest .

[maconite]

I may be slow, but I'm getting pretty old too. But here's the promised pictures of my 45-UC..





maconite

[Marty8613]

Purty, I have the .40 Firestorm, but UC45 is a maybe for later. I didn't know they had one trimmed like this. I could use a 2nd .45

[aarondhgraham]

Hello maconite:

I like the looks of that UC45,,,
The nickel controls contrast very nicely.

I got back to the range this morning with my UC9,,,
Really nice day with moderate temperature.

I took 150 rounds of Tulammo with me,,,
That gave me just under an hour of shooting.

Every description of the gun has called it "chunky",,,
Or some variant of that referring to it's grip and weight.

It's alloy metal but all metal nonetheless,,,
It does have a hefty feel to it.

Because of it's double stack mag-well it has a wide grip,,,
Couple that with it's relatively small silhouette,,,
The result is a feeling of density to the gun.

It's a lot of handgun in a compact package,,,
Which gave me the inspiration for her new name.

Alotta,,, after a character in the first Austin Powers movie.

A good side benefit of that density is,,,
The recoil is very manageable.
It's lighter than my LC9.

After 150 rounds my hand was tired,,,
But I wasn't suffering any pain.

I am liking the overall size though,,,
The pistol meets one of my important criteria.

I can manipulate the mag release, slide release, and safety switch,,,
All without shifting the grip of my shooting hand.

I can also do that with my LC9,,,
But I can't with my full size CZ-75B.

I hit much better today than I did on my first outing,,,
I wasn't anywhere near action hero accuracy,,,
But I did well enough to support carrying it.

So it was a good morning shooting,,,
The new pistol I didn't need.

Aarond

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[maconite]

I really wanted to get out and do a little plinking this past weekend, so of course it had to rain. The place I shoot is 2½ miles down a red clay (dirt) road, and I'd prefer a nice hard packed dirt road to a massive slide of red clay any day - hence, no shooting for me this week. But that creates time to make a few more loads to take out with me.

Right now I'm putting a hand cast 200g SWC over 5.4g of Trailboss. They feed fine (manually) but I have no idea what the accuracy will work out to be when the lead hits the target. I hope to find out this coming weekend. Not that it matters... I didn't buy this as a 'target' pistol - I bought it as a defensive handgun. I'd prefer to load with BullsEye, but haven't been able to find any locally - and I just can't see paying HazMat fees for a single can of powder.

I've talked to the people at DSP Laser (real good folk by the way) here locally and we're planning to to get a set of grips cut to replace those plastic ones on it now. Don (the owner of DSP) is a licensed ammunition manufacturer/FFL holder and he tells me he 'will' have a can of BullsEye for me by next weekend. That'll be a good thing as I need to load a few .380ACP's for wife's weapon as well and I've never worked with ZIP or TiteGroup..

Once we get some grips made (which won't be 'real' soon, but it's coming), I'll post the pics of them and let everyone know how to contact DSP. You'll like these people. They're old school, and really straight up. Matt (the GM) is quite proficient with that laser CNC and can engrave from a JPG. I told them about a grip manufacturer that I saw somewhere (started with an 'M') that had Bersa grips - which were quite beautiful - but started at $94 and went up. His exact comment to that price was, "That's ridiculous!" So, depending on what he can accomplish, we may have found a source for affordable Bersa grips. Matt's talking about tapping the sides of the frame for screws and making me a two piece grip to fit on it.

Yea, the grip of this thing is a bit 'chunky' compared to the Colt Officer's Model I used to carry, and that's going to take some getting used too. And you're correct, it's because of the staggered mag. But considering the colt mag held 6 and this one holds 7, I'll just learn to live with the bigger handle. At least it's not as bad as the 59 Smith a friend had that felt like i was holding a coconut! I 'had' the Colt, (was stupid enough to let it get away from me) and can't afford the price tags I'm finding on them now. "HAD" being the operative word in that last sentence. I still kick myself every day for having let that one get away from me.

I don't want a full size 1911 - they don't conceal real well - and even they're carrying $1100+ price tags today. It was just a few years ago that CNN listed the city that I live in as the 5th most dangerous city in America. A weapon is worthless if it's to heavy to carry all of the time. A wise man once told me "When you need a handgun, odds are you'll need it real bad and you'll need it right then." So a full size 1911 just doesn't fit the bill for me.

But so far I like my Bresa and I'll bet I'm gonna like it a whole bunch more after a few hours on the range.

maconite

[maconite]

I took my.45 UC to a friend's house out in Twiggs county with 150 rounds of home brewed SWC's. I had a few Failure To FIREs, but I blame that possibly on the head spacing on my reloads. They primer was dented, but the round failed to ignite. {Boooo - Hissss!} 'Most' of those went off when I simply pulled the trigger again in DA mode. 2 of them didn't. I'll get the micrometer on those two today.

What I want to know is where is that 'massive recoil' I've heard so much about went. The .45UC had less recoil that the Officer's Model Colt I carried for years, and the OMC had a set of Pachmayrs! I was all braced up expecting this pocket cannon to rip my shoulders out of their sockets - based on Internet research prior to purchase - and all I got was a little muzzle flip. I guess that goes to show just how much of what you hear on the Internet reviews you should believe. After a couple of mags I was double tapping one in the black and one in the 6 ring (12 o'clock) at about 25 feet. That - in my book - equates to one center mass and one in the face - meaning a real bad day for the criminal.

I now fully understand why Bersa owners love their weapon. I wouldn't sell mine today for twice the price I bought it for.

There is ONE thing that I think could stand a little improvement. The trigger returns to the DA position when the weapon is ready to fire in SA mode. I had to stop and actually look at it a few times when I first started shooting because it 'felt' like maybe there had been a malfunction - simply based on how far forward the trigger was. I 'did' get over it, but I would like to see the trigger lock more to the rear in single action mode.

BTW... (off subject)... TrailBoss is a dirty powder. When I was picking up my brass to bring home and reload again I felt like I had sand in my hands, even though I was shooting over a tarp to catch my brass - and the tarp had no sand on it. I will not be reloading anything with TrailBoss again. Never again... no way, no how, no why. TrailBoss just hit my 'trash' list.


maconite

[aarondhgraham]

I now fully understand why Bersa owners love their weapon.

Welcome to the club.

I agree with maconite about the recoil,,,
Even though I'm shooting the 9mm version.

I fully expected a wrist-wrenching kick,,,
It's no worse at all than my CZ-75B.

Last Sunday I tool all of my 9's to the range,,,
A CZ-75B, a Bersa Thunder 9 UC Pro, and a Ruger LC9.

The recoil of the Bersa was no worse than the CZ,,,
I honestly didn't feel a discernible difference,,,
It's the palm filling thickness of the grip.

The LC9 however,,,
That little gun is snappy.

A Hogue Grip Sleeve cured that snap for my LCP,,,
Perhaps one would do the same for the LC9.

Aarond

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