Just bought a Bersa Thunder .380 plus for my fiance

Nickel Thunder 380 Plus

There are actually 2 safeties on this gun. The trigger safety requires a little key that should have come with the gun that lets you turn a little black ring on the left above the trigger from "F" fire to "S" safe. I never use it though.

As for the other safety, if you hold back the hammer and look under the firing pin while moving the safety back and forth you will see that it is a hammer block safety/de-cocker. Even though you can pull the trigger the hammer should not move, so something might be wrong or in any case different than mine.

On the plus side, you should still not have to worry about the pistol ever firing even accidentally if the safety is on because the bar blocks the hammer from ever touching the firing pin. And you should be unable to do single action since the safety de-cocks the hammer. If I pull my trigger nothing happens, but if I pull the hammer back it pulls the trigger back too, still nothing happens and it won't stay cocked. One way to see if it is correctly blocking the hammer: With the hammer de-cocked you should see it move forward a little as you turn off the safety because the hammer blocking bar gets removed.

Not sure if I used the right terminology for all this. I was just describing as best I can what happens with mine. If our 2 guns are different it might be a matter of when they were made. I've heard they were a little different prior to the lifting of the hi-cap mag ban.

 

Welcome to the Bersa Firearms Forum shane !!

 

I just checked my Thunder Plus, with the safety on the trigger will not engage the hammer, it pulls back with no resistance, I checked with the mag both in and out. You may want to take it back to the dealer where you bought it.

 

welcome to the bersa forum

 

Full dissassembly

This guy's youtube channel has everything. Once on his channel search for bersa and you will find full upper dis-assembly/re-assembly, and full lower dis-assembly/re-assembly videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/docv73/

 

Yep this guy's videos are pretty good. http://www.youtube.com/user/docv73/

 

My wife told me she wants a semi auto after she gets her CCL, she held my Thunder Plus and the grip is too big for her hands, we're going to a gun show in two weeks to look for something she will feel comfortable with. She will be shooting a borrowed Walther P22 when we qualify for our CCL tomorrow.

 

My wife just got a Thunder 380 for CC as well. She is a petite gal and does not have alot of strength. She liked the Thunder 380 very much. She has a difficult time racking many SA pistol slides and does not have a problem with the Thunder. She loved the way it felt in her hand. We are picking it up tomorrow from layaway and it is good to know that it is not a recoil heavy pistol - she will be very pleased with that.

 

Oh, she went with the standard Thunder 380. I see how you might have thought I meant the CC version from my post above, but she did get the standard 380. I might get the CC version for myself though

 

I tried to get a pistol for my wife, but nobody would make the trade!

 

Ha - I can relate. My wife pulled the trigger on my PF-9 just once... looked at me and handed it right back.

 

On the subject of those PF9s scaring some ladies: I don't have any 9mm luger pistols to compare recoil to my Bersa .380 (9mm Kurz), but I am always surprised at how much kick there is from my Polish P64 9mm makarov (looks similar to my Bersa and other PPK look-alikes). I know it can't be about the bullets since they are all 9mm and so tiny. So it must be something about the gun design. After running through a 50 round box on the P64 my hand hurts. But I can shoot my Bersa or even a much bigger 1911 45acp all day and be comfortable. I'm no physicist but something doesn't seem right about that so my P64 doesn't come out to play very often.

 

True, andrewclark. The PF-9 is noted to be the slimmest 9mm currently on the market. Add this to the very lightweight design, and what I consider a high bore axis, and you have a little pistol with quite a bit of muzzle flip (IMO) that wants to jump out of your hand. Mine has been reliable so as a carry gun the slim, lightweight design works - and this is the reason this pistol was created. It is not a range gun and not intended for many rounds in one sitting. Although I do know some that do shoot it quite a bit and they are much more manly than I