Bersa 380 Thunder failure to fire

3077 Views 5 Replies 2 Participants Last post by tigwelder56, Mar 26, 2014

tigwelder56

Discussion Starter · Mar 22, 2014

Hello,

I purchased a nearly new Bersa 380 Thunder Duo Tone last year from a guy that wanted to upgrade. This pistol was like new in the box and had barely been broken in. Well, I took care of that break in issue and it has been a flawless little handgun, with perhaps 400 rounds through it without fail.

Today at the range it fired just fine. I shot perhaps a 20 rounds and that's when it failed to fire. I was shooting in both DA and SA. The first round fired DA and when I went to fire the second round, the trigger pulled to the rear of the trigger well, no bang. Cleared the chamber, round ejected fine, new round fed into the chamber and the hammer remained cocked. Trigger appeared to reset but when pulled, it again failed to fire. I notice when releasing the trigger, it resets but not completely. The draw bar spring is intact and that is evidently what is returning the trigger forward. I don't know what the trigger group looks like, because I'm not sure disassembling it at this point is required.

I took the grip panels off and didn't see anything floating around in there! What I do see is what appears to be a normal sear/spring and hammer assembly. Nothing seems out of place. BUT what I do see and I apologize, but I can't find the name of this part on any schematic, so I'll try to describe it. It's the long flat bar that sits parallel and forward of the sear/spring guide. When the trigger is pulled, the Draw Bar is pulled forward and should contact this bar, disengaging it from the hammer notch, allowing it to fire. What I notice is the Draw Bar isn't reaching far enough forward to contact this bar. I can release the hammer by reaching in and pushing it forward myself. I'm not going to proceed any further and will have to take it in if the wiser man here recommends it. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what the problem is and whether this is something I can repair. I'm good (lol) but understand limitations. If you feel this is something better for a professional, I'll defer to your better judgement. But I would like to know what the heck happened, and the part name of this bar so I can describe it to either Bersa or a local gunsmith.

If there is any additional information I can relay to you, let me know. I'll sure appreciate any advice. Thank you for your assistance!

Tig

See less See more

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

tigwelder56

Discussion Starter · #2 · Mar 23, 2014

Can someone recommend an online resource that I can present my question to or find additional information? I'd like to send it in as a last resort and my local smith has a huge backlog. Thanks for any assistance!

Tig

Save

Pancho_Villa

· #3 · Mar 24, 2014

The Bersa has an external "sear bar." Some people call it a trigger bar. It attaches to the tigger in the front and when it is pulled, it makes contact with the actual sear, which in turn realeases the hammer. On alot of guns, the sear bar is not visible under the grip. It usually runs along the right side of the pistol. Apparently the conact between the trigger and the sear bar on your pistol is not in specs for some reason. It would probably require revoval of the trigger assembly to correct it. Don't know if that is something you would want to takle.

Benn a while since had a gun do that. I had one Bersa .380 that was fired alot and had a lot of slack in the trigger/sear bar contact, but it still worked. Had a couple of single action autos with the same type of setup also.

On those pistols, if the grip screws would back out, the sear bar would slide out of it's groove in the receiver and drop down a bit. That would cause it to be lower than the sear and would not make contact with it. So actually the grip held the sear bar in it's notch in the frame.

On other guns of similar type, I have seen the groove holding the sear bar in the correct position to be in the grip itself. Same thing can happen if the screws come loose or if the plastic in the grip gets worn to the point that it has too much slack to hold the sear bar up to make contact. I have been able to correct the worn plastic grips with some plastic strips cut to fit just enough where they will stay in place under the sear bar and in the grip without binding. Any binding will cause failure also.

I have had several of the BT380s, but have never taken one down except for a field strip. They were all used and worked well, even the worn one. The work I did was on other pistols of similar Single action or Single action/Double action types.

See less See more

Save

tigwelder56

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 25, 2014

Thanks for the reply Pancho! The trigger bar you mentioned is what I referred to as the "Draw Bar". I located it on the BT380 schematic. As the trigger is pulled, that bar draws forward, contacting the Sear Bar, ultimately releasing the hammer. The things I've noticed are:
1. Trigger has full arc and resets
2. Trigger draw bar has contact with trigger link
3. Draw bar doesn't draw forward far enough when trigger is pulled to contact the sear bar.
4. No grip slots to maintain the sear bar are evident. The panels don't reach into the body of the grip frame anyway.
5. Grip screws were locked when removed and don't make a difference in the sear bar position when installed. They're close but don't affect position.
6. With the trigger fully pulled, there is about a 3mm gap between the draw bar claw and the contact face of the sear bar. If I reach in with a small screwdriver and put the tip between the two and pull the trigger again, contact is made and the hammer releases.

I can't find anything that should belong there and no pins have fallen out. It's rather perplexing! I can clearly see what is wrong but no reason for it. Would it be any help to you if I added some pictures? Let me know. I appreciate your wisdom and assistance!

Tig

See less See more

Save

tigwelder56

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 25, 2014

Okay, I found out what was wrong. The disconnector spring is damaged and needs to be replaced. Next question is where can I find a replacement? Nobody seems to have them in stock and no answers of when they might be. Second question (if I may) is I notice that the spring is staked to the main frame in two places. I see many responses online about not trying to replace this as a DIY project because of this staking process. Why? Doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal. Is there a danger involved that nobody is mentioning? Seems fairly straight forward to me. Any replies on this will be appreciated.

Thanks, Tig

Save

tigwelder56

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 26, 2014

Hello,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the looks and tell Pancho thanks again for his reply. I did receive a response from a gunsmith and the repair process is underway. I appreciate the help.

Tig

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month