Any one have any experience with the Bersa Thunder 380???
In particular, with replacement grips or grip sleeves???

I have had the opportunity to spend some time shooting one and it is not very comforatble to shoot.
Maybe its my hand size vs the grip size. Maybe its becasue I'm spoiled by my P250C and P239.

But this thing hurts the web bewteen the thumb and index finger on my strong hand!
Seems that rear edges of the grip panels and the backstrap do not form one flush surface from one side to the other.
And its that 'edge' that is 'biting'. Its just really unpleasant to to shoot.

Anyone else noticed this? Or am I just a huge wuss?

Had one,sold it for same reason.

I've had one for over a decade. Don't shoot it much (mostly because it's .380), but every once in a blue moon I'll bring back into the light. For myself I've never had any problem with its recoil or it biting me. Then again I have smaller hands that may be ideally sized for the gun. Somewhat surprised the first times out way back when, I found it more tolerable than a PPK or P230 (I haven't shot my newly acquired P232SL yet). It's a nice, accurate and inexpensive gun with a very decent DA/SA trigger that unfortunately chambers and shoots a caliber I don't have much need for.

I have one and am getting ready to sell it soon, but not because of the recoil. Great little gun, but I just don't shoot it much. Thesee guns are blowback operated and have a little more umph than others, but they are not unpleasant in my opinion. Mine is the .380CC and I don't get that bite.

All of these blowback 380s (Bersa, Walter PPK, Sig 232, Beretta 84) have a lot of recoil. Even more than the compact 9mms. If you want a 380 with low recoil you want the Glock 42.

I was going to say what the poster above did, G42 is the best shooting pocket .380

Thank you all for the feedback/input.

Other than the 'bite' it seems like a good little gun.
Seems to be fairly well built (with a few internal finish problems).
The DA/SA trigger is decent. Not as good as a SIG da/sa, but decent.
And really very accurate. I was surprised how easy it was to shoot some tight groups with it.

I may try a grip sleeve on it, just to see if it makes it more comfortable to grip/shoot.
Hogue makes one that should fit it. And it costs less than $10.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

Stock grip works for me. I have looked for sleeve for it. Good luck

At one point I owned both a P232 and a Bersa Thunder 380CC, both were pretty snappy as others have mentioned due to the blowback action and I found that wearing a leather shooting glove at the range would allow for 100-150 round sessions without a sore hand.

My wife has the combat model which has glock style sights and green grips with finger grooves. It's a good feeling grip, my wife and I both like the way it feels. I don't find the recoil excessive at all, in fact, I've never understood why people complain about it. It's easy to shoot and accurate.

Try stretching a piece of bicycle inner-tube over the grip. It is cheap and effective.

Got the HOGUE HandAll beavertail grip sleeve (model #18300) for it.
It's actually made for the S&W M&P Shield 45, with the Bersa listed as an alternate fit.
Rather difficult to get it on the Bersa...but it went on.

Trying to post pictures, if I can get Photo-Bucket to cooperate.

Hmmm...try this one . . .


...and this one...

Will give you a range report later in the week.

Looks good. Am interested in your perception of the recoil.

Bumping the thread until I can give a range report. Probaby this coming weekend.

Range Report.
So I took the Bersa to the range yesterday. Here's what I think of the grip sleeve . . .



PRO's
+better overall grip & feel than the hard plastic factory grip panels.
+increased circumference with the sleeve made it easier to get a good two-handed grip on the gun.

NEUTRAL's
>Not much improvement in reducing the 'sting' I feel in the web of my strong hand while shooting.
This may be coming from the metal tang (aka 'beavertail') on the Bersa.
Also, while the size of the tang looks adequate, when I start shooting my hand starts to ride up and almost past the tang. Thought I was gonna get a slide bite from the thing.

CON's
-The additional material of the 'beavertail' portion of the sleeve may actually be contributing to the problem with my hand migrating up on the tang while shooting (see the comments above).
-If I ever need to completely disassemble the gun its gonna be a challenge to get the sleeve off and then back on (this sucker is tight!).

As far as the gun itself is concerned . . . may not be my cup-of-tea but an accurate little gun. Was able to shoot some pretty good groups with it. This is about 100 rounds from 5-6 yards, shooting DA then two SA shots.



Overall . . . meh.
Grip sleeve didn't help the way I thought it would...but I'm not a Bersa fan anyway.
The sleeve and a few trips to the range didn't change that.

YMMV.

Guess I'll just have to stick with my SIG's (and Ruger revolvers).

quote:

Originally posted by Fundman:
All of these blowback 380s (Bersa, Walter PPK, Sig 232, Beretta 84) have a lot of recoil. Even more than the compact 9mms. If you want a 380 with low recoil you want the Glock 42.

My locked-breech aluminum frame SIG P238 .380 has very soft recoil – much softer than my heavier PPK/S. And, like your Bersa, it has a safety. Excellent sights too.

quote:

If you want a 380 with low recoil

quote:

SIG P238 .380 has very soft recoil

Well . . . the story is this. It's not mine. And I'm not looking for a 380.
The owner sent it to me, reporting Jams-FTF-FTE problems.
I was curious to... a) see if I could figure out the problem(s) with the gun, and b) spend more time shooting a Bersa Thunder 380.

Turns out they had the recoil spring installed backwards, which was preventing the gun from cycling properly.
So I gave it a good cleaning & reinstalled the spring correctly when I reassembled it.
Put between 200 and 300 rounds of FMJ thru it and had one jam.
And that was probably due to the cheap ammo I was using.
Put about 100 rounds of JHP's thru it and had no problems.

But its not a pleasant little gun to shoot.
That was my initial opinion after I shot a friend's Bersa about a year ago.
And this experience confirmed that for me.
Not that its a bad gun. I know lots of people own and like Bersa's.
It's just not one I would consider owning.

And I spent less than $10 on the Hogue sleeve so it wasn't a very expensive experiment.
Maybe the owner will like the sleeve. If so, great, they can keep it on the gun.
If they hate it, they can take it off.

Thanks to everyone for your input and advice.

My wife has had several of these and some other blowback 380s. They've been sold because of the harsh recoil and bites. She now has a Walther PK380, it's actually a fun gun to shoot.