Bersa Thunder Plus impressions?

A

Andy Blozinski

New member
Not the regular Thunder, but the Thunder Plus with the double stacked magazine.
For those of you that have owned or shot them, what are your impressions?
I love my wife's Sig P238 as a pocket gun. The Thunder Plus is larger than a P238. What are your impressions and carrying thoughts on its larger size?
 
Buy another P 238 or slightly larger 9mm, P938 both excellent and un complicated defensive weapons that are quite easy to shoot. My experience with Bersa would not allow me to recommend it for life protecting duties.
 
I personally love mine, and it loves XTP's along with every FMJ I've fed it. I carry mine from time to time and must admit, 15+1 of the "lowly" .380 isn't anything to scoff at. I haven't weighed mine, but even fully loaded it still feels just as light as my Glock 19 does empty. It's plenty accurate out to 25 yards, and contrary to what many say concerning blowback .380's, I don't find it's recoil to be snappy and/or unpleasant.
 
I've handled and dry-fired one but didn't have a chance to shoot it. It struck me as "okay". I was much more impressed with their Thunder Pro Ultra Compact, which holds 13+1 of 9mm. It has surprisingly good ergonomics for its size but is a little chunkier than the Thunder Plus. I almost bought that one but it suffers from the same problem as modern S&W revolvers: an eye-sore of an ILS.

I feel like either of these would be too big for "pocket carry". Once you've already bumped up into other carry methods, I think there's a little breathing room on size restrictions.

That said, there are some other compact choices being imported by Eagle now. Check out the P11 and CP380 from Grand Power. They have similar specs but whereas the CP380 is standard blowback, the 9mm P11 has a rotating barrel system that should mitigate recoil and muzzle rise. Here are links to their pages at Eagle Imports:

https://grandpower.eagleimportsinc.com/grandpower/cp-380

https://grandpower.eagleimportsinc.com/grandpower/grand-power-p11-9mm

Here is a fun video review of the P11:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldavwc1WYfE
 
I don't carry mine much, really prefer the slimmer BERSA for that, but the Plus is a pretty nice shooting reliable pistol, and I think its a good modern alternative to the surplus makarovs and such.

To be honest more than anything else, I bought the Plus to round out my small collection of BERSA's. None of my .380's see much range time anymore, the BT22 sees more action than the .380 or Plus.
 
I really wanted the Plus to work well but it didn't. I had a lot of trouble both taking the slide off and putting it back on. Just not enough room to get things on or off. Always felt like I was overstressing the muzzle end of the slide. Very frustrating. On occasion I was able to get 15 rounds in a couple of my mags but basically it's a 14 round mag. I had more than an acceptable number of FTF issues. It just never struck me as a quality gun. I've owned several Bersas and that's my overall impression... low quality.

The gun feels perfect in your hand and it has all the features you'd want. If only it was a better gun.

If you want a quality .380 buy a Beretta 84.
 
I caught the Thunder bug last year. My dad and I bought 2 thunder plus pistols, sequential serial numbers no less. After reading on the Bersa forum that they liked about 400 rounds of a break in period I wasn't too concerned about ftf's my first trip out. But then again and again, my frustration grew as I struggled to hit that magic 400 round threshold. It never got better... My dad's gun on the other hand ran like a well oiled sewing machine. I contacted Eagle imports and they put me in touch with one of their authorized warranty gun smiths... Off it went... 3 days later he called me to tell me he took it to the range and it ran fine. I explained my woes and he kinda left me feeling a little hopeless. He told me he'd look it over again but wasn't really going to do much. Maybe look at the feed ramp and put a new recoil spring in it. 2 days later it was delivered back to me. 1500-2000 rounds later it hasn't given me a single hiccup. Round nose, flat point, hollow point... Doesn't matter just goes bang. Don't know what he did, But it works flawlessly now. My dad's gun just worked from the get go.
Would I buy another...Yes
Do I leave the house without it...no. It is in my truck or on my person all the time. Are there nicer guns out there? Sure... But an accurate, fun to shoot double stack DA/SA de-cocker almost pocket pistol for under $400 is pretty damn tough to beat IMHO.
As for some of the other responses...
The recoil spring is directional. If you put it in backwards, it makes reassembly infinitely more difficult. Ask me how I know.
The Thunder 9 ultra compact is also a nice pistol. Fully ambidextrous, mag release, slide stop and safety/de cocker. I have not had a single issue with fte or rtf with mine. The only gripe I have is the finish isn't great. It's the blued variety and the nickel finish on my 380 is way nicer.
Both Bersas have a really nice trigger and are a joy to shoot. I'll give the edge to the 380 just because I think it's a touch more accurate. It's not a problem to go run 100 or so rounds through either and wish you had brought more ammo to burn... Maybe it's just me, but by the looks a.c. something like a Ruger LCP I think the fun would be over after about 15 rounds.
 
