stinkeypete
New member
I have a new dog, find myself in the woods more than ever, and we like to plink. After a while, the .22 gets a little stale. Without doubt, a nice .22 is the best “walking plinking” pistol out there. But what’s the second best?
As the caliber wars loop back around to “let’s try to sell .380s now” I happened to see a Glock 42 and a Shield EZ .380 at one place. They looked nice.
Another place had both a Ruger LCRx in .38 and a Bersa Thunder in .380 at good prices so I bought them both.
I used to have a Bersa 18 years ago, but that was in the middle of my “big bore” phase and as my walking around gun was a .45 Colt Blackhawk, the Bersa and it’s PPK pal were traded off. I hesitated only at the Bersa, because I liked it but didn’t see the purpose.
This is a report leading up to the first range visit.
1. Strip the slide and admire the simple blowback design. It looks like my tt Olympia clone’s big brother. How can it not be accurate?
2. Hornady One Shot. You guys are right, this stuff is awesome sauce. I just tried it and I give it 10/10. After removing the grips, I squirted One Shot in to all the moving parts, let the yellow gunk sit then drain, wipe. After the 3rd iteration, no yellow gunk. I lubed the rails liberally with Shooters Choice synthetic “grease.”
Trigger went from “really good” to “Wow. Excellent factory trigger!”
Fit and finish are very solid!
3. Range... the only item backordered on my last online purchase was 25 yard Slow Fire targets... but I’m just here to do pattern some shotguns and sight in a couple of pistols.
25 yards, shooting at a 100 yard rifle sight-in target taped to a shotgun pattern paper. I expect to need the 4x4 foot backing paper.
Five shots offhand, 25 yards, Winchester white box. I shoot with one hand. Recoil is brisk- it’s not a .22
Walking down to my target. Huh. One shot is smack dab in the one inch diamond bullseye of the target. The other 4 are scattered about it, within 6 inches. Pure luck Bullseye. I am grateful no one else is around to see it ot I would be forced to say “yep, this one shoots fine” and go home.
Another 5 Down range. The group is still centered. The bullseye, although giving great confidence and feeling about the gun, is still luck. Less luck though, as the gun seems sighted in, out of the box.
Switching to the Aguila .380 I got for $12 a box... different recoil, sparks fly out of the muzzle, the group seems to open up, but right out of the box, the adjustable sights are smack dab on.
Interested as to what the difference between the Winchester and Aguila ammunition preferences might be, I shot 5 Aguila with my hands on sandbags. Change of grips gave a slightly different point of aim but I put 5 shots in to a 4.5 inch group at 25 yards, brand new pistol. I decided to stop. Other shooting chores to do.
Before leaving, I taped up one of the round circles of cardboard I keep in my range bag. They are the 11.5 inch bit of cardboard from under frozen pizzas.
The “5 ring” of a 25 yard nra precision pistol target is 9.66 inches.
5 shots, 3.75 inch group outside edge to outside edge. All shots would have been inside the “8 ring”.
Rather than tempt fate with more shots, I will simply report that the Thunder .380 is exceeding my expectations for accuracy, even using cheap factory ammunition.
I’ll get back to it soon with some official targets to post pictures of... when my only task is to concentrate on accuracy testing.
Bersa Thunder .380- $249.99
It’s not “good for the money”, it’s just good. This one is a keeper.
Very good dual action trigger, very good single action trigger.
Very good accuracy for a non-target pistol. Well under 4” groups at 25 yards.
Adjustable sights.
Hammer/de cocker/safety for those of us that like to see the hammer down and blocked.
Overall design is simple, controls are simple and positive
Enough kick to keep it fun, not so much to make it sting.
Not a hitch in operation so far.
The beaver tail was grinding my thumb a little. Shooting glove, callous, or a bit of sandpaper may be in order.
It tosses the spent cases on the ground, all over the place.
The Thunder is a big win.
The Ruger LCRx... wasn’t grouping that well this day with only one type of cheap factory ammunition. Sights also were on target or very close. It’s not fair to say much more as ammunition can play a big part in accuracy and I got lucky with the Bersa. On the other hand, very good pistols have lucky days far more often.
I’ll say this about the LCRx- double action trigger is so smooth and cams such that shooting double action is fun! I think the double action is outstanding and the single action is very good. I like the light weight, the high tech approach to a 1930’s era look, the ugly grips ain’t that ugly and they feel really good.
Recoil is brisk but not punishing, I like seeing the hammer is down and seeing the rims of ammunition (or not seeing brass) as a visual indication of being safe or unloaded.
I like how the brass falls out in to your hand. Fun change after 20 years of single action revolver (or semi auto hunting for spent brass.)
It will be fun to see what I can wring out of it with some different loads.
