[caymin last]

I took my new Bersa Thunder 380 to our local indoor range yesterday, for the first time. Most of my past firearm experience is related to revolvers and rifles, and this little semi auto exceeded my expectations. Not a single problem, as smooth as can be. I took the time to clean and lube the firearm and both mags, to remove all the factory grease and dust ect. before heading to the range which may have helped. Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance and the way it feels in my hand, I think I will enjoy this little gem for years to come.

 

[Gretschguy]

Welcome aboard from Tampa Bay.
I got to the range today, also. My BT-380 was 100% with 65 rounds going through it without so much as a bobble.

 

[Tony1990]

Welcome to Bersa Pistol Forum, glad to have you on board.
Yes the BT380 is one fine shooting weapon.

 

[jackson]

Glad you got a peach on the .380. Mine was one of the lemons. Weird how some of the little guns are stinko, and others are perfect, right out of the box.

 

[Gretschguy]

@Jackson, Hang in there, bud. Once you wring out any gremlins, you'll be a happy camper. If you bought it new, it'll be covered by the waranty. I don't know what problems that yours has. Just ensure that it is thouroghly cleaned. I used C.L.P. on mine (bought used), including a squirt into the firing pin hole. Blow it out with compressed air afterwards. Look for little metal shards that may have gotten into it from the machining process. (Common for many semi-automatics.) Check that it's clean and that the magazines don't have any sharp edges at the feed ramp. The packing gunk can harden and may be under or on the extractor, too. (I have scraped other guns with a guitar pick soes to not scratch or gouge anything.) After cleaning the magazine ensure to replace the spring correctly. Also, the recoil spring slips over the barrel with the smaller side towards the chamber.
From what I have heard, most problems with new guns are cleaning related. On another forum, a new owner mentioned that the barrel didn't appear to line up with the feed ramp. Check that too. Definately a Waranty repair. Do NOT give it a "fluff and buff". The ramp is anodized and it would be very easy to ruin the coating with a Dremmel tool or emory cloth.
Keep us posted and updated.
Thanks.
P.S. Did I mention cleaning?

 

[jackson]

Thnx much for the replies. I sent an email with pics of the ammo, showing the strike marks on the ball end of ammo, to the closest Bersa warranty repair guy. It has a FTF issue. 1 or 2 rounds per mag are stripping off the mag and going places other than in the pipe.
The warranty guy in Lott Tx was kind enough to call me 1st. Spoke with him about 20 min on the subject. He has convinced me to run several more boxes thru it before sending it in. He thinks I may be limp wristing it, and it needs those 200-300 rounds fired.
He explained in detail the direct blowback vs the delayed blowback of the larger pistols I have, and said it is a much , much fussier gun when it comes to grip technique. And can be fussy with ammo until broken in. So I definitely concede that point, even though it does not state so in my manual, I did see it in the Bersa FAQ.

I still don't like the fact that it such a fussy gun, and dont understand why some say it runs like a dream right out of the box? Mine sure doesn't.

I'm going to give it a 2nd thorough clean and lube, including mags, run at least 250 rnds thru it, and check my grip. He said to lock wrists and elbows. I really really like the feel of the PPK style, so its worth some effort to get it running right. If that doesn't work, I'll then send it in for warranty work.

After that, I'll keep it if it runs good, if not I'll trade it in for a real PPK/S. The gunsmith insists it is a good gun, once tamed. So thnx again for the advice, lets go shooting !

 

[caymin last]

Sorry for not responding sooner. Thanks for the welcome to the board.
It took a few months of research, before I decided on the Bersa 380, there are so many choices, and just as many positive and negative experiences/stories regarding handguns.
It 's frustrating to hear of folks having issues with a brand new gun, I hope you have, or will be able to, sort out the problems.

 

[jackson]

Hi Caymin. Glad to be here. I too, did a good deal of review hunting and such b4 deciding to get the Bersa. 90+ % were way positive. So, I did it, and now I'm kinda pissed, or disappointed anyway. I am an experienced shooter, so I am doubting the gunsmiths suggestion that part of the problem is I'm limp wristing, (what guy wants to accept anything about him is limp !) but he's been working on guns for 50 years, and is a Bersa authorized repair center, so I have to assume he knows of which he speaks.
I'll follow all advice and hopefully get it to be a good runner, though my intent to use it as a carry is probably shot, (pun intended). Confidence, once lost, is a hard thing to get back. But it'll be a fun little range gun, if I'm successful. I can handle a failure here and there for a plinker.

