bersa thunder .380 ongoing problems

contact148

contact148

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Bought a brand new bersa thunder .380 when the ban was announced.

I am having ongoing problems with light primer strikes. there is a good dent on the fired primers and a good dent on the ones that didn't fire

I have tried factory ammo Mutiple brands none have 100% reliability as all had light primer strikes usual 3-10 per 50 depending on brand.

I have tried reloads with every primer brand I could find. this week I tried Remington primers 1-1/2 and out of 50 shots I had 4 light strikes, I re-#### the hammer and they all fired second try, it hates campro primers and they ftf even after Mutiple strikes.

the gun is clean I have taken the firing pin out and made sure it was clean as well as the channel for it in the slide.

Primers I have tried CCI, federal, campro, Remington winchester none offered 100% reliability.

I have a spare parts kit and measured the firing pin against a new one and they are exactly the same length.

the gun always ejects and feeds if it fires.

anyone else have this problem with this gun? any ideas?
 
That stinks, sorry to hear it.

Sounds like you've tried a bunch of this already, but let's be sure:

1. Are the light strikes dead center in the primer? Any scrapes visible on the brass or bullets with the "light strike" cartridges?
2. Is there any kind of ammunition or reloads that are immune to the light strikes issue?
3. Squeaky clean chamber and throat. Cartridges need to be fully seated in the chamber, they headspace on the case mouth.
4. Check for throat issues. With pistol disassembled, seat cartridges in chamber and give them a firm press. Then remove and look for signs of rifling engraving on the bullet.
5. Check that the slide is fully forward before firing. A few things can keep the slide from closing 100%. Try chambering rounds from slide lock, just using the slide release. If that doesn't make a difference give the slide an additional hard press closed with your hand (safety on of course).

If the above don't turn up anything, then I'd start looking at extractor and fire control issues.

BTW, if you haven't already, it's very easy to remove the magazine disconnect safety on these pistols. That will make it easier to work on.
 
I have not been inside a Thunder .380 for a long time.

~ Excessive headspace? Clean the chamber well, drop a loaded cartridge into the chamber. Does the base of the case drop below flush with the mouth of the chamber?
~ Is the recoil spring a larger diameter on one end? If so the larger end should be towards the front.
~ Safety not fully rotating out of the way of the FP? FP dragging on Safety?
~ FP not moving fully to the rear?
~ Is anything in the way of preventing the trigger from moving fully to the rear? Overtravel stop, trigger shoe, shooting glove?

~ Is the tip of the trigger finger hitting the frame during firing? Pay attention because this can prevent parts from moving out of the way so other parts can fire the gun. Large hands/small pistol and too much finger sticking thru the trigger guard.
 
I have a .22lr and .380 Bersa pistol. No issues with my .380 but what you described is the exact issue I had with my .22lr. Hated Stingers and didn't like anything I ran in it, would always fire on the second strike though. Some brands better than others etc. I don't know what the problem was I cleaned the gun a half dozen times and fiddled with it, no luck. Then one day it just worked 100% and has ever since. I know that isn't too useful but with some perseverance maybe you'll get lucky too...
 
contact148 said:
Bought a brand new bersa thunder .380 when the ban was announced.

I am having ongoing problems with light primer strikes. there is a good dent on the fired primers and a good dent on the ones that didn't fire

I have tried factory ammo Mutiple brands none have 100% reliability as all had light primer strikes usual 3-10 per 50 depending on brand.

I have tried reloads with every primer brand I could find. this week I tried Remington primers 1-1/2 and out of 50 shots I had 4 light strikes, I re-#### the hammer and they all fired second try, it hates campro primers and they ftf even after Mutiple strikes.

the gun is clean I have taken the firing pin out and made sure it was clean as well as the channel for it in the slide.

Primers I have tried CCI, federal, campro, Remington winchester none offered 100% reliability.

I have a spare parts kit and measured the firing pin against a new one and they are exactly the same length.

the gun always ejects and feeds if it fires.

anyone else have this problem with this gun? any ideas?
Click to expand...



What I would do is send off an email to Bersa and tell them about your problem . ask what the chance is that they could send you a new hammer spring . I think they are in Argentina . if I'm not mistaken .
 
