Review Continued....
This is a Bersa Thunder 380 in the Gander Mountain Exclusive color scheme. I paid $286 for it at Gander.
Nice weather, no wind, and hanging out at the 25 yard range with NRA 25 Yard Slow Fire Targets.
These groups were shot one handed, bullseye style, with no support. Just like it was a match. It's not a bullseye match pistol, but it's biggest limitation right now is lack of optics. For a little iron sight pistol, this thing is a shooter!
Winchester White Box 95 grain flat tips were best of a limited trial of factory ammunition at about $20 a box
Excellent accuracy for such a short iron sight radius is why I feel this feature is so important in the Bersa- Adjustable rear sight. Factory sighting was not adjusted. The accuracy potential is there, so I am pleased they put adjustable sights on this gun. I can't think of any competitors that have this feature.
Aguila 95 g FMJ was about $13 a box so I gave it a try: it barely held the paper but put more in the black... less consistent but good luck?
Since my initial review, I took a little sandpaper to the beaver tail and knocked off a sharp corner. 2 minutes and much more comfortable.
I tried three types of factory ammunition:
Winchester 95g White Box Target (flat nose fmj)- held the 5 ring consistently
Aguila FMJ 95g (ball)- held the paper consistently with flashes of brilliance and flashes of sparks out the barrel!
Fiocchi 90g Hollow Points- could not hold the paper
The White Box shot best, even though it's scores were lower. On average, I think the lack of fliers will pay off.
I liked the Aguila fine, and it cost about $13 a box. Not bad at all!
The Fiocchi was scattering off the paper by a few inches but I don't think people buy hollow points for shooting at 25 yards.
Just recently I saw that S&W is now offering it's M&P .380 ez in three different "Performance Center" packages with fiber optic (not adjustable) sights and cool cutouts and porting. $500ish list. If the pistol could mount a red dot sight... I am tempted to rent one, next rainy day I feel like going to the indoor public range.
The regular M&P lists around $400 and I've seen for about $365 locally.
This Thunder was $286. It doesn't require much hand strength to rack the slide, but it does take some strength to put together after cleaning.
Not every small pistol is limited to shooting at man-sized fbi targets at 5 yards! The Thunder is accurate enough that tin cans and pine cones will tremble in fear and who knows what can be achieved with some handloaded ammunition and a dot sight! Minor gunsmithing to mount a dot sight, and it would spoil it's beauty as a "walking around field pistol"