Cheers

 

[Tony1990]

Hi Caymin. Glad to be here. I too, did a good deal of review hunting and such b4 deciding to get the Bersa. 90+ % were way positive. So, I did it, and now I'm kinda pissed, or disappointed anyway. I am an experienced shooter, so I am doubting the gunsmiths suggestion that part of the problem is I'm limp wristing, (what guy wants to accept anything about him is limp !) but he's been working on guns for 50 years, and is a Bersa authorized repair center, so I have to assume he knows of which he speaks.
I'll follow all advice and hopefully get it to be a good runner, though my intent to use it as a carry is probably shot, (pun intended). Confidence, once lost, is a hard thing to get back. But it'll be a fun little range gun, if I'm successful. I can handle a failure here and there for a plinker.

Cheers

Hi Jackson, limp wristing is just a dumb name someone attached to not using the proper technique while firing a gun. And yes men don't like the word limp placed on them. Check out this video which shows what they are referring to when they say limp wrist may be causing your problem.

Limp Wrist Test - YouTube

 

[Gretschguy]

Yikes! Some of those muzzles came awfully close to pointing at his face.
Limp wristing is when the hand-hold is still loose enough that the slide doesn't get all of the momentum from the recoil because the entire gun moves too much to the rear. Hell, I've limp wristed a .22 because I didn't hold it firm against my palm. Smaller semi-automatics seem to be more prone to this than full-sized guns.

 

[jackson]

well what I did was lent the gun to a friend at work, has his own "range" out in the back 40. He's a machinist/tool maker by trade, and the most experienced shooter I know. Has a vault of guns to drool for.
Anyway, he ran several brands of ammo thru it, including some 25 year old cheap stuff he had in the shed....60-70 rounds total. Said he had only one feed issue, and that was with the Monarch ammo I had been using. So, its a combination of me and or the ammo.
It now has 125 + rounds thru it, so I will take it back out this weekend run some non Monarch thru it, see how it goes. Hopefully it will smooth out some more, and I guarantee I wont be limp wristing it !

 

[caymin last]

Sounds encouraging Jackson. Might have been the ammo.....

 

[jackson]

and armed with that encouraging report, I went back to the range with 4 different types ammo today. Shot all 4, had failure to feed on all 4. Although Federal (American Eagle 95 gr) ran best with only 3 failures out of the whole box. So the good news is my failure to feed rate is better at about 250 rounds fired now. Was 1 out of 6-7 rounds, now its 1 out of every 3 mags or so. The failures were most often on the last round or next to last, but not always.

Anyway, my experiment with the Bersa .380 is over. Don't want to invest any more time or money on it. Going to stick with my reliable Glocks and Rugers.

Will be sending it in for warranty eval. Assuming it will come back with a clean bill of health, whether work or replacement is performed, or not. I'll be selling it and several 100 rounds ammo.
So, look for a really good deal in the classified here soon ! I'll price it right, and of course will include the gunsmith report.

PM me if interested.

 

[jackson]

follow up report: I took the gun back to Gander Mtn. where I bought it. Explained the deal to them. They said let us take a look at it, and if we cant fix it, will send to the warranty center in Colorado. 2 days later they called said it was ready.They explained that they had removed couple small burrs and polished the feed ramp. Got a Gander Mtn. gunsmith invoice for the work, detailed as such. No charge, of course.
Grabbed a box of Remington on the way out and went to the range. Shot the entire box of Remington without a single hiccup. Loaded some Monarch which it had refused to cycle, even after 250 rnds, and it ran perfectly. 9-10 magazines, not a single misfeed.
I've read posts advising never to polish the feed ramp, but it worked on mine. I still think I'll sell it, but wanted to share that fix.

