I wanted a place to discuss my handguns and firearms in general. Everyone seemingly has lots to say about guns, so I promise you this won't be a rant blog.
I was checking my handguns (I do this monthly to ensure there’s no rust and that they’ve a coating of oil) and came across my P11. The Grand Power P11 is a beautiful handgun, but one of the things I hate about it is that the grip is soooo damned slippery.
I’ve often thought of buying Talon Grips or grip tape that is rubberized, just so I could use it on this handgun’s grip. I’m not sure if Talon Grips would properly seal onto the grip, though, and grip tape can sometimes be a pain in the ass to get right. Grip tape was my last resort.
I’ve a Hogue slip-on grip on my Beretta PX4 Compact that I installed maybe 8 months ago (I talk about it here). It was also a pain in the ass to mount on that handgun but it’s solid and feels great in the hand. The rubberized texture feels natural and grippy.
I decided to try a set for the P11, but I searched to see if anyone else had documented online that they’d tried Hogue slip-ons on this handgun. I couldn’t find any data via Google that showed anyone trying this, so I didn’t know which set of slip-ons to try.
I went to Hogue’s website and looked at what they had. Each slip-on had documentation showing which gun they’d fit. I perused the Handall Jr. product’s documentation and saw that it would fit such guns as the Bersa Thunder .380 and the Ruger SR9C. Both of those have rather thin/slim girthed grips, so I thought that this one would best fit my P11. The plan was to order one and if it didn’t fit, to reorder the next size up.
The slip-on arrived today. At first I thought that it was too small. I had to fight to get it onto the grip, but, as with my PX4’s slip-on, I warmed it up a bit (with a hair dryer), which made the rubber a bit more pliable. I suppose I could’ve used water to “lube” the grip to the point that the slip-on would slide onto the grip. Regardless, it eventually fit onto the grip!
The grip feels MUCH better now. I feel much more confident with it in my hand now. Prior to that, it always felt like the handgun might slip from my hands. It also looks rather nice on the handgun…looks different and not so much out of place.
I plan to take it to the range to see if it enhances shooting.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a video, so here it is.
The only woe I have (actually, HAD) was that the Bersa would sting the hell out of the webbing of my hand. I’ve added Talon Grips (a strip along the back strap area) which I think helped, but I think the actual issue was that I didn’t have a firm grip on the gun, which made the edges of the beavertail (sharp edges) dig into the sensitive part of my hand. I shot 200 rounds out of the Bersa tonight and didn’t get stung at all.
I also shot 100 rounds out of my Glock 19. I’m falling in love with this gun…I’m becoming accurate as hell with it and it will eat ammo (rough ammo — Wolf) while being dirty…without issue. What’s not to love?
Oh, and I’ve a treat. I now have a camera that mounts to my range glasses that will capture footage of me shooting. I’ve never been able to capture good footage of my range sessions until now.
I ordered a new OEM recoil spring for the Glock 22. In fact, I ordered two of them. I still haven’t contacted EFK Dragon Fire regarding the failed Glock 22 recoil spring that I bought last year. Well, I contacted them via e-mail but they never responded. I can contact them via phone but I feel if they’re ignoring their emails, I may as well review the spring in a negative light and write off the failure and not do business with them in the future.
How’s the Glock 22 with the new OEM spring? It’s good enough, although the gun’s recoil is still quite strong. I took it to the range, thinking the high grain would dampen the recoil some. Nope, it’s not enough IMO. The high recoil of this handgun is why I bought the EFK Dragon Fire spring in the first place. I think the better route would be for me to get a Gen 4 Glock 22…the double spring is almost certainly going to handle the recoil of .40 Cal better than the Gen 2’s single spring, but I only bought the G22 because it was cheap and because I could use the RIA 22TCM9R convert kit with the G22 frame.
As well, the G22 sights aren’t helping me…the tritium vials are dark so the sights are difficult to use. I do not really want to spend huge amounts of money on this particular handgun.
