Bersa and Firestorm - Armscor

BERSA FIRESTORM 

.38 SPECIAL 

Solid construction delivers 

confidence and security in this 

classically designed snubbie! 

The Firestorm 38’s short, 

2-inch barrel makes it an ideal 

option for concealed carry. 

By William Bell 

Photos by Steve Woods 

While many of today’s newer 

handgun shooters have little 

appreciation for revolvers, 

there is still a substantial market 

out there of folks who prefer the doubleaction 

(DA) “wheelgun” to the autopistol. 

When I started my law enforcement career 

in 1976, the revolver was still the mainstay 

of uniformed and plainclothes officers. In today’s 

world, cop’s holsters usually contain a 

high-capacity pistol, while revolvers are generally 

relegated to back-up/off-duty use and 

are normally the small frame “snub-nose” 

type. Most of the new revolvers that I have 

seen introduced in the past few years have 

been of the small to medium-sized variety, 

with the days of “Dirty Harry” having come 

to an end back in the mid-to-late 1980’s. 

Gun Details 

Among the latest revolvers to come on 

the scene is the Firestorm 38 from Eagle 

Imports/Bersa and is part of the company’s 

Firestorm line of handguns. Over the years 

I have tested several Bersa and Firestorm 

products and have been impressed with 

their quality and affordability. Today’s 

Firestorm offerings include a small DA .380 

ACP pistol, along with the Mini-Firestorm 

Pro series of compact DA self-loaders in 

“The new Firestorm 38 is essentially 

a replication of the street-proven 

Colt Detective Special revolver from 

the mid-1970’s. It is modestly priced 

and quite suitable for self-defense 

and LE/security purposes.” 

9mm, .40 S&W or .45 ACP. 

The Firestorm 38, the first revolver to 

be made available from Eagle Imports/ 

Bersa, is of all-steel construction with extensive 

use made of investment castings. 

It chambers six rounds of .38 Special and, 

due to its rugged build, is rated for the 

use of high-pressure +P cartridges. Like 

the other Bersa Firestorm handguns, the 

Firestorm 38 is an import made by Arms 

Corporation of the Philippines. 

42 COMBAT HANDGUNS • September 2011 

September 2011 • COMBAT HANDGUNS 43

■ BERSA FIRESTORM .38 SPECIAL 

One of the first things of note on the 

Firestorm 38 is the spurless hammer that 

at rest is flush with the frame. This feature 

has certain benefits in the concealment department 

as you don’t have a sharp-edged 

hammer spur to catch on clothing during 

a fast draw from beneath a jacket. On the 

debit side, most holsters with a thumbbreak 

safety strap work better on guns with 

hammer spurs. The Firestorm is not, however, 

a double-action-only (DAO) revolver as 

there is a full-cock position on the hammer. 

The trigger face is wide with no serrations, 

just the way I like it. The DA pull is around 

11 to 12 pounds and fairly smooth, the SA 

is crisp and runs about 5 pounds. 

The Firestorm 38 has a cylinder release 

latch that is part of the recoil shield and is 

located on the left side of the frame. Pulling 

back on the latch releases the cylinder to 

swing out on the crane so the cylinder can 

be charged with fresh ammunition or empty 

cartridge cases ejected. Cylinder rotation 

is clockwise like a Colt and the ejector 

rod lifts the case about 2/3rds of the way 

out of the chamber. 

A frame-mounted, floating firing pin 

with a transfer-bar safety system is employed, 

and the barrel tube that screws 

into the frame is covered with a housing 

that contains the ejector rod shroud, barrel 

rib and the ramp front sight. The rear sight 

The Firestorm 38 has a 6-round capacity and the 

cylinder rotation is to the right or clockwise like 

that of a Colt Detective Special. 

Although the Firestorm 38 comes with a spurless 

hammer it is not double-action-only and can be 

fired in the single-action mode. 

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is a fixed square notch within a channel on 

the topstrap. I’d personally like to see the 

ramp front sight serrated to reduce glare. 

