Range Report - Marksman, Houston...aka The Bersa returns!

[Kevinf2349]

We decided to make a range trip this evening having not been for a month or so

We decided on visiting Marksman (Nebraska and SH 3) in South Houston, maining for the air conditioning! lol That and we really like the range.

We arrived at about 18:30 to find the range almost deserted.

We had taken 4 pistols to work, including the finiky Bersa Thunder. (More on that later). No long guns on this trip but 'her indoors' has promised to have a try of the Mossy in a near future. (she is a little afraid of the recoil, but to me it hardly recoills, heck my 20 year old , thin as a rake, daughter can shoot it)s'

Setup was quick and within a few minutes my wife was punching holes in paper with her XD9. I was somewhat lagging behind as I had to nip back into the shop for some /380 FMJ 95 Gr as I only bough JHP with me. ANyway, for those hunting the elusive beast, Marksman have loads of it for about $23 for 50 (Magtech 95gr).

Once suitably armed I loaded the factory Bersa mag with 5 rounds, slapped that bad boy into the (always troublesome Bersa Thunder). Boom, jam (double feed), cleared the jam, reload mag, boom, boom, jam (double feed). All told out of 45 rounds we had 4 double feed jams. Regular readers will know that this is not unusual for this gun. It has been to the doctors twice now and we thought it had been given a clean bill of health. It would appear not, which is a shame as it shoots really nice groups, it is just not reliable enough for me to risk my wife or my life on. So I am going to trade it I think.

So my wife has now decided that she really likes shooting the XD9 ( (That is probably the most accurate gun in our arsenal). She also shot a few rounds through Elsie and she has proved to herself that she can shoot that one handed if needed

I ran some rounds through the Glock 30. Not a single issue...again. That thing just runs and runs.

There were some City of South Houston LEO's turned up and man one of them had a canon! I thought it was a shotgun but saw no shotgun spread on the target, just a single bullet hole. It turns out he had what he called an 'AK pistol' but boy that thing was LOUD.

All told I was happy with the outing, it has made my mind up to trade the Bersa (hopefully as part payment for a Taurus 709) .... but we will see.

"She who must be obeyed" was happier after this trip then on previous trips, probably because she was crowed out, was hit by shrapnel, and shot the snot out of the target. I am happy when she is happy because I need her to stay focused on firearm purchases

All guns have now been cleaned, oiled, reloaded and put back into a state of readiness.

[Quahog]

Great report, Kevin. I'm going to have to try that range someday when the outside heat drives my indoors.

Sad to hear that Bersa is giving you some trouble. I don't own one but I've seen a lot of folks who swear by them. I'm guessing you've tried all sorts of different .380 ammo, eh? Just in case you didn't already know, T's in TX City has his own brand of .380 ammo for $16.95 a box of 50. Might be worth a shot (pun intended).

[Kevinf2349]

I have tried a variety of ammo through it but I do like the shout out for Roy.

I am a litle reluctant to buy more .380 especially if I end up trading the Bersa for a 709.

Thoughts so far (I had a long discussion witht he guy at Marksman about the issues).

1) Get another magazine from Bersa, I have an 'after market' magazine but failed to test with it yesterday (Dooh!) Previous trips I have used it and it made no difference.

2) Strip and clean the manufacturers magazine and check the spring. OK but how do I check the spring? What do I check it for? Tension? I would think a tendency to double feed would mean the spring was (if anything) too strong.

3) Use the Bersa as a paperweight

I guess my plan of action should be to strip and clean both magazines (done) and then run various ammunition types through both and see what happens, or I could just call it quits and trade it up to the 709. I am leaning towards trading as my thinking is, if I am thinking of doing it, then I am not showing faith in the Bersa anyway. Why throw good ammunition money after bad? (especially the rare .380)

Watch this space

[seniorshooteress]

Guess guns are like cars; every now and then the cherry tree sprouts a lemon. I have a Bersa Thunder .380 and haven't had any problems with it at all. Sorry you are having problems. It may just be that you need to trade it for something else, but if you trade it then someone else gets the "lemon". So maybe paperweight would be the way to go.

[Dan20703]

I have a Bersa 380 and the extra factory mag I bought would jam every so often so I slightly adjusted the lips at the top of the mag inward (slightly) by tapping with a piece of wood. Works perfectly now.

[Quahog]

IIRC someone here on the forum set his Bersa on the roof of the car and drove off. He found the gun later, a nice shade of green and in pieces. Maybe he's in the market for some parts. Hehe (oh, that was so mean!)

[zero4o3]

Marksman is where I have been going sense I picked up my first gun a few months back, so far the staff has been very helpfull any time I had a question. and I have ran into A lot of very nice people out there shooting also. one guy even let me shoot his new AR

[muleman]

I have had zero problems with my Bersa, even with crappy ammo. I only took it out one time and tried a bunch of different rounds through it including a few questionable "brown box" loads i got at the local gun store. I had a blast shooting it, i never carry it though.

[TexasNativeDRJH]

Do you know what caliber the AK pistol was? I'd be scared if it was a rifle round. I've been hit by a ricochet once there already and witnessed a young boy get hit also.

Otherwise a great range and very nice people working there, but it sucks paying an ER bill.

[Kevinf2349]

Bersa update

I sent the Bersa to Colorado Gun Works about a week ago to see if they could find anything wrong with the weapon. I received a telephone call from their master gunsmith today, and the Bersa is coming home.

They replaced the disconnecting rod and the anchor spring for the rod (whatever that is!). They also applied some 'upgrades' (not sure what though). They test fired the gun....JAM!!! (see told y'all it wasn't me! ).

He said that he had to adjust the barrel throat as it was slightly off true. He did the adjustment and then ran 30 rounds through it without issue. .

He also recommended not using the after market magazine and using S&B ammo for the range and Golden Sabre for carry rounds. I am hoping that he details exactly what work was done to the gun.

Hopefully it will be back early next week and we can visit the range and run some rounds through it. I am looking forward to some uninterupted shooting and returning the gun to the carrry roster.

[joe817]

Phew! What an ordeal that thing put you through! But glad he found the problem, and you're getting it back in better shape than you sent it.

[USA1]

He said that he had to adjust the barrel throat as it was slightly off true. He did the adjustment and then ran 30 rounds through it without issue. .

He also recommended not using the after market magazine

With all the trips back and forth from having it looked at it sounds like someone
has finally taken the time to do a thorough diagnosis and repair/adjustment.

I agree with not using aftermarket mags.
The only problem I had with my first Bersa was due to using a cheap aftermarket magazine.

I hope this saga has finally reached it's conclusion and you have a gun you actually can use and enjoy.

[Kevinf2349]

Good grief....the Bersa is back already! Now that is customer service!

They called yesterday and the Bersa arrives back in Texas in less than 24 hours. Trip to the range tomorrow (hopefully)

This is as exciting as getting a new gun

I must give a shout out to Colorado Gun Works here, exceptional service. Thank you guys.

[USA1]

Good grief....the Bersa is back already!

Dang ! That was quick !

Don't you normally go to the range on Fridays? It would be a good time to test it out.