Now, even though I shot the G22 and noticed the recoil wasn’t what I’d like it to be, I appear to be a bit more accurate with the gun now with the new OEM recoil spring. That’s something, at least, but the recoil was enough to where I only shot 30 rounds from the gun (2 mags). I brought 180-grain Remington green/white box ammo. There were no failures.
I then bought 150 rounds of 115-grain Wolf steel-cased ammo from my Gen 4 Glock 19. There were no failures. The gun now has 310 rounds through it. I’m not used to it. It has recoil that I’m not used to, probably due to the fact that I’ve been carrying and shooting metal-framed handguns the past 2-3 years. I’ve been thinking on carrying this particular gun but will need lots of time shooting it before I’m comfortable with the shooting characteristics. Plus, I want to get 15-round OEM mags for the gun (it came with 10-round OEM mags). We’ll see.
I said I’ve been thinking on carrying the G19. Why? Because I also shot my current carry gun (I only carry one firearm at a time), the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus, and I’m still experiencing sharp biting on the web of my strong hand. I shot 100 rounds of Speer Lawman 95-grain FMJ this time around. I shot this same ammo the last two times I shot the Bersa. My range notes say that I noticed sharp bites in May 2017 as well. When I shot the gun prior to this last range visit (Oct 2017), I didn’t noticed the sharp biting and I shot that same ammo. I’m tiring of the biting, so it may be time to train on a different handgun.
I can still carry my Beretta PX4 Storm, but it is rather thick…that’s the only turn-off in carrying that handgun. I can also carry the Sig SP2022 but it’s not a small gun either (roughly the same size and thickness as my PX4). I’ve the XD Mod 2 that I can start carrying again, or even the Grand Power P11 (once I have Eagle Imports investigate the fails to return to battery).
Lastly, I’m having an issue with arthritis in my fingers and it sometimes makes shooting uncomfortable. This really sucks because there’s no real way to mitigate shooting complications caused by arthritis, other than to move to low calibers, which I’m not going to do. As well, I carry a .380 and that still causes pain (not in my fingers, but in the webbing between thumb and finger). I may have to just put up with it or medicate myself before a range visit. :/
I went to the range today and brought the Grand Power P11, the RIA 22TCM, and of course I bought my current carry gun, the Bersa Thunder Plus (I’m carrying the PX4 less now, since it is so thick…it’s lumpier and I don’t like that it feels so large on my hip). I couldn’t use my RIA, though, because I forgot to bring it’s magazine.
I brought 200 rounds of Wolf 115-grain FMJ for the P11. I fired 150 rounds of it. I bought 50 rounds of Speer Lawman 95-grain FMJ at the range for the Bersa. I fired all of that.
I started out with the P11. I ensured it was lubed properly (using synthetic motor oil – 5w20 Motul) beforehand. It failed to return to battery once in that first magazine. It did it again on the 6th magazine (12-round mags). Then I did twice more through the last two mags. It probably was pretty dirty with firing Wolf ammo after 138 rounds, so that’s probably why it was failing. Wolf is REALLY dirty and covered in some type of semi-sticky coating…not exactly conducive to the inner workings of a gun with tight tolerances.
12 yards out with the P11 – not used to shooting that far out…I shot 12 rounds but 3 rounds missed the paper, and the group was not tight.
12 yards out, next 12 round mag with the P11. The first shots were landing at the top of the target. I had to 6 o’clock hold the sights to get the rounds to hit around the red.
Went back to 7 yards out. Notice how the rounds are very vertically oriented. Need to ensure the front site is lined with the rear dots, but for self defense purposes, this is superb, IMO.
7 yards with the P11…two mags worth. Still hitting a bit up high but they’re again pretty vertical.
7 yards with the P11 – two mags…this is tight as hell, but I’d still like to work on the 1-2″ left drift of the grouping. That’s trigger slap or me not using my support hand enough (for stabilization). Was also shooting a bit fast.
