Bersa, the best...

[Hoosier8]

I own many pistols and have carried Glocks, 1911s, etc..

I have to say that I really respect the Bersa product. My daily carry tends to be either a Bersa Thunder 9 High Capacity or a Bersa 380 CC if the need arises for more concealment. Both are very pleasant to shoot and carry.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think they are better than any other firearm, just that for the price, I do not believe you cannot beat the quality.

 

[gglass]

I agree that the Bersa line of handguns is at the top of quality/value list.

I do wish however that Bersa and the Bersa community would stop covering up the Thunder 380 disconnecter spring issue. Every time the issue comes up on the BersaTalk forums it gets deleted to better contain the "issue". Just try to bring up the issue with Michael T the BersaTalk site owner... You will not only get a expletive laden rant, but you will be kicked from the forums for your insolence.

 

[Hoosier8]

I agree that the Bersa line of handguns is at the top of quality/value list.

I do wish however that Bersa and the Bersa community would stop covering up the Thunder 380 disconnecter spring issue. Every time the issue comes up on the BersaTalk forums it gets deleted to better contain the "issue". Just try to bring up the issue with Michael T the BersaTalk site owner... You will not only get a expletive laden rant, but you will be kicked from the forums for your insolence.

You mean like this quote from Michael T on the website?

This brings us to the Disconnector Spring Issue. We have seen an issue with the Disconnector Spring become more of an issue of concern within the last year. We have found that the issue is extremely complex due to the number of things that can have an effect on the spring in question. Some of these issues include the following:

Spring Breakage: We saw this mostly caused by a bad batch of springs used in the manufacture of the pistols. The bad batch of springs seemed to have come from a group of spring formed in a manner that caused them to be brittle at the straight leg of the spring where it connected to the loop. These springs were bright silver in color and under magnification the weak spot could sometimes actually be seen as a fold in the spring metal caused during the shaping of the spring. The factory is aware of this and has taken measures to assure those springs are not used. However there is no way of knowing how many were used and shipped out. As they present themselves the will be repaired at the warranty center level. THERE IS NO WAY OF KNOWING THE SPECIFIC SERIAL NUMBERS THAT THESE SPRIG MAY HAVE BEEN USED IN MAKING ANY RECALL IMPOSSIBLE.

Spring breakage has also been detected in other forms by such things as being improperly adjusted by none authorized personnel, or those that do not understand the propper method of adjusting the spring.

Spring Breakage has also been observed as occuring from consumers using items in a probing method while cleaning the frame and magazine well area of the pistol. The spring is sometime struck and dislodged from it's correct placement from within the magazine well. THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT CAN ONLY BE CORRECTED THROUGH EDUCATION OF THE CONSUMER.

Some of the Disconnector Springs have become dislodged from the disconnector and do not deliver sufficient upward force to engauge the disconnector allowing the firing mechanism to operate correctly. This can be caused by several methods.

The issue with over zelous cleaning in the magazine area has already been discussed in the preceding paragraphs.

Some of the springs develop a "torque" with use in the loop area of the spring and can actually pop out of place during usage. Most of these can be repaired with proper adjustment, however the number of rounds fired and the amount of use can cause this to re-occure. There is no way of determining which spring will redevelop this problem. ON THIS TOPIC I REFER TO THE PRACTICE OF NOT RELYING ON ANY FIREARM FOR DEFENSIVE PURPOSE UNTIL IT HAS HAD A MINIMUM OF 1000 ROUNDS FIRED THROUGH IT TO ASSURE THAT ANY ISSUES THAT MAY DEVELOP HAVE HAD SUFFICIENT TIME TO APPEAR AND BE REPAIRED. THIS IS STANDARD PRACTICE IN MANY LE AGENCIES.

Some Pistols have been found to have an issue with the Disconnector Spring "twisting" in the frame and needing to be restaked into place in the frame. THIS SHOLD NOT BE DONE WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING FOR RUNNING THE CHANCE OF PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE FRAME.

Some of these issues have just been figured out within the last few weeks of 2008. The factory has made adjustments, and the importers are doing everything they can to supply the warranty centers with new parts and information to deal with these issues. We track our numbers and have found that fewer than 1% of the pistols repaired for Disconnector Spring problem is returned for the same problem. Some of the springs that were breaking due to a manufacturing issue were subsequently replaced with the same type of spring. This was before the cause had been discovered.

Lastly on the disconnector spring issue I must address the issue of consumers wanting to "tinker" with their pistol, or see if they can figure out what was repaired by the warranty center. To this I put forth the following:

IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED WARRANTY REPAIR TECHNICIAN THEN DO NOT DISASSEMBLE YOUR PISTOL BEYOND FIELD STRIPPING FOR CLEANING!!!

 

[Hoosier8]

Bersa Thunder Disconnector Spring Fix.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FawMaeSQBgA]YouTube - Broken Bersa Thunder 380[/ame]

 

[cosermann]

Finally, a practical reason for gansta technique.

 

[dblagent]

Have you seen the new upcoming Bersa product? They are coming out with singles stack 9mm and .40s! I can't wait to see more info on these as it is pretty scarce now. Still, seeing street prices of about $300 to $350 for these guys. Polymer frame, striker fired. Seems to be heading right at Kahr, PPS territory. For that price if they are reliable I'll be taking a serious look.

Here are a couple of links:

BersaPistols.com: Bersa Thunder 9mm

BERSA to Offer Single Stack 9mm and .40 This Summer? - Glock Talk


EDIT - hahaha, looking for more info I found this odd thread.... https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/handguns/35702-upcoming_bersa_9mm_cc.html

That's funny right there, missed that post completely the first time around!

 

[dice dealer]

gotta love the Gangsta style

 

[theweakerbrother]

So all Bersas come with a magazine lock now? Is that what the spring issue is referring to?

 

[TopDog]

I just bought my daughter her first handgun. Bersa 380 two tone with laser grips. I have always like Bersa Thunder, first one I have ever bought though.

So I take it the problem with the Disconnector Spring isn't widespread?

 

[jd3772000]

First trip to the range me and my lady made her .380 bersa functioned flawlessly and very acurate out the box. Last week when she was out of town i decided to take all 3 of our firearms to the range. First mag went through fine. Gave it to my friend to shoot and nothing...no click, noise or anything. Got one of the guys to look at it where we shoot at and sure enough spring had came off. Hope this isnt a reoccurance for her weapon.

 

[sunspot]

I am also a Bersa owner, and gained a lot of info at "Bersa Talk", but I don't go there much anymore, the forum is run just like obama would like to run this country, say only good things about bersa or nothing at all, only buy your acessories from "my approved" oem suppliers, ete, etc, etc Micheal T must be on the Bersa payroll.

Oh well , its is a nice reliable handgun for the money !!

 

[clfergus]

I was pretty excited when i purchased a Bersa thunder 380 a few months back at Bradis. Got the gun brand new, took it to the range and got about 20 rounds down range and click. Disconnector spring issue. Reset it, few more rounds and click.

Found the bersa talk forum and saw it seemed to be a common item. Sent the gun to have factory servicing at Colorado Gun Works. Got the gun back and 15 rounds later...click.

I was so mad. At that point I lost all confidence in that gun. Luckily Bradis agreed and gave me a full credit toward something else.

Might be a good gun for some but I am scared off