Hitting Nothing with Bersa Thunder

[dakota.potts]

Took the girlfriend's new Bersa Thunder out to the range the other day. Shot 50 rounds and a magazine of carry ammo with no issue. Went bang every time. The single action trigger is a little heavier than I'm used to with my CZ, but just took a little time adjusting to.

Our public shooting range only has target posts at 15 yards that can't be moved, which is obviously not the ideal range for first shooting a concealed carry pistol. After shooting our first 20 rounds or so, we went downrange and were surprised to find no only two holes in the target; one of them just clipping the edge of the paper. I had been shooting my CZ at the target beside it and put all of my shots well within the center of the target (not a bullseye group, but all there).

I did some messing around with the hold and found that by holding on the far left of the target, I was getting some hits slightly to the right and a good bit below center. I only managed to get about 6 of 10 on the target this way. We only had rifle targets and were running out of daylight so we packed up but it left me a bit confused. Are factory sights often off that much? Do the laser boresighters on the market work well for getting a pistol closer to target at that distance? Would definitely like to fix this in a smart way since the closest we can shoot is 15 yards. Getting on paper at that distance before expending more rounds would be nice.

On another note, the safety/decocker is ridiculously hard. Frustratingly difficult. The other day, with both hands, I couldn't get the safety to engage and eventually gave up. I've heard that the safeties can start out stiff, but this is getting more difficult, not less.

Any advice is appreciated. Haven't sat down to disassemble it yet. I read that there were a couple of small and necessary pins/springs that are really easy to lose, so I wanted to make sure I understood that before disassembly.

Thanks

 

[ttarp]

Any advice is appreciated. Haven't sat down to disassemble it yet. I read that there were a couple of small and necessary pins/springs that are really easy to lose, so I wanted to make sure I understood that before disassembly.

If your talking about field stripping its very easy to do, and no easy to lose springs.

And if your safety takes two hands to engage, you should probably send it in for warranty, I never even heard of that issue before.

 

[gyvel]

In addition to the safety, if your point of aim is that far off, there is something more wrong with that pistol. I would send the whole thing back to Bersa.

 

[PSP]

Have an experienced shooter try it. If someone known as a "good shot" can't hit the target, then your sights are off.

 

[gyvel]

Have an experienced shooter try it. If someone known as a "good shot" can't hit the target, then your sights are off.

He says he's aiming at the left edge of the paper target and shots are hitting at the right edge of the paper. That's more than sights that are off. It could be anything from a crookedly cut muzzle crown to a warped frame (although unlikely, as he had no mechanical malfunctions). At any rate, something is grossly out of spec.

I still think the best bet at this time is to send it back to Bersa.

 

[g.willikers]

I've had two that did stuff like that.
One was a rimfire rifle with a less than straight barrel.
The other was a pistol with an overly large barrel internal diameter.

 

[gyvel]

One was a rimfire rifle with a less than straight barrel.

Which made me think of something I overlooked.. His barrel could have been bored crookedly.

 

[qwiksdraw]

There's a bunch of guys at

http://www.bersachat.com/forums/forum.php

that might offer some help.

This isn't a fanboy forum, you will find some good discussions with members helping other Bersa owners. Friendly group too.

My BT380 is quite accurate and so should yours. Does it have the adjustable rear sight? If that little screw got loose, that could be your problem.

 

[dakota.potts]

It does have the adjustable rear sight, and I remember when my dad looked at the gun, he pointed out to me that the rear sight looked pretty far left of center.

Before I send anything back to Bersa, I will get one of those .380 laser bore sights and see where the POA compares to the laser. I'll adjust the sights as I can and shoot it on paper to see if it's any closer. I'm also going to sit down and disassemble it to remove all the factory grease and give it a good lubrication. If the two issues aren't fixed after that, I think I'll take the advice here and get it sent back.