54 rounds @ 7 yards with the P11. Worked a bit on DA trigger pull (also did quite a bit of dry fire to try to get a feel for the DA on this gun…it’s different than the DA on the PX4, with the PX4 having the better DA trigger, IMO). So, two mags to the head and two mags to the torso with this target, with several doube-taps using the last 10 or so rounds.
50 rounds of Speer Lawman FMJ 95-grain ammo. I hated this ammo…it caused the Bersa’s beavertail to sting the webbing of my hand. After one round of sting, I immediately grabbed my gloves, but shooting with gloves is difficult for me. The rounds have a vertical pattern, though.
That Speer Lawman ammo for the .380…it was stinging my hand. I’ll have to avoid that ammo in the future. It seems I’m going to need to develop a listing of “to avoid” ammo for this particular handgun.
So, I’m now at a round count of 1269 for the P11 and 373 for the Bersa. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get rid of the fails to return to battery with the P11. I wanted to give the gun a fair shake by trying a thicker lube, but maybe using Wolf negated the usage of thicker oil (oil that’ll stay put instead of migrating). There’s always something with the P11…too many excuses being used to explain these issues. :/ The Bersa is still cool to shoot. The trigger is smoothing out. I’m still not as accurate with it as with the P11 or PX4, though…and it’s trigger isn’t all that spectacular when compared to those aforementioned handguns, too. But it’s definitely utilitarian. The only thing about this gun that I really hate is it’s recoil sting with certain ammo.
I’ll continue to shoot both guns, although I probably need to put more rounds through the PX4.
A few weeks ago, I had bought some .380 ammo locally (from Cabela’s). I’d bought Herter’s Select and some PMC Bronze. My intention was to shoot both boxes (50 rounds per box) but I ended up quitting after shooting the Herter’s.
Why?
The Plus was biting the webbing of my hand. The part between forefinger and thumb. It wasn’t slide bite but the gun’s beaver tail edges were cutting into the webbing. This was the first time I’d experienced this and I’d shot maybe 250ish out of the gun by that time…without any sharp recoil (that’s what I’m going to call it). I’d not changed how I was shooting. I was holding the gun the same way I always had.
The only thing that had changed was the ammo.
My first thought was that the ammo was hot but when I conducted some quick research on the ammo, I saw that the muzzle velocity wasn’t anything special, so maybe it wasn’t that it was hot.
Today, I took it to the range and shot the PMC out of it. This time, there was no sharp recoil. It had to have been the Herter’s ammo. I’m pretty sure that ammo was hotter than normal. The whole box. I believe it’s made in Europe and I know Europeans usually make their ammo NATO-spec. I’m just glad I now know to avoid Herter’s.
I’m now at 323 rounds through the Plus. That’s more than my XD 9 Mod 2. The Plus is my 4th most fired gun, between the aforementioned XD and the Sig Sauer SP2022.
It is now much easier to fire than when I first bought it. I used to hate how difficult it was for me to operate the gun. I hated the DA trigger, hated the manual safety, hated the decocker’s placement, and hated the safety’s non-intuitive nature (the manual safety operates the opposite of how a 1911 manual safety is operated). What’s different now? The DA trigger must’ve wore in because it’s not so difficult to actuate now (but it is long and pinches the side of my trigger finger…I’d have to wear a bandaid to negate the effect). I don’t use the manual safety at all…I use DA in place of the safety. I do use the decocker (to get into DA mode) but I only use it after racking the slide back and chambering a round. I usually don’t drill when doing this…this isn’t something I need to practice, but I do need to remember to always place the gun in DA mode.
I also published a video update on the Plus here:
I’ve only one holster for the gun, the N82 Tactical Original holster. It is a great holster. The gun will carry well no matter the holster but it carries extremely well with this particular holster. The holster is easy to put on the hip and is easy to remove. It’s a simple holster…simple is good enough for what I need at this time. I needed a holster that removes quickly.