I am assuming that my Beretta 84 and CZ83 are similar pistols to the Thunder Plus. Please forgive my ignorance if I'm mistaken.

If someone wanted a double-stack 380, I would recommend buying one of the above as surplus. They are excellent reliable pistols and I got them for around $300 apiece.
 
Bersa guns are some of the best made, highest quality and reliable firearms ever made for their price point. In a word, they are fantastic carry handguns.
 
Bersa guns are some of the best made, highest quality and reliable firearms ever made for their price point
Click to expand...

Using the qualifier "for their price point", the Yugo was an outstanding automobile. ;)
 
Bersas make, IMO, high quality pistols. The two I have have been flawless. Very ergonomic, reliable, accurate, and the best damn trigger on a DA/SA I have ever pulled. I will take a Bersa Thunder UC9 Pro over a POS Glock, S&W M&P, or XD any day.
 
CZ83 weighs a half pound more than the Bersa Thunder Plus and the Beretta 84 weighs 3 oz more. Guess they like lots of steel.
The Beretta is looking kind of tempting as everyone seems to love it, except they don't love the price.
 
There's a Gander Mountain nearby me closing down that has a Firearms Super Center. Good deals to be had. They did not have a Beretta 84 or the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus, although they did have the regular Bersa Thunder 380, which is pretty much the same dimensions and unloaded weight as the Plus. I tossed it in my pocket and it makes a fine pocket gun. It has a really sweet trigger on it. I did not like that the safety must be pushed upwards to disengage. The downwards motion on a Sig 238 is much more natural.
Gotta find someone nearby that has these pistols for sale so I can try them in my hand.
 
My Bersa also made a trip to a warranty station as it would never feed/eject an entire mag of ammo. The Bersa represenative said it is fine now, it will occasionally go through a mag full----but only occasionally. It now shares a space in the sAfe with a couple of other underachievers.
 
Just because you aren't smart enough to figure out how to take the gun apart doesn't mean it sucks... My Bersa runs like a champ. I'm at 1,000 rounds right now since last March. Zero malfunctions of any kind, including ammo. Shoots very accurately and returns to target smartly.

Just because you paid double for a Beretta doesn't make our "cheap" guns any less accurate or reliable... People these days..
 
Just because you aren't smart enough ...
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:
I guess you're talking to me.

First let me ask whether you own a Plus model? Doesn't sound like it. All Thunder models are known to be problematic when reassembling. The barrel and spring interact in such a way as to prevent the slide from gliding on smoothly. It's a design thing not a smart person thing.

I'm glad your T380 works well. Of the 4 Bersas I've bought, all had a quality issue.

I paid $400 or less for each of the three Beretta 85 or 84 pistols I bought. There is no question the Beretta is a better made gun. Comparing a $400 Beretta 85 to a T380, or a $400 Beretta 84 to a T380 plus is a no-brainer. Perhaps when you acquire a little more experience with firearms you'll become aware of this.
 
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