[shaneomac]

Hey first post, but have been reading for a while. I just bought a Bersa Thunder .380 plus for my fiance for her birthday. It will be her carry gun. She is very sensitive to recoil, and my 9mm sigma was too much for her. She likes the .22 I bought her, and so I tracked down a bersa thunder .380 at a local range. She tried it and liked it. She isnt very into guns or research, she's the just find one and buy it, so looking for her gun was up to me.

When I asked her what she wanted for her carry gun she said didn't like the polymer of my pf9, liked the .380, and one safety. So I decided a thunder .380 was the best option. Then I found they make the plus version. She said she liked the nickel finsh, so without her knowing I bought her a nickel plus. I like her having 15+1 capacity.

Only thing I have noticed is with the safety on, you can still pull the trigger and the hammer goes in da mode. Is there something wrong, or is this normal? What's the purpose of it if you can still pull the trigger? Outside of that I know she it's going to love it. Boy, .380 is more than I thought it was. Lol

 

[andrewclark]

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.

 

[SHOOTER13]

Welcome to the Bersa Firearms Forum shane !!

 

[rnickelson]

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.

 

[bhale187]

welcome to the bersa forum

 

[shaneomac]

Yes I am fully aware of how the hammer block safety works, my pf9 has one. I also have gone through the process of checking and yes the hammer moves backwards away from the firing pin when the safety is engaged. Decocker works fine. The key safety above the trigger works fine too. If I have the safety on, hammer down, I can pull the trigger and it pops off safety and goes back to DA mode, and you can fully pull the trigger with the hammer making full cycles hitting the firing pin.

I bought it from a dealer on gun broker in a different state. It is brand new. I hope there's nothing wrong. Of course my fiance is home for the next month recovering from surgery, so I can't even take it out and check it anymore. Her b-day is a week and a half away, so there's no time to send it in either. Ill have to wait until after she opens it.

Do you guys/gals know of any diy online to tear it completely down? I'm very mechanical and could probably fix it myself if something needs to be adjusted. It does have the manufacturers warranty, but I don't want to be without it for 6-8 weeks

 

[andrewclark]

Full dissassembly

Do you guys/gals know of any diy online to tear it completely down? I'm very mechanical and could probably fix it myself if something needs to be adjusted. It does have the manufacturers warranty, but I don't want to be without it for 6-8 weeks

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/

 

[levelcross]

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

 

[shaneomac]

So I gave it to her on Wednesday for her birthday. She was more than excited to get it. She just had foot surgery, so since she doesn't need to carry it, it is currently loaded in a drawer near where she sits with her foot elevated.

Now that I got a real chance to look it over I noticed what caused the problem. It was me. Haha. I didn't realize with it being brand new that the safety was that tight. I simply didn't push it down all the way. If the safety is halfway pushed, it will pop to fire and will go off. I set it all the way to safe and it works properly. Very excited its good to go to the range for break in. Ill post up the results

 

[rnickelson]

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.

 

[shaneomac]

Yea this was for her carry gun. In WI you don't have to shoot to qualify for it, just a 4 hr class, paperwork, and a $50 check. My fiance has tiny small hands. Her ring finger is a 4 1/4. She really liked the thunder .380, and the plus version is only an 1/8" bigger I'd say. Not very much for doubling the capacity. I would recommend one of these to any woman. She is also VERY sensitive to recoil, and this didn't both her very much.

 

[bonefamily]

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.

 

[shaneomac]

If I'm correct the thunder .380 concealed carry version will kick a tad more due to being a little smaller and lighter compared to the others

 

[bonefamily]

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

 

[GoodOyster]

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

 

[shaneomac]

A guy on armslist near me just posted his regular duo tone .380 used for $220. I called him to buy it but it was just sold 20mins before I called him. Ugh. Just too slow. Would've liked having another around the house that my fiance could shoot no problem. My pf9 is way too much for her

 

[bonefamily]

Would've liked having another around the house that my fiance could shoot no problem. My pf9 is way too much for her

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

 

[shaneomac]

Haha. Yup. I told her I wanted her to shoot it at least once so in the event she had to use it she knew what to expect. She shot one round and set it down, hands went up, and she said "nope, I'm done. Never again" haha.

 

[andrewclark]

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.

 

[bonefamily]

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