Oh, I’m carrying Inceptor Polycase ammo with this particular firearm, too. I know that .380 JHP is known to have issues penetrating, so I wanted something that I know for a fact will always penetrate. This ammo will not have an issue penetrating, but it shouldn’t over-penetrate either. I’ve tested the ammo at the range to ensure the gun will eat it without issue…it did.
I wouldn’t mind finding different sights for this gun but I’ll wait until I’ve more rounds through the gun first. I wouldn’t mind Big Dot sights for the gun.
This was the most agonizing decision I’ve made in quite awhile.
My birthday is approaching and I wanted to buy something nice but not too expensive. I’d considered a Sig 1911 as my next nice gun, but my wife isn’t going to sign off on a $800 purchase…maybe on my 50th birthday next year.
My choices were the Grand Power P1 or the Beretta PX4 Storm Compact.
I chose the Storm and bought it through Whittaker Guns for $429.
Why was this a difficult decision? I’d need to talk about the Grand Power and why I was considering it (as well as the thing that I don’t like about the company).
The pros:
As you well know, I currently conceal-carry a Grand Power P11 Mk12. This particular gun did not come with a decocker. New guns from Grand Power come with decockers and that includes the P1.
I currently use a P1 kydex holster when I carry my P11, so if I bought a P1, I’d already have a holster.
I currently use three P1 15-round mags with my P11 when I visit the range. If I bought a P1, which includes two magazines, I’d have five mags for this gun.
I basically already have all the gear to immediately start carrying a P1.
The con:
Grand Power stated in their forums that they will not sell the decocker parts to owners because they might be held liable if an owner did not install the part correctly and had an accidental (not negligent if there was an issue with the gun’s internals) discharge where someone was injured or killed.
Why do I have a problem with that? I’ll list the reasons:
They sell 99% of the internals for all their guns on the Eagle Imports web site. Most of those parts could cause an accidental discharge if installed incorrectly, and those have nothing to do with the safety/decocker. Yet they’ve no problem selling those parts and letting owners install them on their own.
Their competition sells such parts and let owners install those parts.
The mentality that they’re going to save us from ourselves is very much a liberal thought. This is also what drives such “technology” as loaded chamber indicators and magazine disconnects and both of those are training band-aids.
I don’t believe in any firearm being black-box-like (ie, don’t allow consumers to open the product). If they’re selling internal parts, how else do you get them into the firearm?
In lieu of them providing you the decocker parts, they suggest you spend $500+ to get a new GP pistol that would already have a decocker. Nope. Not going to happen.
I was a stout advocate of the P11 and it’s manufacturer up until this point. In fact, a large part of my Youtube content relates to the P11 and my experiences with it. I think it’s time to move on.
The depressing part of this is that I’ve spend a large amount of my time and training with the P11, so I’ll have to get familiar with another one of my handguns to replace my P11 as my EDC gun. An option is to continue to carry it but I just can’t swallow Grand Power’s attitude that they’ll allow us to replace any part but a safety/decocker (hell, they sell replacement safeties on their parts site!).
Currently, my options to replace the P11, if I want to stay with DA/SA, is with my Sig SP2022 or this new Beretta that will be shipped to me sometime this week. I’m more ready to carry the SP2022 than I am the PX4 at this point in time. I’m just waiting for some replacement mag base plates and a SP2022 shell form my Alien Gear holster. I have 4 mags for the SP2022. I have not a damned thing for the Storm, although I can easily get a N82 Tactical holster from a local gun shop (those are nice).
I can also carry the Bersa Thunder Plus that I have, but I HATE it’s decocker! With a passion. I can carry that with the safety off, if need be, and it’s a smaller gun to carry. Although it’s a .380, it is double-stack and holds 15+1. I have four mags for it and just got an N82 Tactical IWB holster for it. I just need to test some carry ammo and begin practicing with it.
Either way, I’ll be testing the carrying of the SP2022 and PX4 Storm.
Before I carry the Storm, though, I’m looking to replace the safeties with the stealth versions. As well, I’ll convert it to decocker-only.