 

[Tony1990]

follow up report: I took the gun back to Gander Mtn. where I bought it. Explained the deal to them. They said let us take a look at it, and if we cant fix it, will send to the warranty center in Colorado. 2 days later they called said it was ready.They explained that they had removed couple small burrs and polished the feed ramp. Got a Gander Mtn. gunsmith invoice for the work, detailed as such. No charge, of course.
Grabbed a box of Remington on the way out and went to the range. Shot the entire box of Remington without a single hiccup. Loaded some Monarch which it had refused to cycle, even after 250 rnds, and it ran perfectly. 9-10 magazines, not a single misfeed.
I've read posts advising never to polish the feed ramp, but it worked on mine. I still think I'll sell it, but wanted to share that fix.

Glad they got it fixed and at no charge. I did not expect your problem to be caused by burrs but they did fix it so if you do sell it someone will get a good well tested Bersa Thunder.

By the way did they tell you what they used to polish the feed ramp??

 

[jackson]

Mr. Tony..No, they didn't say what they used on it. Would be good to know though. Gunsmith report just says, "deburr and polish feed ramp" as services performed. I do know it runs like greased lightin now. So happy, cause I was ready to give up on it.
And you're right, I could not sell a problem gun to anyone without full disclosure. I can confidently say its a solid shooter now, with 300+ rounds thru. I am going to test it one step further before doing anything else. See if it will run the dreaded blunt nosed Winchester ! If it does, hell I might just keep it.

 

[jackson]

follow up to follow up: Went back to the range 2 days ago brimming with confidence in my now good shooter Thunder. Didn't have any more of the Remington that shot so well the last time. Had Federal, Winchester, PPU, and HPR. Guess what? One 9 round mag of Federal fed thru like butter, then the **it hit the fan just like before. One failure per mag the rest of the session. Dammit.
Took it back to Ganger Mtn. to send in for warranty work.

They said, "no problem, but it will cost you $50 to send it to Colorado. You should have bought our protection plan, and we would have covered the cost." That is the $35 upsell they give you at checkout time. I had declined it as I do all upsell tactics.

So now I'm just trying to get rid of it. Move on, failed experiment. I now have the whole Limited Kit for sale on Armslist (dallas ) for $250. Not one single bite. Word must be getting around about these pistols. Man, talk about wanting a do-over ! LGS offered $175 trade in, and I just might have to do it. it'll be a big $$ hit, but at least I'll be rid of it.

Doing a fair amount of research on this problem, it seems lots of the the newer Bersa .380's have this chronic issue. Some just magically come out of it at some point, and some don't. Read many accounts of people sending the gun in 2 or 3 times with the same issue, getting it back with the same problem, before finally getting Eagle to send them a new gun.

OK, I'm done venting my frustrations, and if any member here wants to deal with it, PM me, and I will let it go cheap-cheap !. I have all the paperwork, orig purch receipt. etc. The warranty is good for a year, if not orig buyer, I think.

 

[hobbles]

When I first got my 9UC i had a few FTF issues and was told NEVER polish the feed ramp because it would take off the protected coating. I never understood that thinking. The rounds sliding through the ramp is going to wear off the coating. It's a metal on metal thing. I polished mine and the problem went away. The ramp on mine was catching the lip of the brass or the head of the lead. I was told to just shoot it till it fixed itself. I thought that was not a smart answer. Why waste the rounds and money, just fix it. If you send it into a repair shop, that's the first thing they do.

 

[lkugs]

I am a new member after recently purchasing a Bersa Thunder 380 cc. My first range visit was also a lemon. The feel of the gun is great but I had an awful time with misfeeds. I ran about 100 Mag Tech rounds through the gun and cannot fire a complete magazine without a jam. I'm using the magazine that came new with the gun - frustrated.

Glad you got a peach on the .380. Mine was one of the lemons. Weird how some of the little guns are stinko, and others are perfect, right out of the box.

 

[FearNot]

I am a new member after recently purchasing a Bersa Thunder 380 cc. My first range visit was also a lemon. The feel of the gun is great but I had an awful time with misfeeds. I ran about 100 Mag Tech rounds through the gun and cannot fire a complete magazine without a jam. I'm using the magazine that came new with the gun - frustrated.

Be sure to give your gun a good cleaning and lube job before going to the range. In fact you should clean and lube it after each range visit for the first 500 rounds or so. Also, give your gun about 500 rounds to break in. Most FTF and FTEs happen while the gun is still relatively new. A good breakin period should make it a better firing gun.