 

[TimSr]

The laser bore sighter isn't going to help much. You need to get a group on paper. Since moving the target closer is not an option, you need a larger paper target. You already know it is shooting low and to the right. Start adjusting, and shoot another group, adjust again. Height will vary with ammo, but side to side should be pretty consistant.

 

[ms6852]

Do not take insult to this but the problem is lack of practice and a heavy trigger. I remember the first time I shot my 642 snub nose. I could not believe that I had missed my paper plate target from 5 yards. The double action trigger was so heavy,combined with the recoil of such a small gun made me realize how inaccurate this small guns are. Normally I would hit the paper plate target at 100 yds with my 1911 5 out of 7 times .

I would recommend you use a full size silhouette target so that you can see where poi are with your bersa and than use Kentucky windage . You could also have trigger work done or buy caps and dry fire several hundred times to make it a smoother trigger.

Since my 642 smith and Wesson is double action only and the pull feels like 10 lbs, I bought a crimson laser and practice by dry firing with the laser on. I aim at a 12 ga shell and than squeeze the trigger, you ought to see that laser move all over the place. I am getting a little better but the recoil proves to be more of a problem. Good luck.

 

[RAfiringline]

>disassemble it to remove all the factory grease and give it a good lubrication. If the two issues aren't fixed after that, I think I'll take the advice here and get it sent back.<

The recoil spring can be put in wrong way around which will cause stoppages. One end is tighter than the other, and that is the end which lies at the chamber end.

If you can, use a big swatch of paper (xmas wrapping?) to shoot at, and get a sandbag or an aiming stick to rest the gun on. Small handguns are much harder to shoot well than medium/large ones.

 

[peggysue]

I have a Thunder 45. Not sure what you have. Mine has a decocker. You must cock the hammer then move the lever which decocks and puts it on safety. Read the manual.
As others have said let some one else shoot your pistol. Could be you causing the gun to shoot off targer.

 

[hartcreek]

The answer is really simple......Use a larger piece of cardboard so you can be on paper more easily and sight the blasted pistol in.

 

[michael t]

he pointed out to me that the rear sight looked pretty far left of center.

Well lets center the rear sight 15yds a sight off center is going to be way off at that distance.

Make sure to re loctight the sight(blue not red) or you will find screw spring and blade all missing .

 

[dyl]

If the rear sight is far off to the left, assuming everything else was hunky dory, this would cause shots to to strike even more to the left. You described a situation where impacts were to the right of point of aim.

If the front sight is moveable check It's position.

If you are left handed you could be jerking the trigger.

Try it rested. Even if the sights are off after you get used to the pistol some decent sized groups should be possible even if they are off target.

It's hard to tell with a new pistol. I think you already have an idea of how to eliminate variables- find a way to shoot closer or bigger paper/cardboard. Try shooting with other hand, practice more to see. I once had a pistol that had strange gimmicky sights where it would consistently shoot low - it was hard figuring out the right sight picture. Also had another pistol where the rear sight was so loose it almost fell out of the dovetail on its own due to recoil as it drifted to the left. If you google brownells sight calculator you could ft to drift it over and look for improvement

 

[dakota.potts]

Well, finally got a chance to sit down with the gun and tear it apart. Not so difficult once you figure out how to compress the recoil spring enough to get the slide back into face.

I didn't disassemble it much but there were a couple of shiny surfaces on internal parts which would indicate a burr or some other grit rubbing against operating surfaces.

While I had the slide off of the frame, I was pushing the decocker/safety to get an idea of what works were and inspect it. I pushed it all the way into safety position, where it clicked, and is now stuck with the safety on. The hammer was cocked when I put the slide back on the frame, and I was able to pull the trigger and release it with the safety on. Afterwards, the hammer wouldn't cock (as it shouldn't) with the safety on.

Others have said they had some success soaking it in solvent over night. If it's hardened grease, that will work. I guess I'll try that, and if it's not better tomorrow I'll be sending it back for repair or replacement. Unless anybody has direct information about this failure.