# Bersa Thunder 380 Combat Range Report



## Dubar

Took my Bersa to the range yesterday, along with my Heritage 22 Rough Rider, Heritage ran fine but the Bersa was a Jamomatic!!!

I put 100 rounds thru it in four 8rnd mags (1 Bersa, 3 MecGar). 1 of the 4 had almost zero problems but the other 3 were driving me nuts, what I'm going to call failure to chamber a round. The nose of the round looked like it was going up the feed ramp but that's as far as it got. At the end I only loaded 5 rounds in each and all 4 mags ran fine.

At this point I wasn't sure if it was the gun or the mags so when I got home the first thing I did was clean the gun and then the mags.

The mags were pretty grimy inside, I used some foam swabs on a stick to clean them thoroughly. Honestly can't recall the last time I cleaned the mags but I know I have shot the gun several times since the last cleaning.

Anyway, I won't know for sure until the next range trip, hopefully cleaning the mags will help. Good thing is these little guns are as accurate as you could possibly want, I was shooting out to 10 yards and hitting where I was aiming.

The fact that only loading 5 rounds and the mags ran fine has got me puzzled, but I'm still leaning towards not doing my part and cleaning them after every range trip.


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## mdi

Do you remember/know which magazine out of the four gave little/no trouble? Not sure about your Bersa, but I have easily disassembled several different magazines and gave them a good cleaning/inspection. Plastic bottom plate often just slips off and spring and follower drop out the bottom. One magazine for my Beretta 81 had a bunch of gunk in the bottom and a couple burrs...


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## Dubar

No, should have marked them. 1 of the MecGar was the best, next was the original Bersa mag.

I used to take a notebook with me to the range and have not been doing that in the past year. Maybe it's time to do it again!


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## SSGN_Doc

I was never big on cleaning new mags before using them, but did so after having issues with a Beretta on its first range session.

Also ensure slide rails and barrel are lined well, as well as the hammer, on the gliding surfaces. Check your extractor for any birds that could be impeding the cartridge case sliding up under the extractor hook and along the breech face during feeding. Examine the feedramp for any roughness or burrs as well.

Blowback pistols use recoil spring and hammer spring to control slide velocity for ejection and feeding.


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## berettatoter

....as said above, and also remember one thing, and that is some of these "all metal" pistols can require a little break in period. I have two Thunder 380's, and they both run excellent...now. 

One of these was pretty good out of the box, but my duo-tone was not. It still tends to be ammo sensitive, and will only run Remington 88 grain JHP's, but no other SD loads. The other one runs just about anything you stuff into it.

I have had issues with WWB .380 FP ball rounds at times too. Might be something with the feed ramp design Bersa has going on, but every once in a while, the flat point bullet profile will hang up.

Overall, I love the little Bersa pistols, and would love to add the Combat to my collection. Good luck, and try some other bullet profiles and keep us posted how it is breaking in.


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## RK3369

Just a thought. Take a look at the profile of the mag lips on the one that works the best and compare to the others. If there is a significant difference it could be contributing to not allowing the round to nose up enough when it is trying to feed. If you adjust them at all, change only a little tiny bit. Nothing radical and see if it helps. Also, have you polished the feed ramp?


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## Dubar

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I never had problems before, I really think I've fallen down on my cleaning. I have a GSG Firefly and the slide kept sticking back, found the slide was sticking when the (not sure what it's called) piece of metal that pushes the hammer back contacts the hammer. Some grease took care of that.


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## RK3369

Well, just a suggestion, grease is not really what you want to use. Use a good solvent gun cleaner then use some light oil or other light lubricant. Grease will trap lint and dirt and make a gummed up mess long term.


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## Rancid

My Bersa Thunder Plus 380 runs like a champ. Only have two mags, but that's all I need. Ran through 150 rounds in one session with no cleaning, not a single hiccup of any kind.


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## paratrooper

I had one of these, so many years ago. I really liked it and it was a natural pointer. I traded it for something else. Can't even recall.

No problems or issues that I can remember.


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## berettatoter

RK3369 said:


> Just a thought. Take a look at the profile of the mag lips on the one that works the best and compare to the others. If there is a significant difference it could be contributing to not allowing the round to nose up enough when it is trying to feed. If you adjust them at all, change only a little tiny bit. Nothing radical and see if it helps. Also, have you polished the feed ramp?


Magazines look pretty much the same, but I have not polished either of the feed ramps.


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## RK3369

The Bersa is a decent gun and I used to carry one for an EDC. My only concern about them is the design of the mag safety and how it can detach from the trigger bar and make the gun not function. I carried a 380 and did eventually have a problem with the spring that holds the trigger bar engaged detaching from its position on the bar. This basically allowed the bar to drop away from the hammer and made the gun non operative. Turns out Bersa had a batch of spring that were either not properly heat treated or some other manufacturing related issue.
at any rate, the design could be improved to make it less likely for the spring to detach, but I never really felt comfortable trusting it as an edc again. Went to a S&W Bodyguard for a pocket carry EDC. I don’t carry the Bersa any longer. Not trying to detract from them. Likely my problem was the bad spring I had which I did replace. I just didn’t have the same comfort level with the design after that.


