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Old January 30, 2013, 03:41 PM   #26
Skadoosh
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Since I will likely be dog piled for stating that the two Bersa thunders that I had suffered breakages of the trigger and the hammer ... and that getting them repaired was a nightmare, I wont bother offering my opinion that Bersa make junk pistols.
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Old January 30, 2013, 03:49 PM   #27
Grant D
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For that price he could get a Ruger LC9, or a LCP.
Picked up both of mine for that price, and not a problem out of either one of them.
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Old January 30, 2013, 04:21 PM   #28
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I wont bother offering my opinion that Bersa make junk pistols.
Nah not junk, you got a couple of bad guns, other manufactures occasionally do as well. How's that for dogpiling.
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Old January 30, 2013, 04:29 PM   #29
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Nah not junk, you got a couple of bad guns, other manufactures occasionally do as well. How's that for dogpiling.
Except that with the exception of the two Bersa pistols that I owned, I have never had two pistols from any other company both go bad on me. Ever.

Anecdotal? Obviously.

Will Bersa ever convince me that they make a quality weapon? Not likely.
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Old January 30, 2013, 04:55 PM   #30
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My wife's Bersa was like an Italian racing car. Sweet when it worked, but often glitchy. Bersa .380: trigger assembly broke and then broke again. It was always finicky and had a tendency to to FTE properly. After the trigger breaks it became so bad that it would jam about one in 5 shots.
A friend's had similar issues.

But man when it worked it fit the hand like a glove, had glorious large sights, and was dead accurate at the 7 and 15 yard line. You picked it up and just wanted to completely empty the magazine in about two seconds of guilt free bang bang time.
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Old January 30, 2013, 04:57 PM   #31
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Will Bersa ever convince me that they make a quality weapon? Not likely.
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Iam sure you won't be missed among the 1000's of happy owners.

Did you send them to a warrenty center or try to have a local fix them.
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Old January 30, 2013, 04:59 PM   #32
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My wife and I both love the .380 Bersa Thunder that we have....... When I bought it she liked it so much she claimed it as hers and put pink grips on it. I am pretty sure she did that just to ensure its hers lol. Seriously though I would highly recommend a Bersa to anyone looking for a low cost high quality gun.
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Old January 30, 2013, 05:03 PM   #33
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When I bought it she liked it so much she claimed it as hers and put pink grips on it.
Hey now, real men can shoot pink grip'd guns
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Old January 30, 2013, 09:48 PM   #34
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I picked up a used Bersa 380 Thunder CC model a couple of years ago. It shot very well, wasn't finicky and I never had a lick of trouble with it other than the previous owner had done some trigger work on it and when it went in to SA, the trigger pull was way to light for my liking - I originally got it as a CCW. I ended up trading it off because of the trigger, but I would have no problems in buying a new one. Yes, 380 is more expensive than 9mm which is a little bit of a drawback but it shouldn't break anybody to use a few rounds to keep in practice. If I was going to be shooting 100s of rounds, then I'd opt for a 9mm.
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Old January 31, 2013, 08:06 AM   #35
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My BT3980 and BT22 have been two very good gun purchases for me. The BT380 was the gun I used for my CHL and has been my carry gun since because of it's accuracy and reliability, So, yes I do trust my life with it. It's also fun to shoot at the range too.

My BT22 has been a fun gun to shoot and is a practice gun for the BT380. I'm impressed as to how easy it is to shoot and how accurate this little, 3" barreled 22 caliber gun is.
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Old January 31, 2013, 08:09 AM   #36
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michael t wrote:
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Did you send them to a warrenty center or try to have a local fix them.
Bersa sent me to a (not so) local authorized gunsmith. He had at least three other Bersa's in the back on his workbench awaiting repairs at the time I went to see him.

After some discussion, the gunsmith let slip that he was ready to tell Bersa to take a hike...that he was no longer going to service any of their firearms. He went on to say their pistols were constantly in his shop under warranty for breakage repairs or other issues. At any one time, he never had less than two in his shop for one thing or another. Broken Bersa were eating into his real money making work; hand tuning and customizing bolt rifles, 1911's, S&W and Colt revolvers.
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Old January 31, 2013, 04:08 PM   #37
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No dogpiling for broken guns but 2 bites for the snarky way you said it.

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Above is based on the opinion of a 20 year Small Arms Marksmanship and Training Unit USAF instructor with more than 30 years in competitive shooting sports. Your mileage may vary.
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Old January 31, 2013, 05:21 PM   #38
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Try the search button and you will see that there are more than a couple of Bersa fans here on TFL who put my snark to shame. Any dissenting opinions are usually greeted with snark of epic proportions.
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Old January 31, 2013, 06:10 PM   #39
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Over the course of the last 10 years I've owned the following models of guns made by Bersa.

Bersa Thunder 22, Firestorm 22, Thunder 380, Thunder 9 and Thunder 45.

I've owned 2 Thunder 380s and two Thunder 45s. I haven't kept any of them except the Thunder 22 but that's more because I sold them only to fund some long gun purchases and I don't carry them - I stick to my 1911s for that and its really for no reason other than personal taste.