The sample that I received came with the 

original wood grips, as well as a set of the 

company’s newer M200 grips, which are 

hard rubber with finger grooves. I personally 

prefer the latter of the two. In regards 

to the wooden grips, viewing them from the 

rear reveals a teardrop shaped—wide at the 

bottom and tapering up to the top where 

they sort of meet with the frame. They have 

hand-checkered panels on the sides and 

are rounded at the bottom, which should 

help out for concealment. They are a dark 

hardwood finished with an ebony color on 

the exterior. The M200 grips are hand-filling 

and comfortable, and give a good amount 

of purchase while in the hand. 

The hammer spring is coiled rather than 

a leaf spring, as are all of the other springs 

in the gun’s action. The sideplate in the 

frame is on the left side as per Colt, but the 

cylinder stop is integral with the side-plate 

rather than a separate part. The crane lock 

screw on the right side of the frame is easily 

removed which allows the crane and 

cylinder to be detached for routine cleaning 

chores and this is really as far as you 

need to go in most cases. 

The cylinder on the Firestorm 38 is close 

enough to the size of the one on a Smith 

The Firestorm 38 has a ramp front sight and the 

full-length ejector rod is completely enclosed and 

protected by a shroud extending below the barrel. 

The thumb latch is pulled rearward to free the 

cylinder. Unlike the original Detective Special, the 

firing pin is mounted in the frame. 

& Wesson K-frame revolver that a Model 

10-A speedloader from HKS worked just 

fine. For less bulk and flatter pocket carry, 

rubber speedstrips also work well. 

Holster Carry 

For a revolver in this weight/size class, 

my holster of choice would have to be a 

strong-side belt model, something of the 

“pancake” persuasion that melds into the 

hip. Rummaging through my leather collection 

I came across a much-used Bianchi #5 

Black Widow holster that fit the Firestorm 

like a glove. This is a top-grain leather 

belt-slide type holster, in an eye-pleasing 

SPECIFICATIONS: 

BERSA FIRESTORM 38 

CALIBER: .38 Special +P 

BARREL: 2 inches 

OA LENGTH: 6.5 inches 

WEIGHT: 24 ounces (empty) 

GRIPS: Black wood boot 

SIGHTS: Fixed 

ACTION: DA/SA 

FINISH: Parkerized, satin or 

polished nickel 

CAPACITY: 6-shot 

PRICE: $364 

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44 COMBAT HANDGUNS • September 2011 September 2011 • COMBAT HANDGUNS 45

■ BERSA FIRESTORM .38 SPECIAL 

Shooting for accuracy potential was done from the bench at a distance of 21 feet. The best group with 

the Firestorm 38 measured 0.98” using Winchester 125-gr. JSP WINClean. 

tan color, with double stitching at the belt 

loops. I also found a Galco Gunleather cartridge 

pouch that I paired with the holster. 

It is nearly the same color and holds six 

.38/.357 cartridges in a 2-2-2 configuration—exactly 

the way I was taught to load 

a revolver way back when. 

If you want something for deeper concealment, 

I recently became aware of an 

outfit called Sticky Holsters. They make a 

line of pocket holsters and as their name 

implies, the outer surface of these nylon 

pocket sheaths is made of a “tacky” rubber-like 

material that gets a real grip on 

the inside of your pocket. I tried several 

times to pull the snubbie out of my pocket 

and have the holster come with it – didn’t 

happen. The inside is smooth nylon so the 

gun comes out with ease and the holster 

has a tough nylon edging. Sticky Holsters 

come in several sizes to fit a large number 

of popular handguns, including the model 

MD-5 for the Firestorm 38. 

Range Time 

Short barrels and lighter-weight bullets 

seem to match up well, so I surveyed 

my .38 Special ammunition supply to see 

what would be most appropriate for the 

Firestorm 38. For purely self-defense or 

law enforcement/security roles, I chose 

Black Hills 125-grain JHP +P cartridge. 

It has always been a favorite of mine and 

seems to expand reliably in test medium. 

Recently, I was introduced to Double 

Tap Ammunition. This company started 

out in 2002 making some 10mm handgun 

loads and now produces a full line of 

handgun and rifle cartridges. From them 

I picked out their 110-grain JHP +P offering 

which features a Barnes TAC-XP bullet 

that according to factory testing gives 

13.25-inch penetration in 10% ordinance 

gelatin covered with 4 layers of denim and 

2 layers of light cotton cloth—expansion 

was 0.57 of an inch. 

