.380 Semi Autos

[NcongruNt]

I'm not a .380 fan, but my Dad's little Bersa Thunders just never seem to jam. Many of the newer pocket .380's are pretty light weight and have an aweful lot of kick for such small guns. Add the small gun, light weight & hard kick to the fact that a lot of these shooters are beginers, and I imagine there are a lot of user induced (limp wristing) jams with those guns.

The Bersas are good guns. I bought one for my Father-in-law for Christmas last year, and it feed even the Herter's garbage that my LCP wouldn't digest just fine.

I agree, it seems a lot of people are wanting to buy the little .380 that have hit the market as their first gun, and aren't prepared for the movement such a small gun causes. The LCP is also a lugged locked-breech barrel, so limp-wristing is going to cause more problems than it would with a straight blowback design like the Bersa.

[TXlaw1]

I'm not a .380 fan, but my Dad's little Bersa Thunders just never seem to jam. Many of the newer pocket .380's are pretty light weight and have an aweful lot of kick for such small guns. Add the small gun, light weight & hard kick to the fact that a lot of these shooters are beginers, and I imagine there are a lot of user induced (limp wristing) jams with those guns.

The Bersas are good guns. I bought one for my Father-in-law for Christmas last year, and it feed even the Herter's garbage that my LCP wouldn't digest just fine.

I agree, it seems a lot of people are wanting to buy the little .380 that have hit the market as their first gun, and aren't prepared for the movement such a small gun causes. The LCP is also a lugged locked-breech barrel, so limp-wristing is going to cause more problems than it would with a straight blowback design like the Bersa.

TOTALLY. I bought a Bersa Thunder 380 for my wife with Crimson Trace grip laser sights. A good friend (single lady) with my help bought another one almost identical. I took them together to our indoor range and each shot 50 rounds with no problems. Most shots were rapid fire at 12 to 20 feet with a little pressure from me telling them "Shoot him! He's coming at you! Get him now!" etc They put all shots on the 18" square target. The friend had never shot a gun of any kind. Both are now confident they can handle these guns and use them in an emergency to protect themselves and others.

As to the .380 round, with the excellent self defense rounds now available, for these ladies it seems just right. The Bersa Thunders are easy to handle, especially since both ladies are slight in stature and both would aggravate serious pain issues with their hands if they shot either the tiny .380s with heavy recoil or the heavier guns like the 9 mms.

Bersa makes excellent guns at inexpensive prices. Why pay so much more - double often - for a big name gun. These will do the same job. And Bersa supplies many of the military forces in South America. What comes to the US is their excess capacity.

http://bersachat.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a great forum for all kinds of info re Bersa guns, ammo etc.

[Tex_Jonnie]

Just bought my LCP NIB from a sporting goods store yesterday. Fired ~60 rounds through it today after it was cleaned out of the box. Had no problems jamming. It's a light-weight gun that has some kick when fired. I'm quite certain it is user error when firing. It requires a firm grip & locked wrist. I actually enjoyed firing my LCP today though I wouldn't replace my Bersa Thunder 9mm UC with it.

My suggestion would be to remind the students on the line about grip, wrist & elbow.

[Tex_Jonnie]

Just bought my LCP NIB from a sporting goods store yesterday. Fired ~60 rounds through it today after it was cleaned out of the box. Had no problems jamming. It's a light-weight gun that has some kick when fired. I'm quite certain it is user error when firing. It requires a firm grip & locked wrist. I actually enjoyed firing my LCP today though I wouldn't replace my Bersa Thunder 9mm UC with it.

My suggestion would be to remind the students on the line about grip, wrist & elbow.

BTW, I was using Federal ammo and a handful of Gold Dots.

[martywj]

We have 2 .380 in our family. My wife has a Ruger LCP with Crimson Trace and I have a Kel Tec P2AT. Both have close to a 100 rounds through them without any problems. We carry them both with confedince.

I think that the problems that shooters using these weapons for CHL classes are people induced due to inexperience.

[USA1]

I'm not a .380 fan, but my Dad's little Bersa Thunders just never seem to jam. Many of the newer pocket .380's are pretty light weight and have an aweful lot of kick for such small guns. Add the small gun, light weight & hard kick to the fact that a lot of these shooters are beginers, and I imagine there are a lot of user induced (limp wristing) jams with those guns.

The Bersas are good guns. I bought one for my Father-in-law for Christmas last year, and it feed even the Herter's garbage that my LCP wouldn't digest just fine.

I agree, it seems a lot of people are wanting to buy the little .380 that have hit the market as their first gun, and aren't prepared for the movement such a small gun causes. The LCP is also a lugged locked-breech barrel, so limp-wristing is going to cause more problems than it would with a straight blowback design like the Bersa.

TOTALLY. I bought a Bersa Thunder 380 for my wife with Crimson Trace grip laser sights. A good friend (single lady) with my help bought another one almost identical. I took them together to our indoor range and each shot 50 rounds with no problems. Most shots were rapid fire at 12 to 20 feet with a little pressure from me telling them "Shoot him! He's coming at you! Get him now!" etc They put all shots on the 18" square target. The friend had never shot a gun of any kind. Both are now confident they can handle these guns and use them in an emergency to protect themselves and others.

As to the .380 round, with the excellent self defense rounds now available, for these ladies it seems just right. The Bersa Thunders are easy to handle, especially since both ladies are slight in stature and both would aggravate serious pain issues with their hands if they shot either the tiny .380s with heavy recoil or the heavier guns like the 9 mms.

Bersa makes excellent guns at inexpensive prices. Why pay so much more - double often - for a big name gun. These will do the same job. And Bersa supplies many of the military forces in South America. What comes to the US is their excess capacity.

http://bersachat.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a great forum for all kinds of info re Bersa guns, ammo etc.

Another thumbs up for the Bersa .380 here.

I had one a for a few years then sold it during the ammo drought.
Bought another one (used) for my wife and it has worked perfectly.
It's the only gun she likes shooting due to the soft recoil.

Great little gun for the money.

[fwgrace]

I've put only a couple hundred rounds through my Bersa Thunder, but I've never had a jam.