I haven't found ANY issues with the Bersas I've owned. In fact I've regretted having sold every Bersa I've sold thus far and told myself I'd get another. Most likely I will get another - maybe in the Thunder 45 - and soon too.

For a budget handgun that I'd trust to carry I'd suggest a Bersa to ANY friend and family. As was said before, they're not low quality guns just low cost.
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Old January 31, 2013, 06:30 PM   #40
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I'll take them over Taurus any day.
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Old January 31, 2013, 06:55 PM   #41
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I have a new Bersa Thunder 380 duo. I was having various problems after 300 break in rounds no matter what ammo I used (except for the steep ramped Hornady's). I ordered a new magazine and a new recoil spring and that really helped a lot. The original mag has issues on the last two rounds getting jams. The new mag mostly never has a problem. If it does, it is only on the last round. I am going to try swapping mag springs to see if the problem follows. May have to order a new mag spring. I want to try this out before I send it in. If they grind some of the nickel finish down to resolve the problem. I will have to be more careful with the Hoppes #9 since it can affect the plating if it gets into a nick from what I have read. Evidently it has issues with the copper that the nickel is bonded. I do have confidence with it when using the Hornady's. I also feel ok with the Buffalo Bore +p is use. I alternate the BB +p hcn and jhp's. The BB's have a steep enough ramp that they don't have issues (to date). My primary def carry ammo for the 380 is the BB. But I don't do target practice with BB unless it is time to cycle them out due to cost of the ammo. In all fairness, my brother has the same gun that is flawless. Mine will eventually be ok I hope. Just have to be patient and work it until it is good to be counted as 100%.
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Old January 31, 2013, 09:27 PM   #42
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I owned a Bersa Thunder 380 for awhile. It was OK but there were several things I ended up not liking.

I found the safety difficult to use and eventually I came to realize I don’t like slide mounted safeties. That’s not the fault of the gun just personal preference.

I never got used to the trigger. The DA and SA triggers were so different I felt like I had to reposition my hand when going from one to another. The SA trigger had an absurd amount of take-up.

The gun wouldn’t throw an unfired round clear. I had to tilt the gun over and dump the round out before releasing the slide. If I didn’t it would double feed another round from the mag and jam up good. This meant in a SD scenario a FTF could be problematic. I never actually had a FTF with that gun but I did have several people rack the slide with an unfired round in the chamber; which is how I discovered that little quirk.

Mine was reasonably accurate and I never had any other failures or breakages. From a cost standpoint it was a pretty good buy. Ultimately I never really warmed up to it and it was traded for something else.

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Old January 31, 2013, 09:32 PM   #43
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Thanks for the posts guys. My buddy is looking at Bersa but of course they, like every thing else, are pretty hard to find right now.
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Old February 1, 2013, 10:27 AM   #44
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I had a Bersa .380 and that thing was a TANK! Never had any issues with it. It was my ankle carry firearm.
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Old February 1, 2013, 10:35 AM   #45
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I just bought a bersa thunder 45 uc pro. I was nervous buying it since I was not sure on the price and the quality but after some research and talking to 2 different gunsmiths I bought the bersa.

I see some people here saying a gunsmith was going to drop bersa because of warranty issues but that is funny because he would be losing business. My local gunsmiths have nothing but great words to say about bersa and they are both kimber/glock lovers. As I look around their workshops I see S&W, Rugers & yes kimbers being worked on for defects so I guess they make a crappy gun too?

Every manufacture has its defects here and there. I trust my gunsmiths opinion and went with the bersa. Love the feel of the gun in my hand and can not wait to shoot it.
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Old February 1, 2013, 12:20 PM   #46
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IronRuger wrote:
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I see some people here saying a gunsmith was going to drop bersa because of warranty issues but that is funny because he would be losing business
Except that he would not have lost any business. He had more than enough business without the Bersa work. In fact, the bersa work was causing him to spend time on warranty repairs when he could have been doing custom work for much more money. So there goes that argument...
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Old February 1, 2013, 12:51 PM   #47
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SKADOOSH: No argument from me, I just use my personal opinion on buying anything not that of others. If it feels like crap it most likely is. Besides custom work is always more money hence the word custom.
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Old February 1, 2013, 12:58 PM   #48
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Two sides of this. First, my friend has a Bersa, and it's been very reliable for him. i've shot it alot and it seems pretty darn accurate for a smallish .380.

Other side of this is, I'd just as soon buy a police buy back Glock 19 for about $350 to $375 and have a much better rig with double the capacity and chambered in a cheaper more powerful round.
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Old February 1, 2013, 03:30 PM   #49
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Bersa fan here. They are inexpensive because the Argentinean currency is very weak compared to the dollar.

I have a 22 and the new polymer BP9cc; which is a striker fired, glock like weapon. Both are excellent and dependable.

The 380 is the national weapon of the police and military in Argentina. It's a great little pistol and all Bersas have a lifetime warantee for the originial owner.

It's a hard combination to beat.
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Old February 2, 2013, 02:34 PM   #50
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I carry a Bersa Thunder 9 UC Pro and I have Never had a failure of any kind with it. It's so accurate you could drive nails with it.
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