There you have it: my plinking/walking around pistols that are not .22lr are the Bersa Thunder and the 3” LCRx in the useless .38 Special cartridge!
What’s your walking/plinker?
As the caliber wars loop back around to “let’s try to sell .380s now” I happened to see a Glock 42 and a Shield EZ .380 at one place. They looked nice.
Another place had both a Ruger LCRx in .38 and a Bersa Thunder in .380 at good prices so I bought them both.
I used to have a Bersa 18 years ago, but that was in the middle of my “big bore” phase and as my walking around gun was a .45 Colt Blackhawk, the Bersa and it’s PPK pal were traded off. I hesitated only at the Bersa, because I liked it but didn’t see the purpose.
This is a report leading up to the first range visit.
1. Strip the slide and admire the simple blowback design. It looks like my tt Olympia clone’s big brother. How can it not be accurate?
2. Hornady One Shot. You guys are right, this stuff is awesome sauce. I just tried it and I give it 10/10. After removing the grips, I squirted One Shot in to all the moving parts, let the yellow gunk sit then drain, wipe. After the 3rd iteration, no yellow gunk. I lubed the rails liberally with Shooters Choice synthetic “grease.”
Trigger went from “really good” to “Wow. Excellent factory trigger!”
Fit and finish are very solid!
3. Range... the only item backordered on my last online purchase was 25 yard Slow Fire targets... but I’m just here to do pattern some shotguns and sight in a couple of pistols.
25 yards, shooting at a 100 yard rifle sight-in target taped to a shotgun pattern paper. I expect to need the 4x4 foot backing paper.
Five shots offhand, 25 yards, Winchester white box. I shoot with one hand. Recoil is brisk- it’s not a .22
Walking down to my target. Huh. One shot is smack dab in the one inch diamond bullseye of the target. The other 4 are scattered about it, within 6 inches. Pure luck Bullseye. I am grateful no one else is around to see it ot I would be forced to say “yep, this one shoots fine” and go home.
Another 5 Down range. The group is still centered. The bullseye, although giving great confidence and feeling about the gun, is still luck. Less luck though, as the gun seems sighted in, out of the box.
Switching to the Aguila .380 I got for $12 a box... different recoil, sparks fly out of the muzzle, the group seems to open up, but right out of the box, the adjustable sights are smack dab on.
Interested as to what the difference between the Winchester and Aguila ammunition preferences might be, I shot 5 Aguila with my hands on sandbags. Change of grips gave a slightly different point of aim but I put 5 shots in to a 4.5 inch group at 25 yards, brand new pistol. I decided to stop. Other shooting chores to do.
Before leaving, I taped up one of the round circles of cardboard I keep in my range bag. They are the 11.5 inch bit of cardboard from under frozen pizzas.
The “5 ring” of a 25 yard nra precision pistol target is 9.66 inches.
5 shots, 3.75 inch group outside edge to outside edge. All shots would have been inside the “8 ring”.
Rather than tempt fate with more shots, I will simply report that the Thunder .380 is exceeding my expectations for accuracy, even using cheap factory ammunition.
I’ll get back to it soon with some official targets to post pictures of... when my only task is to concentrate on accuracy testing.
Bersa Thunder .380- $249.99
It’s not “good for the money”, it’s just good. This one is a keeper.
Very good dual action trigger, very good single action trigger.
Very good accuracy for a non-target pistol. Well under 4” groups at 25 yards.
Adjustable sights.
Hammer/de cocker/safety for those of us that like to see the hammer down and blocked.
Overall design is simple, controls are simple and positive
Enough kick to keep it fun, not so much to make it sting.
Not a hitch in operation so far.
The beaver tail was grinding my thumb a little. Shooting glove, callous, or a bit of sandpaper may be in order.
It tosses the spent cases on the ground, all over the place.
The Thunder is a big win.
The Ruger LCRx... wasn’t grouping that well this day with only one type of cheap factory ammunition. Sights also were on target or very close. It’s not fair to say much more as ammunition can play a big part in accuracy and I got lucky with the Bersa. On the other hand, very good pistols have lucky days far more often.
I’ll say this about the LCRx- double action trigger is so smooth and cams such that shooting double action is fun! I think the double action is outstanding and the single action is very good. I like the light weight, the high tech approach to a 1930’s era look, the ugly grips ain’t that ugly and they feel really good.
Recoil is brisk but not punishing, I like seeing the hammer is down and seeing the rims of ammunition (or not seeing brass) as a visual indication of being safe or unloaded.
I like how the brass falls out in to your hand. Fun change after 20 years of single action revolver (or semi auto hunting for spent brass.)
It will be fun to see what I can wring out of it with some different loads.
There you have it: my plinking/walking around pistols that are not .22lr are the Bersa Thunder and the 3” LCRx in the useless .38 Special cartridge!
What’s your walking/plinker?
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