Bersa TPR9C 9mm Compact Pistol Review

Watch The Video Here

 

The Bursa TP9RC, let’s check it out.

 

Bursa is well known for their Thunder 380 series and also their Thunder 9. In fact, the Thunder 9 was adopted by the Argentine military. These guns are made in Argentina and the company has been around since the mid 1950s, but it was the early 90s before they really came into their own with the Bursa Thunder 380.

Since that time, they have been a very popular, fairly inexpensive firearm. And then they came out with the TPR9, which is a double single action pistol that’s similar to the Thunder 9, but there are a lot of improvements. And then today we’re going to take a look at the compact model.

Guys, I’ll tell you, after shooting the TPR9, how flat shooting it was, very smooth trigger. So really great quality for what you’re paying. When Eagle Imports got in touch with me and asked if I would consider checking out the compact, I was more than happy to do it.

But what is really surprising is that I honestly enjoyed shooting the compact more than the full size. I’ll tell you guys, this is a little chunky pistol. I mean, it’s funny because it’s kind of pleasingly chunky.

Some guns seem to be fat and thick and hard to handle, but there’s something about this pistol that I just really like. And it’s funny, the full size was also the same way. And here’s the full size.

It’s considerably larger and I think this is a four and a quarter inch barrel. This is a three and a quarter inch barrel. And then of course all the dimensions, 13 in one and 17 in one in the full size.

But it’s just a really soft shooting or flat shooting handgun. Now, I guess before we get started, I need to go ahead and drop the magazine. It is empty and the gun is unloaded.

You’ll notice that the hammer is in the rear position and that means that it’s double single action hammer fired. So when you first insert a round into the chamber, the hammer is going to be in rear position ready to fire. And so pull the trigger and then the slide comes back and the hammer’s back in that rear position.

If you want to decock it, which just bring the decocker into the up position, it drops the hammer and you can have a live round in here and it’s really safe. If you want to, in fact, you can even deactivate the safety and it’s still a very safe way to carry because this is just like a double action revolver. And so then when you pull the trigger, it’s a heavier, longer pull.

But one of the things that I noticed right up front is that when you pull this trigger, it is a really smooth pull. It’s consistent all the way through. It’s heavy and we’ll test the trigger weight on it, but it is a very smooth pull.

Now in single action, there’s some take up right here and a little bit of stacking and then a nice break, but it shoots very well. And then we’ll go ahead and check the reset. That was it.

Right there. I mean it is super fast reset right there. Now the slide is steel, has a matte blued finish to it.

The frame is aluminum. So it’s a good quality build. I mean, one thing about double single action pistols like this is they’re more expensive to produce than striker fire pistols.

Coming in with something like this, and we’ll talk about price and all that, but these are very reasonably priced. Again, these do come from Argentina, which has a rich history in firearms, but there are a few things they’ve changed under the Thunder Pro series. One of those is the grips are thinner.

The standard grips on the Pro or the Thunder are a little thicker and it just seemed to be very blocky. It even felt blocky. And then also with these finger rests where you can just kind of a memory finger pads, just to put your finger up there to remind you.

And then of course, front cocking serrations are also added that are not on the original. And so there’ve been some upgrades to this pistol. Now it still uses the same magazines.

They’re interchangeable. So that makes it nice. And of course with the bigger brother, you can use those magazines as well.

One of the things too, that they changed from the standard Thunder Pro compact is that it did have finger grooves. They eliminated that. Now, one of the things that really stands out about this pistol when you first see it are these unusual controls.

They’re very fluid. They’re just different than anything I’ve ever seen. But one of the things about it is that they do ride fairly close to the frame, even though they’re fairly thick and beefy.

And one of the big things is, is when you’re firing the handgun on some, you have a tendency to hit that slide release and it won’t hold open on the last round, but there is no issue with that at all. They are ambidextrous on either side. And I think the more that you kind of mess with this, the more that you really like it or you don’t.

It’s all about preference guys. Now it does have a Picatinny rail, one slot on the compact, two slots on the full size. The trigger guard is opened up.

So very easy for gloved hands. You do have some serrations that are vertical here on the front. And then of course it’s a one piece grip all the way around, but it does give you good texturing.

So you really feel like you’ve got a decent grip on the pistol. With the extended base plate, it gives you a full grip on the handgun. The extended base plate is not on the full size.

It’s just a flat piece. The serrations on the front, easy to grab, easy to pull back. And then of course the serrations here on the back.

It’s a good solid grip and it does kind of come down kind of at an angle to give it a little more ease into your holster and to draw your pistol. It does have three dot sights and the two in the back are a little smaller than the sight up front. I like that contrast.

And then these are dovetailed in and they do take your standard SIG sights. So there’s going to be a lot of options out there. Your mag release right here, and it does eject the magazine very well.

It is steel and it can be switched to the other side. Back here at the back, it has an abbreviated beaver tail, which on the full size, it’s a little more extended, but you’ve got a larger pistol and there’s more to grip, more hanging down. And so just makes it a little more compact.