Extreme Shock has a new round, it’s 

called the CT2—it has a 90-grain jacketed 

bullet with a green polymer tip and a frangible, 

lead-free core. It is less expensive 

than the tungsten core bullets normally 

used by Extreme Shock, so it can be used 

for practice shooting, but it also has tacti- 

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PERFORMANCE: 

BERSA FIRESTORM .38 SPECIAL 

LOAD VELOCITY ACCURACY 

Black Hills 125 JHP +P 835 3.34 

Double Tap 110 Barnes 

TAC-XP +P 

Extreme Shock 90 

CT2 Frangible 

Winchester 125 JSP 

WINClean 

969 3.15 

934 2.46 

732 1.78 

Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second 

(fps) by Oehler Model 35P chronograph, and accuracy in inches 

for three 5-shot groups from 7 yards. 

cal applications. Just for paper-punching, I 

included Winchester’s WINClean cartridges. 

The .38 Special load carries a 125-grain 

JSP bullet, which has a brass-enclosed 

base. This base coupled with a lead-free 

primer makes for cleaner/safer shooting, 

especially on indoor ranges. 

Range day arrived and I took the 

Firestorm 38 out for a test run. I wasn’t 

too surprised when the best performance 

of the day came from the mild-mannered 

Winchester WINClean ammunition. I fired 

three 5-shot groups with each load and 

my best cluster with this load measured 

0.98 of an inch. Second place went to the 

Extreme Shock CT round with a group size 

of 1.95 inches however, some bullet “keyholing” 

was noted. 

I discovered that a slow 

and deliberate trigger pull 

caused the action to lock 

up on several occasions. 

I did all the checks and 

could find no evidence 

of high primers or case 

heads dragging on the 

breech face; no unburned 

powder granules behind 

the ejector star—nada. It 

did seem to happen more 

often than not when I loaded 

one particular chamber, 

so I returned the test gun 

Continued on page 95 


BERSA FIRESTORM .38 SPL 

(Continued from page 46) 

Author used a Bianchi #5 Black Widow belt slide 

holster (top) paired with a Galco 2X2X2 cartridge 

pouch; for deeper concealment he preferred the 

Sticky pocket holster model MD-5. Bianchi Speed 

Strips and an HKS model 10A Speedloader also 

worked well in the Bersa Firestorm 38. 

and they had their master gunsmith check 

it over, fix the lock-up problem and send it 

back to me. I fired a good amount of .38 

Special +P through the returned gun trying 

to induce malfunctions, and the revolver 

worked great without a hitch. No more lock 

up of the action. 

During my primary testing of the revolver, 

I found that the sights were well regulated 

and shot just an inch or two to the 

left, so I held a bit to the right of the target 

center. For a practical shooting exercise, I 

stapled up a Birchwood Casey “Dirty Bird” 

Shadow reduced-size silhouette target 

and shot a 30-round combat qualification 

course using the Winchester .38 Special 

cartridges. Due to the target size, I adjusted 

the distances to approximate shooting 

at the 3-, 7- and 15-yard markers. All firing 

was in the DA mode and the course included 

strong and support hand only shooting, 

double taps and a body armor drill, plus 

standing and kneeling barricade shooting. 

I used the Bianchi belt-slide holster 

and Speed Strips, plus the Galco cartridge 

pouch. I used the red oblong aiming point 

on the target and most shots stayed within 

the gray K-zone of the silhouette. 

Final Notes 

The factory needs to do a bit of refinement 

on the Firestorm 38 to make it a “top 

drawer” handgun in the fit and finish department. 

However, given its modest price, 

it is an acceptable choice for all the uses 

you could make of a short-barrel, concealment-type 

handgun. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Eagle Imports/Bersa 

732-493-0333; bersa.com 

Bianchi 

800-366-1669; safariland.com 

Birchwood Casey 

800-328-6156; birchwoodcasey.com 

Galco Gunleather 

800-874-2526; galcogunleather.com 

HKS 

859-342-7841; hksspeedloaders.com 

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Bersa and Firestorm - Armscor

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