Posted: 3/26/2010 5:08:20 PM EDT
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Anyone here have one?
I'd like to give a try if you're near a range this weekend. Thinking about purchasing one.... |
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I thought I couldn't love the 26, but, I did find out that after installing the Pierce grip extension on it, it works like a charm. I know some folks pooh pooh magazine extensions, but, for me it made a big difference. +1 Had a slight bit of trouble controling follow up shots but as soon as I put those +1 ext on each mag its smooth and easy, as a bonus they do not affect concealability at all. (PS mines a 27 but same thing...  )
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The Bersa 380 is a decent budget-gun.
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Talk to Inuhbad about the BersasI'm located in Saint Paul. I'm also looking into those Bersa 380's. What it boils down to with the Bersa 380 is - what do you intend to do with it? What I mean is - How often do you intend to SHOOT it. The Bersa 380 is a solidly reliable & surprisingly accurate gun when it's not abused. That said - it's one of those guns that's mean to be carried often, and fired seldom. It was my first handgun purchase ever, and it served me quite well over the years I owned and carried it almost daily. Being that it was my ONLY handgun, I'd only fired ~200 rounds through it before taking a Defensive Edge Handguns 1 course. I thought the gun was inaccurate, and cheap. One thing I noticed right away - IT LOVES HOT AMMO! The lighter pressure Russian stuff was hit or miss, and usually unreliable. Even sometimes Winchester Whitebox was 'iffy'. The gun just LOVED to eat Federal HydraShok ammo like it was candy though! HydraShoks and Gold Dot HP ammo was its favorite! Due to the insane costs of 380 ammo - it was just starting to rise at that point - I had to start reloading for it - otherwise it would've been impossible to afford owning/feeding that gun! About this time, I purchased some spare mags from another arfcom member who usually has java flowing through his veins on an I.V... Spare Bersa 380 mags are EXPENSIVE!!! Like around $35 to $40 bucks EACH! I got a smoking deal on the spare mags! That's a major down-side to the Bersa - the spare mag prices. Try to buy used if you can find them! Turns out the gun was FAR from inaccurate - I just didn't know how to shoot it! After taking the DE CCW course, I learned how to shoot it infinitely better, and since it has a barrel that's FIXED to the frame, and not an unlocking/camming barrel, it's absurdly accurate!!! A 50-shot 3.5 to 3.75 inch group, just shooting offhand (no rest, no bench, etc., just standing 2-hand hold) at 25 yards is EASY with that gun if you're a skilled shooter. That's amazing accuracy for a dinky ~3" barrel on a mouse gun, IMHO! I fired about 4000 to 5000 trouble free rounds through the gun before encountering my first problem with it. At that point, the trigger return spring snapped. The gun fired just fine, but when letting up on the trigger, it failed to go forward & reset. You could manually push it forward, to reset it, and then fire again - but that's not a safe functioning gun. I called Bersa to return it for repairs, but the gun was just a month or two outside the 1-year warranty. They told me that Ahlman's Gun Shop down just west of ?Faribault? (Or maybe Owatonna? I forget), is actually one of their regional, certified warranty repair shops! So I drove the gun down there, and dropped it off. I got it back 2 weeks later, and it was repaired FREE under warranty! Woot! 
I got REALLY good with that little pistol, and I even tried shooting it out further... 50 yard hits on silhouette (sp?) targets was EASY, and I also learned that the 380 ACP drops about 4.5 feet at 100 yards! But hitting an 8.5"x11" piece of paper at 100 yards wasn't too difficult either with it. Around the 6000 to 7000 round count, it was dropped onto the concrete from about 4 feet off the ground. Turns out the thumb safety is made of low-quality cast steel, and it snapped clean off, along with the firing pin retaining clip which cracked. The gun still functioned just fine - but it was unsafe to use. A quick phone call to the Bersa customer service line, talked with them about my previous trigger spring problem, and the new broken parts - and they sent out replacement parts which arrived in about four days - I put the parts in easily on my own. They included a second spare firing pin retaining clip too just incase. The gun was back up & running. By this time, the duo-tone gun was having some finish problems. The slide was poorly finished with a cheap pseudo-parkerizing finish. It would rust like crazy if you left it overnight in the glove box of your car... Go in black, and come out orange no matter how much oil you slather on it. I should've had it re-parkerized in a good Manganese Dioxide finish, but it was a gun I only paid $215 for - maybe $230 after taxes? Why bother. I fired a shade over 8000 rounds through it, and then found a smoking deal on a nice, used Colt 1911 CCO model. So I sold the gun, holster, and all my mags for $110 to a friend of mine, and bought the Colt. By that point, the aluminum frame was starting to peen, and take a beating - I hadn't replaced the recoil spring (because I was an idiot), and considering it was a blowback gun, it was starting to destroy itself upon firing. Shortly after selling it to my friend - the trigger return spring snapped again. I told him about Alhmans being a certified warranty repair shop, and he took it down there. Two weeks later, it was fixed under warranty for free - even though the warranty had been expired over 2 years by then. One thing is nice - Bersa seems to stand behind their guns pretty nicely! My overall impression - It's a RELIABLE and VERY ACCURATE little gun, but it was meant to be carried often, and fired seldom. You'll get at least 3000 trouble free rounds through the gun, and after that, you might experience some parts breaking (Notably the trigger return spring). Figure it'll likely snap every 4000 to 5000 rounds, and plan to replace it periodically. I feel that, for my $230 bucks, I DEFINITELY got my money's worth out of that gun! Would I buy one again? Maybe. Depends upon my intended use. If I'm going to carry it often & shoot it once or twice a month to keep practiced with it, and insure its reliability? Definitely I'd buy one again. If I wanted a gun to shoot A LOT of ammo through, and abuse - No way. I'd buy a CZ-83 in 380 ACP or 9mm Makarov caliber. It's a steel frame gun, build infinitely stronger, out of forged steel parts, is just about the same exact size as the Bersa, but with a double-stack magazine for much higher capacity. The CZ-83 can also be safely carried Cocked & Locked like the M1911-A1 - which was a major weak point in the Bersa. I HATE the double-action first shot with the Bersa with a passion - it's long & heavy, and not conducive to accurate first shots. In numerous ways the CZ-82 and CZ-83 guns are much better built, only cost a little bit more, but they ARE notably heavier - so they'd be a bit more of a chore to carry them. There's no way to know how, where, or how much it would cost to get spare parts, or service to replace anything broken on the CZ imported surplus guns though. The Bersa was lighter in weight, and often times when carried with a Comp-Tac shirt-tucker holster it was completely un-noticeable! I'd often forget I was even carrying the Bersa. Sorry for the long reply - I hope this helps in your decision making. For a gun that's carried often, and fired only periodically, the Bersa is a great budget choice. The wonky rear sight, and sighting picture takes a bit to get used to, but once you do - it's a great & accurate gun. -inuhbad |