[RevolverFan]

Greetings all. I am wondering if any forum members have experience with Bersa pistols? I know that several of you own Bersa .22s, but I would like to hear primarily about the larger firearms (9mm+).

As some of you know, I will soon be purchasing a .40 S&W-chambered pistol. I had basically narrowed the field down to three, but then I remembered Bersa and their Thunder 40 Pro pistol. It seems like a pretty nice firearm for the money. THEN I jumped on the Bersa website, and found that they are producing a new pistol called the BP40CC (I have included a pic of the similar BP9CC). It looks pretty neat and the price is good. I think that both Bersa firearms have made it onto my possibles list. Let me know what y'all think....

 

[wiredgeorge]

I have owned a Firestorm 22LR (made by Bersa), a Bersa .45 Ultra Compact, a Bersa Thunder 380 Deluxe and a Bersa Thunder Plus. Bersa makes a fine product, has good customer support and is a great value for the money. I can't speak to the BP9CC as it breaks with prior Bersa products in the way it is made (all polymer) and has no safety plus uses one of the double strike triggers like a Glock. My wife was interested but preferred the PT111. If you go with a larger than 9mm pistol, I would consider the Bersa .45 UC. The .40 will actually have more perceived recoil and the .45 is a great shooter. They have a 9mm in the same UC series and it offers more rounds and less expensive ammo.

 

[Jake3501]

Bersas, as far as I know have always been a steel frame gun unless in the last two years they have introduced a poly frame like the other diehards are beginning to do.. Their Thunder .380's are one of the most beloved handguns many shooters own. I rarely see a used one in a gun shop. I was active on a Bersa forum until 4 years ago, I only had a Thunder 22-6, and still have it and I love the gun for carrying,plinking and kicking around in a pasture.

There were never any serious complaints about the Bersa's. Lot's of operator error, basic stuf, but no parts failures hardly at all.

There are warranty stations at all the Gander Mountain stores, and four other warranty stations. Any warranty work mentioned had a quick turnaround, and the Gunsmith at Colorado Gun Works monitored the complaint section. Royce would analyze the owners description of the problem and offer suggested easy fixes that prevented sending the gun in. He was careful not to advise owners on complex issues.

They have a lifetime warranty for the original owner. Parts are easy to purchase through Eagle Imports and they will sell firing pins and I think the trigger assembly parts. Most parts are just point and click ordering. I recently had to get a new floor retaining plate for a magazine. A dollar part, $6.00 shipping so I bought another $18 worth of parts while I was at it, just for spare parts. I have a spare firing pin, grip screw, recoil spring, ejector, ejector spring and firing pin spring.

I would personally have no problem buying any Bersa. But the Bersa's have gone from a bottom end priced firearm to being more of an intermediate priced firearm. There is no doubt in my mind they are worth it. But when I get up to $450 on a firearm anymore, I'm reserving that money for Vintage handguns, mostly Colt or Smith & Wesson.

Bersas are well built, good, solid functioning hand-guns. For some imports, it's just hard to get past being a South American firearm. In the 1920-30's a lot of South American, Spanish and even some Italian were just very cheap knock off's of Colts and S & W's. A lot of those were just plumb dangerous, although none were Bersa, Taurus or Rossi. I really wish that Taurus had the same type of warranty and parts support as Bersa. Bersa really has the best I've seen.

 

[Qwiks draw]

The Bersa Thunder 9 is built off of the Walther P88 design.

Walther built the gun well but it was too costly many years ago and died on the vine.

The Thunder 9 has had a excellent record from what's been seen out there. I actually looked into buying a Thunder 9 a few years back and was on the edge to do so when I bought Taurus instead.

The Thunder 40 should be just as good.
The media does not seem to present anything Bersa most of the time. The media forgets that a lot of us do not have large budgets or make and incredible amount of money. The subscribers to a lot of gun rags do have high budgets or like high budget guns. Just one of those things.

Even rags like GUN TESTS have had nothing but high end gun articles for the most part.

