:: Bersa Talk ::

Ok this is a new one for me,

 I have cleaned my Bersa for sometime now and as of late the trigger seems NOT to be firing or i have to Squeeze the trigger twice to get it to even fire once when i "dry fire" the gun and i'll be honest in saying that i'm kinda affraid to remove the grips on  the bersa for fear of losing any SMALL parts like springs or any other vital part so any help in this area would be Soooo Greatly appreciated.

Bersa531

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Well, I wouldn't continue to fire it if it's doing that.

My motto is if it ain't broke don't fix it, but if it is, send it to CGW. Here's how you do it: http://bersatalk.com/forums/thread/45234.aspx

Of course, others may feel qualified to advise you differently. Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

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p-t-max

I'm no expert, I'm just, well---opinionated!

http://blog648.blogspot.com/

I have cleaned my Bersa for sometime now and as of late the trigger seems NOT to be firing or i have to Squeeze the trigger twice to get it to even fire once when i "dry fire" the gun and i'll be honest in saying that i'm kinda affraid to remove the grips on  the bersa for fear of losing any SMALL parts like springs or any other vital part so any help in this area would be Soooo Greatly appreciated.

Sounds awfully familiar to me, like you have a bad case of a broken "Infamous E-Clip".  It is a dinky little E-Clip that holds the trigger linkage together, it resides right under the right side grip.  I've broken the one in my T380 twice.  If it has already degraded to not firing (as it appears based on what you said in your post), the linkage has already come apart.

At this point, you have 2 options:

> Send it in for warranty service.
> Fix it yourself.

If you decide to go with the latter, here's what you'll need to do:
> Get a new e-clip.  MikeT claims that you can get one at an auto parts store, but I've never been able to fine one there.  It is a dinky little clip, after all.  I got them by calling Eagle Imports and ordering from them direct.  You can look on the "official" parts diagram and it isn't there, but it is there all the same.  They have them, cheap, you just have to call and ask for them.
> Go over to the Bersa Chapterhouse and look at their illustrated detail assembly/disassembly instructions.  That'll show you how to do the repair.

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I'm one and the same as gb_in_ga, so add a bit over 900 to my post count...

Lowes here has those clips ...whole drawer full of them ...not sure if they have small enought for what you need but ...NAPA and several local hardware - farm supply places have them too. You should be able to find them local with a little looking....

JK

The e-clips can be found at hobby stores that deal in R/C cars also.

Or, send it to us and have it repaired without running around looking for the right sized clip. Saves on gas, aggrevation, and the ever famous, what if its not the e-clip that is the problem?.

Please let us know what you decide.

Thanks,

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C. Royce Honeycutt
Master Gunsmith
Master Firearms Instructor
Bersa Warranty Center

gb_in_tx:

I have cleaned my Bersa for sometime now and as of late the trigger seems NOT to be firing or i have to Squeeze the trigger twice to get it to even fire once when i "dry fire" the gun and i'll be honest in saying that i'm kinda affraid to remove the grips on  the bersa for fear of losing any SMALL parts like springs or any other vital part so any help in this area would be Soooo Greatly appreciated.

Sounds awfully familiar to me, like you have a bad case of a broken "Infamous E-Clip".  It is a dinky little E-Clip that holds the trigger linkage together, it resides right under the right side grip.  I've broken the one in my T380 twice.  If it has already degraded to not firing (as it appears based on what you said in your post), the linkage has already come apart.

At this point, you have 2 options:

> Send it in for warranty service.
> Fix it yourself.

If you decide to go with the latter, here's what you'll need to do:
> Get a new e-clip.  MikeT claims that you can get one at an auto parts store, but I've never been able to fine one there.  It is a dinky little clip, after all.  I got them by calling Eagle Imports and ordering from them direct.  You can look on the "official" parts diagram and it isn't there, but it is there all the same.  They have them, cheap, you just have to call and ask for them.
> Go over to the Bersa Chapterhouse and look at their illustrated detail assembly/disassembly instructions.  That'll show you how to do the repair.

I've been reading about Bersa and about made up my mind.  Until I just read this.  I sure wouldn't trust one for self defence if I have to worry about some little clip breaking and if I can repair it before the perp shots me.

samstone:

I've been reading about Bersa and about made up my mind.  Until I just read this.  I sure wouldn't trust one for self defence if I have to worry about some little clip breaking and if I can repair it before the perp shots me.

samstone, welcome to Bersa Talk.

Welcome to BT!

I've been reading about Bersa and about made up my mind.  Until I just read this.  I sure wouldn't trust one for self defence if I have to worry about some little clip breaking and if I can repair it before the perp shots me.

It really isn't all that bad.  More of an aggravation.  Let me explain:

First, it is true that I've broken 2 of the little buggers.  That has been in the space of well over 6000 rounds and spread over the several years that I've owned the gun.  Most people don't run anywhere near that amount of ammo through theirs.  Note also that similar trivial part failure rates are not considered deal breakers in other guns.

Second, and most important from a SD standpoint:  When one of them breaks, the gun doesn't go instantly dead.  What happens is that the trigger starts feeling very gritty.  That goes on for a couple of dozen rounds before the gun becomes functionally unusable.  Meaning, should the worst case happen and the clip break in a SD situation, the gun will not die on you before you run out of ammo, assuming that you are carrying a "typical" load of 1 magazine in the gun and 1 spare on your person.  At least that's been my experience.  Of the 2 instances of e-clip failure I've encountered, one of them had no symptoms at all -- I just noticed a fragment of the clip sticking out of the top of the grip when cleaning the gun after a range session.  The other was more serious, but even then the gun functioned for several magazines worth of ammo before it became unshootable -- long enough to get through a SD situation, in other words.

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I'm one and the same as gb_in_ga, so add a bit over 900 to my post count...

Or, send it to us and have it repaired without running around looking for the right sized clip. Saves on gas, aggrevation, and the ever famous, what if its not the e-clip that is the problem?.

Quite true.  The first time I broke a clip, that's what I did.  Well, not to Royce and crew specifically, but to another warranty service provider (Walker Arms) who, sadly, is apparently no longer in business.  That was the time the linkage came apart on me and the gun was non-functional.  My frustration level was pretty high at the time, and there were other (major) issues with the gun as well -- all fixed, no complaints.

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I'm one and the same as gb_in_ga, so add a bit over 900 to my post count...