I went to the range after work on 12/12. I decided to bring my Metro Arm 1911 and the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus. I only ended up firing the Bersa and my carry gun, the Grand Power P11. I thought that 3 guns in a one-hour visit was too much, and I felt the need to be shooting more ammo out of the Grand Power since I’ve neglected to frequent the range.
I shot a total of 100 rounds out of the P11 (for a total of 816 rounds out of the gun). There were no feed issues.
I shot 125 rounds out of the Bersa (for a total of 159). There were no feed issues.
As with all my range sessions, I shoot at 7 yards.
First 15 rounds of the session, using the P11 (using GP P1 mags…bought 3 of them), 7 yards.
50 rounds, same target as above, same range, same gun. Ammo is American Eagle ball FMJ, 115-grain.
Here’s the 2nd box of American Eagle, same gun, same distance.
Here’s the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus. I’m not used to shooting this gun. It feels too small for my hands (having issues with finger placement on the trigger since my hands are so big). Taking my time, I can be accurate with it, though. This is 15 rounds at 7 yards.
Here’s the whole 125 (100 rounds of WWB flat-nosed FMJ and 25 rounds of Federal ball FMJ). I couldn’t tear a ragged hole in the red like I can with the P11. The P11 is built a lot better, though (better trigger and sights, less recoil reaching my hands).
Comparing the two guns, both are roughly the same size. Roughly. The P11 has the shorter barrel (3.3″, compared to the Bersa’s 3.5″ barrel). The P11 is heavier (22.6 oz vs the Bersa’s 20.5). Both are DA/SA guns, but the P11 has a very precise trigger in either mode. The P11 fills my strong hand in a way that lets me put my trigger finger pad on the trigger. The Bersa’s grip fits oddly in my hand, which hinders my finger placement. I’ve to fumble around with the gun to get my finger pad on the trigger. After awhile, I quit fumbling and accepted my fate that my hands may be too damned big for this gun’s grip.
Both guns have manual safeties. The P11 has a frame safety that flicks up and down, similar to a 1911. The Bersa has a slide safety that is counter-intuitive. It works the opposite as what would be on a 1911. As well, it is oddly placed, so that even if you train, you’re going to have to move your hand to get to it (unless you’ve super-small hands). As well, the safety is very stiff. Both of these issues mean that you’re probably going to have to train to engage or disengage the safety with the off-hand. Also, the Bersa’s safety is also functioning as a decocker. You can’t carry cocked and locked with the Bersa, since the decocker is also a safety and when you actuate the safety, you’re also decocking the gun. Well…let me rephrase. You can carry cocked but you’ll be doing it without the safety engaged with this gun, and that is unsafe unless you’ve trained for that; plus, you’d better have a good holster that protects the trigger. Better to get a different gun if you’re looking to carry in a cocked and locked fashion…it won’t work well with this gun.
The Bersa also has a magazine disconnect. This makes it very difficult to practice dry-firing, unless you keep the mag in the gun. I’m thinking on removing the mag disconnect. IMO, there are no cons in doing this (closet lawyers, please go back to your closet), especially if you’re already using sound safety practices…I mean, what’s keeping me from blowing a hole in the drywall with my guns that don’t have mag disconnects? Good safety practices…
I thought that the Bersa would choke on the flat-nosed Winchester ammo. I bought that ammo by mistake. I’d heard from other Thunder 380 owners that these guns do not like flat-nosed ammo. I saw a box of 100 at Walmart and it was labeled (on the box) as FMJ. When I got home and opened the box, it was flat-nosed. IMO, it should’ve been labeled as such on the box, especially since most sellers don’t accept returns on ammo. But it didn’t choke on that ammo at all. It ate it all without complaint.
Overall, the Bersa is a good enough gun. I won’t be carrying it, though. Because of what I’ve stated above, I’m unwilling to carry it. This gun is not something I want to adjust to. I’d have to find a way to thicken the grips so that I’d have less of an issue with trigger finger placement. I’d also have to get used to the odd decocker (it’s in an odd position and training will not help that…then again, I can always carry decocked but with the safety disengaged…DA/SA guns can get away with this).