Now this comes in nine millimeter, 40 and 45. The nine millimeter barrel is three and a quarter inches. But when you go to the 40 and 45, they move it up to 3.6 inches.

The length is six and a half inches. The height is 4.75 inches. And then the width is just under an inch and a half at 1.45 inches.

And the weight, one pound, 12 ounces or 28 ounces. One thing I do want you to notice is the barrel lockup. It does have an area that locks into the top of the frame.

You can see those little locking blocks. This is what they call the Browning Peter design. And it’s made to really have solid lockup, great ejection and full reliability.

It’s just a modified Browning design. To be honest with you, this is very reminiscent of the Sig P226. And then of course, with the full version, it even looks more that way, which is definitely a proven design.

But there are some different features on the Bursa that really make it unique. Now this does come in this matte blued finish, but it also comes in a duotone with a stainless finish on top and then your blue frame. Now you’ll notice above your trigger, you do have a trigger lock and there’s a key that comes with it.

Set it in there, turn it. It completely locks down the trigger. I’m personally not a big fan of that, but if I had small kids around, that might be an important feature.

And then all you do is just disengage and then you’re back to shooting. Now we’re going to check trigger pull weight. Let’s go ahead and drop our magazine, double check to make sure the gun is unloaded.

We’re going to use our Lyman trigger gauge from Brownells, double action, nine pounds, 2.4 ounces, nine pounds, 8.9 ounces. Now we’ll check single action, four pounds, 1.2 ounces, four pounds, 0.3 ounces. So under four and a half pounds.

I want to thank Freedom Munitions for supplying the nine millimeter ammo. You get a 5% discount using suit 00 on the Freedom Munitions website. So we went down to the range and I actually took the full size and the compact.

I wanted to shoot them side by side. We got them out there, you know, a lot of times with more heft to the slide, they can actually be flatter shooting. There’s just a little more weight to it, less recoil, but I really didn’t find it.

I don’t know that if the way this was designed to make it shorter and the recoil system a little better, but it shot actually a little better in my opinion than the full size model for me. You know, shooting these side by side, there wasn’t a lot of difference with recoil. This is just heavier and the trigger is just phenomenal at the range.

I mean, I just can’t believe how good this trigger is. You know, even going from double action, super smooth. And then the reset is very quick, no malfunctions, very smooth, flat shooting handgun.

I did a review on the full size and watching Graham Bates, he did a review on this one. And I’ll tell you, ever since then, I was really wanting to get one. So I’m really glad that Eagle Imports got in touch with me because I was really wanting to do this, especially after shooting the full size.

You know, guys, you know, Bursa is one of those companies that’s kind of under the radar. I think with the TPR9 and the TPR9C, they’ve really got something here. I think that’s it’s really ergonomic and just a great shooting handgun.

Now for disassembly, drop your magazine, check to make sure the gun is unloaded. Guys, this is one of the easiest guns on the planet to disassemble. Take your takedown lever, drop it down and you pull the slide right off.

I mean, how easy is that? Okay. We have a steel guide rod with springs and these are dual springs. They’re not captive.

And then we have our barrel and then our slide. The interior of this handgun is just very well done. In fact, honestly, I’ve been kind of pleasantly surprised at the quality of these Bursas.

I’ve had the Bursa Thunder 380s and the BP9CC is excellent, but these are just really good quality. Another thing that I want you to note is these long slide rails. This is going to give you very smooth and consistent management with your slide as it’s coming back.

And I believe that’s one of the reasons why this is such a smooth shooting handgun. One thing I do want you to note is the locking block is part of the rail. The whole rail comes together and then locking block just expands.

So that is one piece. That’s all you need to do to field strip the pistol. Just reassemble in reverse order.

Back on that frame, just super slick. Right here at the cutout in the slide, bring it around and you’re done. Easy to disassemble, easy to assemble.

Now, Bursa offers a lifetime service contract for the original owner. You can get extra mags and holsters, things like that on the Bursa or the Eagle Import website. In fact, there’s a ton of different holster options.

I was really surprised. Leather and Kydex. And the magazines themselves on the Bursa website run about $45, but I noticed on Gun Mag Warehouse, they were running about $37.

The mag follower is chrome plated, which is going to give it some real lubricity. It’s going to be very slick. And then of course with the steel body.

But these are pretty decent mags. Does have a bevel here at the mag well. Easy to insert.

Now, as far as price goes, I saw these running anywhere from $370 to $425. So a very reasonable price for a double single action pistol with an aluminum frame. Very good shooters.

The triggers are excellent and they’re built like tanks and a lifetime service warranty. So very good deal. Another thing is, is Eagle Imports does have all the parts, any kind of replacement parts, and they’ll service the pistols.

Thunder 9 has built up a strong reputation with the Argentine military. So there is a track record with these pistols. Yes, there’ve been some changes made to this one over the Thunder 9, which I really like with the more ergonomic feel to it.

I like it. It seems like you’ve really got more control over the grip. And so I’ll tell you what guys, if you ever get a chance, this is a great gun to take to the range.

And I want to thank Eagle Imports for sending this pistol for the test and evaluation. It has been a real pleasure.

 

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don