The Bersa Thunder .380 is a wonderful medium-small sized pistol with a very low price point (300-350). It is a popular choice for concealed carriers, those who tend to be recoil sensitive, anybody who loves the .380 round, and people who just wants a reliable and attractive hand gun.
A little History
The Bersa brand was founded in the 1950's by three Italian immigrants in Argentina. All three were mechanical engineers, and one had previously worked for Beretta. After quite a few spirited tries, they finally came up with the thunder line of pistols that share their looks with the Walther PPK. The Bersa pistols were so reliable and popular that they won the contract to supply the standard sidearm of the Argentina Military and Police.
Physical Attributes
The Bersa Thunder .380 comes in a variety of finishes, such as; duo tone, which is a matte black slide on a nickle frame or the other way around. Nickle finish is a satin nickle slide on nickle frame... or black frame. All black is also available, or the two limited edition finishes... black with nickle accents, and black with gold accents... what I have. The firearm is also available in a combat version, with green rubber grips and combat sights, or a plus version with a double stack magazine.
The gun is beautiful right out of the box and arrived very quickly with no scuffs or scratches. Coming in at 6.6 inches total length with a 3.5 inch barrel, 4.7 inches tall, and 1.3 inches at its thickest--which is on the grip where you see the thumb arc-- this definitely isn't a pocket carry pistol. It also weighs about 18 ounces due to its all metal construction. The standard capacity is 7+1, adding to that weight, but I find that it is virtually unnoticeable when tucked into my Alien Gear holster. I also greatly prefer the solid feel of an all metal gun. The sights are your standard 3-dot with a larger front dot and adjustable rear windage. The trigger is around the ten pound mark during the double action pull with a very light four-ish pound single action. The trigger is nice and wide with light grooves on it. My only qualms with the Bersa are the checkered polymer hand guards that tend to come loose without some loctite, and the magazine drop safety. The grips feel fine in the hand, but just come off as a little cheap. I am also not too keen on the thumb safety, but it is also a decocker... which is very convenient. Another great little feature is the total gun lock accessed by a small key included with the firearm. You can see it in the above picture. If it is twisted, the trigger is void and the slide cannot be racked. This feature is great for storage or safety around children.
Disassembly
To disassemble this pistol all you must do is hold the gun in your right hand and press the right side lever. With the lever pressed down you pull the slide back and then up. Let the slide ride forward and it should come right off the front of the barrel. You can then remove the recoil spring. The recoil spring must be put on with the smaller side over the barrel. The differences in size is not visible to the eye. The barrel is fixed which helps accuracy, along with the Bersa's polygonal rifling. (A feature usually reserved for higher priced rifles).
If you feel the need you can unscrew the small screws on each side of the grips to remove those too. This makes it relatively easy to clean the magazine well... which does get dirty in my experience. This is a good opportunity to throw some blue loctite on the screws. Reassembly is the exact opposite, just be mindful of the spring orientation and hold the lever down.
Shooting and Reliability
I am nearing the 1000 round mark on this pistol and there is no noticeable wear or performance loss. I broke the pistol in with 200 rounds of Winchester white box flat nose. I must admit that I had two failures to feed with the first ever magazine I ran through. After the break in period I have mainly used Tula or Monarch steel cased ammo. I believe I have had two failures to eject using Tula... but I contribute that to the ammunition.
My carry ammunition is Underwood Golden Sabre +P Hollowpoint. I have had two magazines through just to test that it works, and it ran flawlessly. The normal ammo recoil is negligible due to the small round and the weight of the firearm. The Underwood, on the other hand, produces a noticeably more powerful kick. The recoil actually causes the dovetail to dig into my hand and sort of rubs the skin away after only seven rounds.
The gun will likely shoot more accurately than you. The larger front dot on the sights seems like a good idea, but in practice it is sort of annoying. I often found myself shooting a bit high because the front dot is so much larger than the back two. When the top blades are aligned the front dot has about a fifth of it, or more, cut off.
I find it fun to try and do long distance shooting with little pistols. But, with self defense style ranges I tend to shoot one inch or less out to seven meters and 1.5-3 inch groups out to fifteen meters. I am sure that you could do better. It doesn't matter though because that is plenty good for any gun, or shooter, in these situations. Besides, in a self defense shooting you wont be able to focus and take time to place your shots. I have no pictures of my recent range trips, but I will update next time I go.
Conclusion
I have shot many a pistol in my day, and this is my favorite to shoot and to look at. We can argue all day about the .380 ACP round, but in my opinion this is the best .380 to own. The only real downfall is how large it is as most people get a .380 to pocket carry. If this is your only concern you can buy the CC model which is smaller and rounded out. It even holds one more round! It is reliable, accurate, and feels natural in the hand. It is the best pistol for the price on the market and if you can snag a special edition, take advantage.
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