[Snake45]

Well, you're SOL, of course. But maybe not completely without hope. Looks like Bersa is now making a very reasonably priced clone:

http://www.bersa.com/firestorm-firearms ... eries.html

When they make it with a 3" barrel and a hammer spur, I'm going to get VERY interested....

 

[Charlie Petty]

Some pretty decent guns have been coming out of the Philippines lately. I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

 

[Snake45]

There's a writeup on it in the new issue of Combat Handguns. Sadly, the front page is (badly) printed in tiny white type on black background--I'll have to get out my loupe tomorrow and attempt to decipher it (why do magazines DO that crap?). But I was able to make out that it's DAO, which explains the spurless hammer.

 

[SpecialEd]

Doesn't Bersa still come from Argentina?

 

[Skeptic49]

Bersa is grouped in this country and they deal in guns from several sources under several brand names.

Hopefully their newest customer service model is as good as their base guns from SA.

Geoff
Who wishes he could afford a Bersa / Firestorm .22LR three of which are sitting in a local shop, but I put more than the price into my gas tank last month...sigh.

 

[Charlie Petty]

I think Armscor is responsible for the Rock Island and some other 1911 clones and since thier name appeared in the original post I think they were the manufacturer.

 

[dfariswheel]

It's the Armscor revolver re-branded for Bersa.
It just has an external resemblance to a Colt revolver. Internally it's nothing like a Colt.
Armscor has several versions of these, one looks like a Colt Diamondback.

The Armscor revolvers have started a number of juicy rumors that Colt:
1. Sold the Detective Special tooling to Armscor.
2. Colt sold the design to Armscor.
3. The Armscor is a copy or clone of the Colt.
4. Armscor was actually making the Detective Special FOR Colt and is now putting their own name on the guns.

Truth is, Colt has never sold Colt tooling or Colt commercial designs to anyone else and these Armscor/Bersa guns are nothing at all like a Colt in design or quality.
They're a GOOD step below Taurus and are more like a Taurus transfer bar safety/ignition system internally.

 

[Kevin Gibson]

I’ve never seen one of these under the Bersa/Firestorm name, but the one’s under the Armscor name were rather rough. To compare them to a Taurus is a serious disservice to Taurus, because I’ve always considered Taurus to be pretty good guns for the money you pay. These Detective Special-esque revolvers are a bit crude, chunky and heavier than they ought to be. They would have been MUCH better off making a real copy of a Colt’s.

With that said, I have never shot one, so I can’t tell you how well they shoot, or anything about their performance or durability. I was just quite unimpressed with the workmanship.

 

[Snake45]

I've never seen one of these under the Bersa/Firestorm name, but the one's under the Armscor name were rather rough. To compare them to a Taurus is a serious disservice to Taurus, because I've always considered Taurus to be pretty good guns for the money you pay. These Detective Special-esque revolvers are a bit crude, chunky and heavier than they ought to be. They would have been MUCH better off making a real copy of a Colt's.

With that said, I have never shot one, so I can't tell you how well they shoot, or anything about their performance or durability. I was just quite unimpressed with the workmanship.

I remember back in the '80s seeing one of their Diamonback clones. It looked like someone had taken a real DBK with lots of rust on it and tried to refinish it with files, sandpaper, and cold blue. It wasn't QUITE as crude as one of those Vietcong counterfeit 1911s manufactured in a tunnel somewhere, but wasn't too many steps improved....

Still, if it actually functioned, might have made decent knock-around gun for the price....

 

[guntotin_fool]

I had one, it was left in an apartment I was hired to flip.

U as u g. L. Y. But we tied it down to a tire and pull the trigger with a string and it went off and stayed together. Dropped a bore Gage down it and it was timed pretty darn good. Took it apart and polished a few places where I could see rubbing and it tweren't bad atall.

Loaned it to a friend who was working some rough places after the northeidge quake and he had to drop it down a sewer.... on his way back home, at mid night.

Let's just say it did it's Job, and let him get home safe.

 

[stand watie]

to ALL,

IF you're willing to be patient & "look around" you can find "the REAL deal" in a Colt's D frame. = fwiw, i found a MINT 1951 Colt's 2"Cobra today for 450.00 + tax today at a SATX gunshop.

yours, sw

 

[Skeptic49]

The last time I saw a Colt Cobra in the used case, it had a price of $850. No box no nothing, some finish wear, no shroud around the barrel. I was there 15 minutes looking around just after they opened on a Saturday morning. A guy asked to see it, checked it out, bought it without haggling, plunked down his ID and CCW paid cash and was out the door.

Geoff
Who tried a Colt Cobra, liked the S&W Bodyguard better, it's been a companion since I was in the US Army, many years agone.

 

[stand watie]

Skeptic49,

obviously P T Barnum was correct!= (CHUCKLE!)

yours, sw

 

[Snake45]

How about a nice REAL Dick Spec at a VERY reasonable price?

http://makereadyforum.com/showthread.php?p=523079#post523079

 

[stand watie]

Snake45,

Snake, ya'll beat me to the punch! ===> i'd sooner have ANY Colt's Agent/DS/Cobra than ANY of the foreign-made revolvers. - 95+% of snubnose revolvers have been shot LITTLE & are generally in GREAT mechanical condition, regardless of what they LOOK like.

when "duckie" found her mother's 4" Cobra (we cleaned out her Aunt Martha's house, after both ladies passed away) & it had NEVER been fired even once. otoh, it had been LOADED/CARRIED for well over 15 years by her mom, as she made the night deposits for her employer.
("can you say: 'purse gun', children? SURE you can!")

yours, sw

 

[Snake45]

Then get over there and BUY that thing, before somebody else does!

I WISH I had to money to do so!

 

[stand watie]

Snake45,

have you perchance forgotten that i just bought the "as new" 1951-issue Colt's COBRA, thatt i told you about?
(that tapped me out for this month on "play money".)


loooks like a GREAT deal, inasmuch as it includes the holster/etc too.

yours, sw

 

[stand watie]

to ALL:

fwiw, i found yet another nice Colt's Detective Special (at what seems to be a bargain NOW!) here in SATX yesterday PM. it's a 1966. = 400.oo + tax OTD at a small surburban gunshop.

imVho, there is NO reason to settle for anything less than a REAL Colt, if that's what you wish for. = the REAL Colt D-frames are out there. you just have to shop around.

fyi, the "as new" 1951 Colt's COBRA that i recently found is GREAT & is now my second gun.

yours, sw

 

[Skeptic49]

Humm are there any Colt tuners left?

Geoff
Who is more of a Ruger Revolver packer, if I have to pack a revolver.

 

[stand watie]

skeptic49, et. al.,

i couldn't say about other places BUT we have at least one OF/gunsmith here, in SATX, who actually KNOWS Colts.

to those here who do NOT know: Colts are a law unto themselves when it comes to 'smithing. - because you can "mess about with" S&W revolvers/semi-autos does NOT mean that you can do even adequate work on a Diamondback/Python/Viper/DS/Cobra/GC/1911/etc.

yours,sw