:: Bersa Talk ::

I pulled mine out and laid it down in the direction of reassembly so I was positive it was back in correctly but if you pull it out and lay it beside the mag. you can see the top and bottom of the spring angle so that they should meet flush with the bottom stop and the slide. I did not notice a difference between the top and bottom of the spring other then the angles.   Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

MT's post has me wondering also.Im not having any problems and have had both my mags apart for cleaning.
Can anyone supply a link or explain what to look for to make sure the mag spring is not upside down?
Backwards is obvious as it wont fit right in the follower or the floor plate angles.
Upsidedown???????

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And my gun is cocked and loaded,I hope I get me some sleep tonight.
Tommy Bolin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqKZEoY1rgU

Based on your report, I would guess the mag spring weakened faster than the gun loosened. Folks who know these guns will understand that comment. A new mag will probably fix it. You also may want to lube the slide a bit. If it still jams - send it to Royce in Colorado.

Thanks for the tip.  The mag spring did get noticeably weaker, good for loading.. not good for shooting.  I was hoping I would have the new one back from Eagle by now (seeing as they are a little more then a stones throw away) to try it out.  Maybe I'll give them a ring tomorrow and see if they know anything about it.

Hmmmm...I carry a Thunder .380 every day. A couple of times a week it gets broken down and dried out with a little WD-40. Twice a week I stop by the range and run out a couple of clips.

I've experienced the failure-to-feed problems too, but I think it's more temperature related than anything else. For the first 20 rounds or so, I've never had a failure. For CC purposes, if I have to unload a whole clip, I brought the wrong weapon...shoulda carried my Winchester Model 1200...

Just my experience...

Hi!

Temperature shouldn't be an issue, within reason -- your own body is more likely to malfunction first, at the extreme temps that might begin to affect either the gun or the lubricants applied to it.

A tip-up FTF like what the OP took photos of indicates a "slow" magazine, meaning it can't get the next cartridge up in time for the cycling slide to give it a push squarely on the casehead. What happens instead is the slide meets the cartridge casing wall, pinching it and tilting the whole cartridge upwards. Weak, or poorly tempered mag springs, or even too much friction between follower and mag tube, make for a "slow" mag.

There are other possible causes, such as bad fit between mag and magwell causing the mag to sit just barely too low to allow proper feeding, but a slow mag is the usual suspect. Exercise your warranty, and leave no room for doubt. You need to have total confidence in your weapon!

Cheers,

horge

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Bersa Thunder 380 Chapterhouse
--an online resource for the Thunder 380 owner
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Well I finally got back to the range and I am happy to report the new mag did the trick.  Eagle actually sent me two of them, one in error I am sure, though to stay honest I feel I have to call and tell them about it. Anyway, I took 100 rd of Rem 95gr UMC, 50 rd Rem 88gr JHP (standard), 50 rounds of Wolf 91gr FMJ (not steel) and 25 rounds of Independence 95gr FMJ.  I shot all but 25 rounds of the hollows with no jams alternating between both magazines.

While I was out there I decided to do an impromptu experiment to see which ammo performed the best.

The Wolf ammo was the harshest loading.  This due to its non polished casings. It fired every time, and was surprisingly the cleanest of all the rounds.. BY FAR. With almost no ash left in the chamber or barrel.

The Remington UMC loaded smooth and fired every time but was a bit dirty, leaving some ash in the barrel but it seemed it was pretty well burned and did not hamper performance at all.

The Remington hollow points like the UMC loaded smooth and fired every time, but to my surprise was also dirty.  This did not seem to affect the performance of the gun.

The Independence ammo (which I had the jamming problems with) was the dirtiest of all the ammo, which may have been the reason for the jamming, leaving deposits in the barrel, the chamber and the magazine.  The Independence also left a lot of ash on my arm which I did not have with any of the other ammo.  I will stay away from this from now on.

As for accuracy they were pretty much all the same. I was able to tightly control the rounds at 15 yards.  The hollows had a few strays but I was also practicing different firing techniques at the time.

So all in all I am very happy with the Bersa again.  Of course all the machos there were making fun of the "baby gun" when I was shooting paper, as they plinked away with their 40 and 45's at the metal targets.  Hit or miss to say the least.  Before I left for the day I went over there and unloaded 2 clips as fast as I could at 18 yards with 0 misses.  They didn't say anything at all, except the instructor that was giving lessons to some people yelled "Nice shootin".

Good advice, but HOW do you take apart a Bersa 9-round or 7-round magazine?  Should you oil these magazines?  What else can you do to maintain these magazines?

Thanks.

Independence ammo probably not the cause of the problem. I broke mine in with them with no problem. What do you mean wolf was the harshest?

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God bless America. And save it from the Dems.

Kimber Pro-carry II - 0.45.
Glock17.
Bersa Thunder 380.
Remington 597
NRA Member

SuprDarb:

Good advice, but HOW do you take apart a Bersa 9-round or 7-round magazine?  Should you oil these magazines?  What else can you do to maintain these magazines?

Thanks.

There is a small 'button' on the bottom of the mag. Push it in using a small screwdriver and slide the bottom of the mag forward.  Be careful there is a spring inside that will need to be installed in the same way it was removed. 

Usually I wipe the spring and slide off with a rag. Then I use a cleaning rod and patch (the same one I used to clean the barrel) to clean inside the mag.  I use the same one because it already has oil on it.

As for the ammo.  The Wolf rounds have a lot of friction against one another. I am only talking about the casings. This does not seem to affect ejection.

The Independence ammo shot fine but was much more dirty then the other ammo I have tried.

spdweb.net:

Usually I wipe the spring and slide off with a rag. Then I use a cleaning rod and patch (the same one I used to clean the barrel) to clean inside the mag.  I use the same one because it already has oil on it.

Another thing I like to use are wool mops. A 12 gauge fits nicely in a Bersa UC mag. A .410 works on most single stack mags.

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You trying to screen for communists? Don't worry, we're all cool. - Dale