 

[wiredgeorge]

I am pretty sure the BR9CC is the first polymer framed Bersa as I noted previously. I don't know how it will work but they took a long time to get it to market. The BR40CC is still being delayed due to issues they were having. I used to be pretty regular on Bersachat but don't stop in much anymore.

 

[andy380]

I have owned several Bersas'. The Duo-tone 380 gave me some troubles and had to send it back twice for trigger problems. The 9UC Pro was a firing machine and would cycle anything. The 380s may be fixed by now and maybe OK. I sold them to fund other guns. But I would buy again if I needed to.

 

[MoMan]

I can only speak for the Bersa .22 and .380 as those are the ones I own. Given my experience with my Bersas, I would not hesitate to buy another Bersa. I have had no problems at all with either one.
Just my $.02

 

[Taurus_9mm]

Do you have a preference with hammer fired vs striker fired? I'm guessing not since you've displayed both types and in that case it's really six of one, half a dozen of the other. For myself I'd probably go with the older design since it's proven and sometimes newer releases have bugs early on that take a little time to get corrected.

 

[Lance0812]

I've owned several Bersas and three of them are still in the family: Firestorm .22LR, Bersa Thunder .380 and Thunder .380CC - all good pistols, as was the Bersa Thunder .45. My only problem was with the Thunder 9mm and the Thunder Compact 9mm - both often gave me double-taps when I didn't want them.

I haven't used the BP9CC - it's pretty new on the market - but I did do some recent research on it and came away with the conclusion that the Taurus PT709 is a better design.

 

[Fibonacci]

My nickel finish Thunder 380 has been a good shooter. I am pleased with that purchase, but don't particularly like the safety. "Cocked and locked" is not an option and the mag must be in to fire. Good features I suppose if you are nervous around guns, but I think these features are drawbacks......but not enough to make me consider selling my Bersa!

 

[chicharrones]

I have no experience with this pistol, but I would definitely like to try one out. :biggrin:

 

[JR]

We bought our daughter a Bersa Deluxe for her 21st birthday. It has been reliable, accurate, and trouble-free over the years since. Not a mini-gun, it's large enough to provide a good sight-radius, and a hand-filling grip (for a small person, anyway).

 

[youngandfree]

Check out the bersachat.com forum.

 

[JimSheldon]

Had a Bersa UC45 (Ultra Compact) and one of the dumbest things I ever did was sell it. That gun shot point of aim with 230 grain hollow points at 25 yards and in the 1500 or so rounds I put through it, never had a failure to feed or any other malfunction for that matter that I couldn't directly attribute to a mistake on a reloaded cartridge on my part. Never had a factory round malfunction in it ever. For the price (I paid less than $350 for it 5 years ago), it was the most reliable, inexpensive .45 I've ever owned.

 

[Keith4001r]

I have a .380 Thunder and a new 9mm Pro UC. Both great guns, I love 'em both.

 

[Foxbat]

I have the BP9CC . I have put about 300 Rds. through it.

The only problem I had was the slide not locking back on the last shot a couple of times with the first 3 magazines I fired through it.

Its broke in now and runs like a champ. Sights are dead on at 15 yards

The trigger has a very short reset and light pull.

Its a light and thin pistol making it a good CCW . I like the pistol. Its a keeper.

 

[Qwiks draw]

Nice to hear from the guys in the field who own them.

 

[pmooreknife]

2 380's and just picked up a 45. Not a problem out of any of them. I have heard the term "underrated" use a bit to describe the Bersa line. I hope this stays a secret till I get all mine.

Paul

 

[AdesteAnimo]

Yeah, good to hear a review based on what I am looking for i.e. caliber and price point, that is clearly my next handgun. "Foxbat" said all the right things LOL! I have been looking at this firearm since they announced it. I looked at a Glock26 gen 4 today and it's a brick, huge for CCW. This one is all the right stuff.

 

[Qwiks draw]

Just for you info there is a Bersa gun forum.
Bersa Forum