Bersa Thunder .380
At the mention of the perfect
pocket gun, most of the traditionalists thought of timeless design of Walther
PP or PPK double-action pistols. However, the one real drawback of the Walther
is its high price tag, so the Bersa has offered Walther PP styling without the
price. Although without such long and glorious heritage, the Argentinian
arms manufacturer, Bersa S.A. Company is hardly new to the
compact pistol market. Established in 1950, they started with some pistols
based on a modified Beretta design, but currently, it produces, among many
pistols, the very popular Bersa line called Thunder.
The Bersa Thunder is a simple
blowback operated handgun chambered in .380 ACP which externally resembles the
Walther PP while the trigger mechanism is an amalgam of the Walther and the
Beretta 92 designs. The Thunder .380 features a solid steel frame and slide
with fixed 3.5” barrel making the gun remarkably accurate for a pistol this
size. With a 6.6-inch overall length, 1.3-inch width and 23-ounce weight, it
isn’t as subcompact as the others on the list, but undoubtedly the pocket guns
such as the Bersa are designed as personal protection guns.
The Thunder 380 is made of
quality materials with excellent craftsmanship while including all the modern
safety features, such as slide-mounted safety/decocker, key activated internal
trigger lock (including two keys) as well as a magazine disconnect.
The Bersa’s trigger operates in a
system commonly known as DAO (Double Action only) where the long double-action
trigger pull weighs 12.5 lbs., and single-action pull is 5.5 lbs. This small
pocket semi-auto has an external slide stop, but speaking of slide the biggest
issue, however, was the difficulty in racking the slide because the recoil
spring is very stiff. On the other hand, the extremely heavy recoil spring
improves accuracy by reducing muzzle climb and felt the recoil. Anyway, the
recoil of the .380ACP is a little snappy due to straight blowback action, but
the ability to get a full and firm grip on the gun with sufficient grip space
enables one to shoot accurately and comfortably.
While it is not ultra-small but,
rather a little too lumpy for a pocket gun, the Bersa is very easy to conceal
and meets the size and weight requirements of both a personal defense and close
range target practice pistol. Unlike the much more expensive Kimber or Walther
PPK, the Bersa pistol is not as well-finished as those, but it is a workhorse
which provides most everything found in more expensive guns of this design and
remains one of the best values out there today.
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