I’m still in love with the P11, although I’m thinking I might need more grip area with this gun as well. The option would be to move to the P1 (maybe the P1 Ultra). Grand Power markets that as a compact-sized gun with a 3.5″ barrel. It also has swappable back straps (the P11 doesn’t have this…it should). The P11’s grips are a bit slick, too. Grip tape may be in the future of mine’s. Oh, and Grand Power has also upgraded the P11 to have a decocker. It is not a dedicated decocker…it’s a decocker/safety, similar to how Bersa implements it. A dedicated decocker would’ve been better, IMO. For now, I’ll stick to manually decocking (training is key — closet lawyers, go home).
I’m close to 1000 rounds out of the P11. One range visit should put me over the 1000 round mark. I know I’ve reported that it was experiencing FTFs/FTEs and failures to return to battery, but I’ve not seen that occurring since I’ve stopped using Remington ammo. The issues of the past year were exclusively due to Remington ammo (and another gun choked on the same ammo in the same fashion). I’ve also learned how/where to lube the gun. There’s no wear on the gun’s internals, either.
Yesterday was my birthday and I decided that I would go to the range after work.
There was a 40-minute waiting list and I almost ended up leaving. That’s the first time I’ve ever been to Elite Shooting Sports where there was a backlog during the week day. What’s cool is that they had tablet kiosks to allow you to add yourself to the wait list and you’d be texted (to your phone) when a slot was available.
The staff was cordial and I know they were really busy, but none of the register attendants acted like they wanted to be there. When you’re buying merchandise, service, or just space/time, the worst thing is to interact with employees that act like they don’t like what they’re doing. This is the second time I’ve noticed this…was hoping it wouldn’t turn into a trend.
Anyways…
I decided to shoot the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus first, since it was something different for me (blow-back design and .380 caliber). Man, is that thing accurate! Recoil is next to nothing, too. I dumped 3 rounds into each target, 7 yards away, semi-rapid fire, from upper right to upper left, lower right to lower left, then center. The first shot was dead on the red (as well as being a DA shot), but the following two flew a bit upward. Then next target was a bit wide, but I still touched the red at least once. The rest of the groups tightened up significantly as I navigated the targets.
I shot a total of thirty-four rounds before I put the Bersa away. Since I only had one magazine, I stopped shooting it. I’ve ordered 3 new OEM magazines from MidwayUSA.com (was marked down at $27 each but has since been up-priced at $49)
I then focused on the Tristar T-100 9mm for the rest of the range session. One thing I neglected to do was manually decock the gun for a DA shot. I’ve a feeling I wouldn’t have hit red in DA like I did with the Thunder, as the DA trigger is long and strong (much longer and stronger than what I’m used to). But I did a mag dump in the center target as a first date:
I started off fine but as I sped up my follow-on shots, my group began to lose composure. That’s not the gun’s fault…it’s mine. I was treating it like the Bersa since the Bersa was the gun I was shooting prior to picking up the T-100. Recoil was significantly more than the Bersa, but I was all over the target center before I upped the pace. This gun is just as easy to shoot as the Bersa, because of it’s low bore axis and it’s non-traditional rail setup (it’s using the CZ design).
I then tried to focus on small groups (using the same target):
The groups are very tight, especially upper left. The lower right had a flyer, but the two that landed were almost on top of each other and near center-mass.
For the T-100, I used the same Remington 147-grain flat-nosed FMJ that choked my Grand Power P11. It ate 150 of that make/model without one failure. One round had a slightly crinkled lip but I wanted to see if the round would still chamber and fire without issue…it did. I expected nothing less, as I know that CZs aren’t designed to be as tight as GP’s products. The gun frame was warm to the touch when I was done with it (it’s a metal-framed gun), but not uncomfortably so. For the Bersa, I used Federal 95-grain FMJ, and there were no failures.
