Bersa 383 DA won't fire DA

[grumpa72]

I found a very nice, almost new, Bersa 383 DA, that won't fire in double action. The hammer stops just the slightest bit short of the firing pin, perhaps 1/16" or less. If you manually cock the hammer or rack the slide it will fire SA just as it is designed too. After pulling the trigger DA and having the firing pin stop short, you can play with the disconnector and the hammer will come down the remaining distance. I am puzzled by this and right now this is a paperweight.

Any ideas? Has anyone else seen this? Do we have any Bersa experts or amateur gunsmiths out there?

This pistol is an all-steel version without the small key and I find that combination very attractive. In addition, the PPK wannabe look is very nice.

Thank you in advance.

Grumpa

[DBAR]

Are you dry firing the gun, or is this at the range?

If your dry firing, then pull the trigger DA mode, and keep your trigger depressed after the hammer drops. With you other hand, and the trigger depressed, push on the hammer. Does the hammer make contact with the firing pin block?

[grumpa72]

Good questions. The hammer fails to hit the pin whether dry firing or live firing at the range. After a very thorough cleaning, I took it to the range and that is where I first found out the failure to fire DA issue.

I don't have the pistol right now so I cannot test it as you suggest. I will say that when we were trying to see what was causing the problem, I held the trigger after dry firing and we played with the disconnector and that allowed the hammer to come down all the way.

[mactex]

I'm going to guess that the trigger bar may be loose. There is a clip that should hold it in place and if it missing you could have problems similar to what you describe.

[DBAR]

Wish I could help, but without having it my hands, can't do much.

Let us know what happens. Those have always been considered fairly good values for the money. Never heard of a problem with them either.

DBAR