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I bought a Bersa Thunder Compact 9mm for my wife yesterday. She had bought a Kel-Tec P11 a couple of weeks ago and after less than 20 rounds handed it to me and said take this to the next gun show and get me something I can shoot. To say that she hated the trigger would be a gross understatement. We did a lot of research to try to find something comparable in size to her Bersa .380 but in 9mm. Other requirements were that it be SA/DA and have a good de-cocker/safety. We narrowed the field down to the CZ 2075 RAMI polymer frame and the Bersa Compact 9mm.
To make a long story short the only CZ at the show was a model 75. This is not an insult to the show, but it was very small. The civic center in Montgomery, AL where gunshows are traditionally held is being renovated and the sponsor of the show has had to make do with a much smaller hall. Dealers don't bring a lot of stuff because they just do not have the space to display it. One dealer I often buy from takes about one third as much to Montgomery as he takes to Birmingham. There are not as many dealers as I am used to in Montgomery either. But for what ever reason except for old CZs there just weren't any. So following orders to bring home something she could shoot I sold the Kel-Tec to an individual for a good price to him and much more than a dealer would give me and bought the Bersa compact 9.
Today my wife put about 150 rounds through the Bersa. A 100 rounds of WWB and about 50 rounds of several kinds of hollow points. There were two minor problems. Actually I hesitate to say problems because I determined that my wife was the cause of both. Anyway the third round's casing hit her on top of the head. Through the rest of the shooting she got hit in the glasses or the forehead or had a casing sail right by her ear. Problem 1. Now problem 2 did not occur until about 80 or so rounds had been fired. The casing from a round was caught in the ejection port by the very bottom of the rim. Slight movement of the slide and the casing fell out. In the next mag a shell casing was caught long ways. So 2 FTEs.
I began watching my wife's shooting in stead of spotting the rounds and I discovered a couple of things. First, she was limp wristing every time. Second the Bersa has a pretty pronounces counterclockwise flip if you don't control it. I witnessed a couple of the shell casings flying back toward her face. This was because when the casing was ejected the port was almost vertical as a result of the uncontrolled flip. As I watched I realized that even though our pistol instructor had showed us how to grip with the left hand she was not doing this. She was shooting as well one handed left or right as she was two handed. Instead of using the left hand for reinforcing the right hand's grip she was just using it to hold the pistol up while shooting. The right hand was resting in the left hand, but the left hand was actually in her words, "Just there." The recoil and muzzle flip was taking her right hand completely out of her left hand. We worked on her grip and there was some improvement. She was tired after about 150 rounds of 9mm and 14 of 357Sig so we did not get to work too much on the grip. But after realizing that the left hand was not just a support the shell casing flying back toward her face was pretty much eliminated and she had no more FTEs.
The 9mm has more recoil than than her .380 of course, but it will not be a problem for her when she gets some more practice using a good grip. I feel sort of stupid that I did not see the problem earlier, but then I remind myself that she has fired a mag of .40 caliber from a Taurus, a mag or two of 9mm from the Sig P239, the Skyy, and from the S&W 439 and none of these seem to have the same kind of twisting muzzle flip as the Bersa 9mm. The .380 certainly does not present the control problem that the 9mm does, so the fact that the left hand was doing nothing had just not been evident when she was shooting it.
The Bersa compact 9mm itself was very accurate and had no mechanical problems at all. Loaded it weighs only 3 or 4 ounces more than the Bersa .380 loaded. Size wise it is almost identical. When compared to the .380 the compact 9mm is .1" shorter, .25" less in height, .1" wider. A nice sized package and so far appears to be another sleeper in the Bersa arsenal. This week Leah will work on improving her grip and next Saturday we will be going to the police range with the Chief. I'll post a follow up at that time. Pictures will be posted tomorrow afternoon.
To make a long story short the only CZ at the show was a model 75. This is not an insult to the show, but it was very small. The civic center in Montgomery, AL where gunshows are traditionally held is being renovated and the sponsor of the show has had to make do with a much smaller hall. Dealers don't bring a lot of stuff because they just do not have the space to display it. One dealer I often buy from takes about one third as much to Montgomery as he takes to Birmingham. There are not as many dealers as I am used to in Montgomery either. But for what ever reason except for old CZs there just weren't any. So following orders to bring home something she could shoot I sold the Kel-Tec to an individual for a good price to him and much more than a dealer would give me and bought the Bersa compact 9.
Today my wife put about 150 rounds through the Bersa. A 100 rounds of WWB and about 50 rounds of several kinds of hollow points. There were two minor problems. Actually I hesitate to say problems because I determined that my wife was the cause of both. Anyway the third round's casing hit her on top of the head. Through the rest of the shooting she got hit in the glasses or the forehead or had a casing sail right by her ear. Problem 1. Now problem 2 did not occur until about 80 or so rounds had been fired. The casing from a round was caught in the ejection port by the very bottom of the rim. Slight movement of the slide and the casing fell out. In the next mag a shell casing was caught long ways. So 2 FTEs.
I began watching my wife's shooting in stead of spotting the rounds and I discovered a couple of things. First, she was limp wristing every time. Second the Bersa has a pretty pronounces counterclockwise flip if you don't control it. I witnessed a couple of the shell casings flying back toward her face. This was because when the casing was ejected the port was almost vertical as a result of the uncontrolled flip. As I watched I realized that even though our pistol instructor had showed us how to grip with the left hand she was not doing this. She was shooting as well one handed left or right as she was two handed. Instead of using the left hand for reinforcing the right hand's grip she was just using it to hold the pistol up while shooting. The right hand was resting in the left hand, but the left hand was actually in her words, "Just there." The recoil and muzzle flip was taking her right hand completely out of her left hand. We worked on her grip and there was some improvement. She was tired after about 150 rounds of 9mm and 14 of 357Sig so we did not get to work too much on the grip. But after realizing that the left hand was not just a support the shell casing flying back toward her face was pretty much eliminated and she had no more FTEs.
The 9mm has more recoil than than her .380 of course, but it will not be a problem for her when she gets some more practice using a good grip. I feel sort of stupid that I did not see the problem earlier, but then I remind myself that she has fired a mag of .40 caliber from a Taurus, a mag or two of 9mm from the Sig P239, the Skyy, and from the S&W 439 and none of these seem to have the same kind of twisting muzzle flip as the Bersa 9mm. The .380 certainly does not present the control problem that the 9mm does, so the fact that the left hand was doing nothing had just not been evident when she was shooting it.
The Bersa compact 9mm itself was very accurate and had no mechanical problems at all. Loaded it weighs only 3 or 4 ounces more than the Bersa .380 loaded. Size wise it is almost identical. When compared to the .380 the compact 9mm is .1" shorter, .25" less in height, .1" wider. A nice sized package and so far appears to be another sleeper in the Bersa arsenal. This week Leah will work on improving her grip and next Saturday we will be going to the police range with the Chief. I'll post a follow up at that time. Pictures will be posted tomorrow afternoon.
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