I also fired some spare ammo from my GP P11 (8 rounds of Winchester Personal Protection JHP that had been chambered several times…they needed to be used or disposed of, so I used them). There were no issues whatsoever. I neglected to bring non-Remington 9mm so I couldn’t fire the P11 any more than that. Plus, I only had the lane for an hour and I was out of time after firing 8 rounds from the P11. I need more range time with the P11 since it is my carry gun. Of those 8 rounds, only half hit the target. I found I was slapping the trigger, but as soon as I figured that out, the rest were all in the red. The P11 doesn’t seem to be as forgiving with heavy-handedness, and it’s SA trigger is very light. I’d have done better if I’d have had more time to adjust to the switch-up of handguns.
I had fun with the two new guns, especially the Tristar. I’ll probably shoot it again the next range visit.
I’ve found my Bersa, although it wasn’t in matte black like I originally wanted.
I bought a Bersa Thunder 380 Plus in Nickel Satin from Hinterland Outfitters for $361 (now $391).
Immediate pre-firing impressions:
There are lots of tooling marks, scrapes and nicks, even as a new product.
It has a stiff safety/decocker, but it might wear in (I put oil on the safety lever and it’s not so stiff anymore).
The safety/decocker is in an awkward place. My hands aren’t large but they aren’t the smallest in the world, either, so I’m thinking this isn’t just an issue with my hands…it’s a safety/decocker placement issue.
The rubber grips work great…shouldn’t need to be replaced, even though Plus model grip options are scarce.
Take-down is relatively easy, but re-installing the slide is a bit difficult.
The handgun is slim but wide at the grip.
The rear sights don’t appear to be durable…looks like it won’t take too many slide racks when using a hard substance.
About the second bullet (Safety/decocker is in an awkward place), here are some additional notes: There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to use the safety with my strong hand, not even with lots of training, as it’s just flat-out in the wrong position for my hands. When I read Bersa Chat posts on the issue, there are lots of people that have the same experience. It’s good that this is a DA/SA gun, otherwise that safety would be an even more serious detriment.
Range time will come shortly. Also, expect a quick video…I’ll post the link to the video when it’s ready.
I updated my previous post, as I had to cancel the order for the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus because the online store didn’t have the gun in stock. I had to chase them down to ask after I noticed the order wasn’t being updated. Argentina is experiencing economic issues that are apparently affecting Bersa shipments. This gun is backlogged all across the U.S. I don’t want a used gun because the gun has a lifetime warranty if bought new.
So, I’ve really no choice but to wait, or check local pawn shops for used examples. Or, check local gun shows. As well, Bersa recently released a new product, the Plus Combat. I can certainly wait for that version!
I’ve also been looking for a Tristar T-100 in 9mm, or a Canik Shark C in 9mm. Both are the same gun. Tristar is just the US Importer (or was). This gun is hard to find as well. Even used. I found one on Guns America that was in a perpetual state of “an offer has been submitted for this item”, meaning, someone is trying to purchase it. It stayed that way for at least 2 weeks so I asked the dealer (located in Connecticut) if they still had the gun. They did and told me that if I called and bought it, it would be shipped out tomorrow. I called them and bought the gun. I had to also call my local gun shop and ask them to fax a copy of their FFL to the store I was buying the gun from, as I wanted the store to ship the gun to my local shop. Doing it over the phone was a bit convoluted, as I’m used to doing it straight over the internet. Connecticut must be a bit hokey like that when it comes to guns (especially after Sandy Hook).
So, I went from not being able to get the Bersa to getting the Tristar. The T-100 is basically a compact CZ75. It is a DA/SA gun (without a decocker). It has the inverted slide rails. It is all-metal and blued. It can use CZ parts. It comes with two 15-round magazines.
Shipping is $30 (kinda high). I’ll also be looking at paying my local gunshop $25 to accept the transfer. The gun was $319. With total shipping, it’s $375. Not sure I’m happy about that, but available T-100s are extremely difficult to find, so I’ll eat the shipping costs.
