Law Enforcement Technology

JUL 2015

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34 Law Enforcement Technology July 2015 www.officer.com FIREARMS TACTICS hammer can be cocked manually. The Firestorm has three safeties, magazine disconnect, firing pin and a manual safety. I can do without a maga- zine safety, but many prefer them. Several officers in my agency carried a gun in a BUG Pocket. The Firestorm and an extra magazine can be carried here. The trigger on our Firestorm was much smoother than similar compact guns. The double action trigger had a long take up, typical for combat pistols. The single action was crisper than we anticipated. This gun was superior in drills like the el Presidente. (See Officer.com/11442607) The Firestorm is field stripped by pointing the gun in a safe direction and locking the slide all the way to the rear. Check to see that the chamber is empty, take a deep breath, and check again. There is a disassembly lever on the right side of the frame—rotates this downward. This allows the slide to go back even further so the user can raise the rear of the slide clear of the grooves in the frame. The barrel stays fixed, the slide and recoil spring are removed. A field stripped Firestorm has three parts; frame with the attached barrel, slide, and recoil spring. The gun is easy to clean and lubricate. It is easy to brush out a fixed barrel and inspect under the extractor for any accu- mulation. There are fewer moving parts on a Bersa than many other combat handguns and therefore fewer potential wear points. In my experience, I use gun grease, rather than light oil to lubricate the barrel, and slide contact areas. The Bersa Firestorm turned out to be an accurate, reliable and ergonomic firearm ideal for back up or off duty use. All the members of our testing team looked at purchasing this gun after the test. This is one of those guns that is on the "have to have" list. There are a couple of observations that we should share with our law enforcement friends. We know that .380 Auto is a "marginal" caliber, but we cannot argue with the ability to deliver accurate fire from the pocket and the lack of sticker shock of any kind. For agencies that do fleet purchases for their officers, why not provide this gun as an option? ■ Lindsey Bertomen is a retired police officer and retired military small arms trainer. He teaches criminal justice at Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif. He welcomes comments at lbertomen@letonline.com. call 866.318.8339 or visit tuffyproducts.com/let to discover the vast array of security solutions available for you. SERIOUS THEFT PROTECTION THEFT PROTEC ON FOR SER OU EAR TUFFY S E C U R I T Y P R O D U C T S ® TACTICAL GEAR SECURITY DRAWERS TRUCK BED SECURITY DRAWERS PORTABLE SAFES SECURITY LOCK BOXES made in the usa Circle 39 on Reader Service Card COMPANY READER SERVICE NUMBER Eagle Imports Inc. 83 Winchester Ammunition 84 For more information on these companies, circle the corresponding number on the Reader Service Card. M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N

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