Ok ill try and answer some of your questions

recoil spring is on the correct way small end first on barrel large end at muzzle

primer strikes light or not are dead center

every factory and reload i have tried i have had FTF some worse them others.

chamber and throat appear fine everything that fires feeds and ejects without fail

ill pull it apart this week and drop a few rounds into barrel and take a look

no gloves nothing dragging on trigger
 
B said:
I have a .22lr and .380 Bersa pistol. No issues with my .380 but what you described is the exact issue I had with my .22lr. Hated Stingers and didn't like anything I ran in it, would always fire on the second strike though. Some brands better than others etc. I don't know what the problem was I cleaned the gun a half dozen times and fiddled with it, no luck. Then one day it just worked 100% and has ever since....
Click to expand...

Sounds like weak energy transfer through the fire control system, which resolved itself with enough "break in" time as the various contact surfaces smoothed up.

That's my hunch with the OP's pistol, too, if the other items all check out okay. Should be easy enough to fix just by accelerating break in.
 
alpining said:
Sounds like weak energy transfer through the fire control system, which resolved itself with enough "break in" time as the various contact surfaces smoothed up.

That's my hunch with the OP's pistol, too, if the other items all check out okay. Should be easy enough to fix just by accelerating break in.
Click to expand...

im 500 ish rounds into this pistol how cant I break it in faster I suppose I could chamber a snap cap and just put it in double action and pull away
 
contact148 said:
... chamber a snap cap and just put it in double action and pull away
Click to expand...

That's the simplest.

The most thorough method is to disassemble and polish all of the contact surfaces in the fire control system (and the corresponding contact surfaces on the frame and slide). Probably the single most important piece in terms of preserving energy transfer is the hammer strut, but it could be a combination of factors at every link in the chain from the bottom of the hammer strut to the nose of the firing pin. Each bit of friction along the way stacks up and reduces the energy delivered to the primer.

But I wouldn't make this effort until you are certain that the cartridges are seating without issue in the chamber (numbered list in my earlier post).
 
alpining said:
Sounds like weak energy transfer through the fire control system, which resolved itself with enough "break in" time as the various contact surfaces smoothed up.

That's my hunch with the OP's pistol, too, if the other items all check out okay. Should be easy enough to fix just by accelerating break in.
Click to expand...

Yup, the pistols are hardly hand tuned and finished. I was probably close to 1000 rounds and lots of dryfire before it just stopped being an issue.
 
Shouldn't be surprising, with the price tag they had. Mine has literally never misfired (22 version). Just what you'd expect: Sometimes tolerances stack in your favour, and sometimes they don't.
 
alpining said:
That's the simplest.

The most thorough method is to disassemble and polish all of the contact surfaces in the fire control system (and the corresponding contact surfaces on the frame and slide). Probably the single most important piece in terms of preserving energy transfer is the hammer strut, but it could be a combination of factors at every link in the chain from the bottom of the hammer strut to the nose of the firing pin. Each bit of friction along the way stacks up and reduces the energy delivered to the primer.

But I wouldn't make this effort until you are certain that the cartridges are seating without issue in the chamber (numbered list in my earlier post).
Click to expand...

cartridges drop in and cant be pushed futher then come out just as easily
 
That's a good sign. To confirm - After using your thumb to press a loaded cartridge home in the chamber, are there any marks on the bullet from the rifling? It's worth check a few dozen, all of different types, because even factory ammo can have significant variations in OAL.

After that, from my list earlier, I think it's just #5 that I'd check before moving to the "energy transfer" hypothesis.
 
alpining said:
That's a good sign. To confirm - After using your thumb to press a loaded cartridge home in the chamber, are there any marks on the bullet from the rifling? It's worth check a few dozen, all of different types, because even factory ammo can have significant variations in OAL.

After that, from my list earlier, I think it's just #5 that I'd check before moving to the "energy transfer" hypothesis.
Click to expand...

Tried about 10 random rnds from 3 different brands factory and 10 rnd of my reloads all same result not touching rifling at all

tried with dummy rnds slide fully forward will try live rnds on sunday
 
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