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## berettatoter

RK3369 said:


> The Bersa is a decent gun and I used to carry one for an EDC. My only concern about them is the design of the mag safety and how it can detach from the trigger bar and make the gun not function. I carried a 380 and did eventually have a problem with the spring that holds the trigger bar engaged detaching from its position on the bar. This basically allowed the bar to drop away from the hammer and made the gun non operative. Turns out Bersa had a batch of spring that were either not properly heat treated or some other manufacturing related issue.
> at any rate, the design could be improved to make it less likely for the spring to detach, but I never really felt comfortable trusting it as an edc again. Went to a S&W Bodyguard for a pocket carry EDC. I don't carry the Bersa any longer. Not trying to detract from them. Likely my problem was the bad spring I had which I did replace. I just didn't have the same comfort level with the design after that.


Yup, this is true. There are some YouTube videos that show someone how to remedy this issue. Personally, I have never had this issue....yet.


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## Minorcan

I have a double stack Bersa Plus and never had any issues. I would lean toward a magazine problem. If it was a feed ramp or barrel issues it would be well documented by now. Try disassembling the magazines and cleaning them with Balistol or similar then a light coat of CLP.


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## Dubar

Went back to the range Thursday with the Combat 380.

Original Bersa mag works fine, no problems. Of the 3 MecGar mags, 1 tried to feed a round and eject one at the same time, but only once. The other 2 same thing occurred every other round.

When I got home I loaded all 4 mags and will leave them in the safe for a week or so to see if all that was needed was for the springs to "season". I'll also take them apart and clean again, then take a look at the feed lips.


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## berettatoter

Dubar said:


> Went back to the range Thursday with the Combat 380.
> 
> Original Bersa mag works fine, no problems. Of the 3 MecGar mags, 1 tried to feed a round and eject one at the same time, but only once. The other 2 same thing occurred every other round.
> 
> When I got home I loaded all 4 mags and will leave them in the safe for a week or so to see if all that was needed was for the springs to "season". I'll also take them apart and clean again, then take a look at the feed lips.


Still having this problem?


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## Dubar

Don't know, the indoor pistol range has been closed since August (won't open till mid October I hopefully) and I haven't shot any pistols yet at the range club I belong to. Having too much fun shooting my rifles, especially the WWII bolt actions.

So far I've only shot the Italian Carcano M41 and the Yugo M48 Mauser, what a blast!!! Next is the Romanian M44 Mosin and the Japanese Type 38 Arisaka (need bullitz). I was told the Mauser would kick but I put a LimbSaver recoil pad on it and it didn't have any more felt recoil than my CZ527 which came with a rubber recoil pad. The Mosin may be a different story 

But I did recently get a Romanian Tokarev TT-33C (7.62x25) and want to shoot that as soon as the ammo arrives.


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## Tangof

Dubar said:


> Don't know, the indoor pistol range has been closed since August (won't open till mid October I hopefully) and I haven't shot any pistols yet at the range club I belong to. Having too much fun shooting my rifles, especially the WWII bolt actions.
> 
> So far I've only shot the Italian Carcano M41 and the Yugo M48 Mauser, what a blast!!! Next is the Romanian M44 Mosin and the Japanese Type 38 Arisaka (need bullitz). I was told the Mauser would kick but I put a LimbSaver recoil pad on it and it didn't have any more felt recoil than my CZ527 which came with a rubber recoil pad. The Mosin may be a different story
> 
> But I did recently get a Romanian Tokarev TT-33C (7.62x25) and want to shoot that as soon as the ammo arrives.
> 
> View attachment 19029


Fun guns and built to last. Fairly inexpensive too.


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## berettatoter

Dubar said:


> Don't know, the indoor pistol range has been closed since August (won't open till mid October I hopefully) and I haven't shot any pistols yet at the range club I belong to. Having too much fun shooting my rifles, especially the WWII bolt actions.
> 
> So far I've only shot the Italian Carcano M41 and the Yugo M48 Mauser, what a blast!!! Next is the Romanian M44 Mosin and the Japanese Type 38 Arisaka (need bullitz). I was told the Mauser would kick but I put a LimbSaver recoil pad on it and it didn't have any more felt recoil than my CZ527 which came with a rubber recoil pad. The Mosin may be a different story
> 
> But I did recently get a Romanian Tokarev TT-33C (7.62x25) and want to shoot that as soon as the ammo arrives.
> 
> View attachment 19029


You might find some of that 6.5 x 50 Arisaka ammo at Precision Cartridge, in Hobart Indiana...they have a website. I have bought 7.7 x 58 Arisaka from them before. I have also found it on Fin, Feather, Fur's website as well.


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