Bersa thunder .380 mags

[jtmaze]

My wife has and loves a Bersa Thunder .380. She has 2 Promags that fail to feed the last round in each mag. The bullet gets stuck between top of barrel and slide. I have 1 Bersa mag that works flawlessly. These mags have only had about 100 rnds each thru them. Took both mags apart and cleaned and greased. The springs were a little bit shorter than the Bersa spring but not much. Should I just trash the mags and get more Bersa mags or try and repair with new springs and followers.

[Oh Shoot]

My wife has and loves a Bersa Thunder .380. She has 2 Promags that fail to feed the last round in each mag. The bullet gets stuck between top of barrel and slide. I have 1 Bersa mag that works flawlessly. These mags have only had about 100 rnds each thru them. Took both mags apart and cleaned and greased. The springs were a little bit shorter than the Bersa spring but not much. Should I just trash the mags and get more Bersa mags or try and repair with new springs and followers.

Pretty normal for pro mags. The ones that work reliably over time are the exception rather than the rule.

You could swap follower with one in Bersa mag to test. Then spring. See if either or both make a diff.

You might try stretching spring out some if it seems to be spring. And/or squeezing feed lips closer together, or farther apart if nothing else changed.

You should never leave oil or grease inside mags.

- OS

edit: as per luvmyberetta, check for a burr, but inside mag wall toward top, since last round seems to be the only prob?

Edited October 8, 2012 by OhShoot

[luvmyberetta]

In my experience Bersa brand are the only ones that are consistantly reliable, but before you trash the Promags you might try giving them a good cleaning inside & replacing the springs with Bersa brand springs. I just ordered several to rebuild some old Bersa mags I picked up & they're only $1 each off Bersa's website. Also take the follower out and see if it has any burrs that need to be buffed off. That's a common problem. If you find a deal on any, I would definetely grab some factory Bersa mags.

Edited October 8, 2012 by luvmyberetta

[jtmaze]

Thanks guys. I have been online for the last 2 hours looking for Bersa mag parts for the last 2 hours and com up with nothing. Only thing I saw on Bersa.com was complete mags. I was watching hell on wheels could have missed them.

[JC57]

Bersa parts can be found here: http://www.bersa.com/bersa-firearms/thunder-series/thun380mlt.html?limit=100

They refer to the follower as the "feeder platform" and the mag spring as the "feeder platform spring". They also sell the magazine bottom and magazine bottom holders. The only thing not sold separately is the magazine body itself.

You can order magazines and other Bersa accessories from www.condorsflight.com as well.

[jtmaze]

Thanks. I found them after I posted that and ordered 5 springs and 2 followers.

[Guest TNBrat]

I hope they work. Feed jams make me a little nervous. In a situation where I have to use my gun, I really don't want to have my focus drawn to the gun itself expect to drop a mag & reload…

Sent from my iPad in the back yard on a beautiful day…

[Guest Oaklands]

This has always been a sore spot with Bersa guns. Their replacement mags are pretty high priced if you can find them in stock. I haven't checked for them in a couple of years. The pro mags do have to be slapped into place. However, I have been fortunate that the ones I have purchased have worked with no problems. Best of luck and hope this fixes it for you.

[sschrick]

In my experience Bersa brand are the only ones that are consistantly reliable, but before you trash the Promags you might try giving them a good cleaning inside & replacing the springs with Bersa brand springs. I just ordered several to rebuild some old Bersa mags I picked up & they're only $1 each off Bersa's website. Also take the follower out and see if it has any burrs that need to be buffed off. That's a common problem. If you find a deal on any, I would definetely grab some factory Bersa mags.

+1. All over the Bersa Forum and BersaChat Forum say to stay away from anything that is not an OEM mag, especially ProMag.

Also, definitely take apart and clean and look for burrs or sharp edges.

My original mag had no problems, then I ordered 2 more from them and had no issues with those either.

[jtmaze]

Well I got the springs and followers in today and while I had apart I decided to check the specs on the Promags versus Bersa mag. The space between the ears(for lack of a better term) that holds the casing in the mag was .020 wider on thepromags than the Bersa. This was allowing the front of the bullet to be 1/16+ higher in the Promags than the Bersa mag. I closed the gap to the same specs as the Bersa mag and put new springs and followers in. It appears this is going to fix the problem. Didn't get a chance to shoot tonight but will tomorrow. It seems that the side walls on the Promags were much weaker than the sides on the factory mags. We will see how it holds up. If they do again will scrap and buy Bersa mags. They will be ok for range mags.