Rock Island Armory LI380 56798 380 ACP

About a hundred years ago, there were quite a few service-size pistols in 380 ACP. The Walther PP, Browning 1922, JP Sauer 38H, Colt 1903, and a few others were considered service and battlefield pistols. These nice-sized handguns were popular, if only for a badge of office. While many nations adopted the 9mm service pistol after World War II, oddly enough, the Soviets adopted an upgraded Walther PP redesign. This size pistol is often lauded as ideal for personal defense. Handling and convenience are valued over combat ability. This is, after all, a handgun that may always be with you without a huge weight penalty. They may be held close to the body with good retention and handled quickly in the home. A double-action first-shot trigger and manual safety add safety measures for a purse or night-stand gun. This type of handgun and high-capacity variants, such as the Beretta 84, were popular service pistols just before the first wave of terrorism in Europe. So what do similar-size handguns offer today? A lot of convenience, easy shooting, and a degree of terminal ballistics.

Not long ago, one of our readers took us to task for not reviewing the new Walther PD380, a pistol he had a high opinion of. We agreed it was overdue for a look-see, so we got one and added two other double-action first-shot pistols of similar size and configuration, the Bersa Thunder 380 and the new Rock Island Armory LI380. 

We fired the pistols with a good supply of ammunition. We’ve found 380 ACP prices are still higher than 9mm Luger, but we were able to find a fair deal on 100-round boxes of Remington 88-grain JHPs and 50-round boxes of Fiocchi 95-grain FMJs. We fired 50 rounds of each load in each handgun in a thorough test fire of 100 cartridges in each pistol.

Moving to accuracy, we fired five-shot groups from a benchrest position at 15 yards. We used the Hornady 90-grain XTP, Lehigh 68-grain all-copper loading, and the Remington 88-grain JHP for these comparison chores. 

After the range work, we found three pistols with good features, one of which was a favorite. One was more primitive than the price would suggest, and another was far smoother than its modest price would have indicated. Here’s how they performed:

Rock Island Armory LI380 56798 380 ACP,

$250

Gun Tests grade: C

In many ways, a clone of the Bersa. The slide is more angular, and the  trigger action is actually smoother. Has a light rail and is reliable with defense ammo, but it didn’t like one FMJ. The sights needed more definition.

The Rock Island LI is sometimes advertised as the Rock Island Lightning, perhaps a play on the similar Bersa Thunder. This is the least expensive pistol tested. At first, some of the raters thought that perhaps the Rock Island pistol was a rebranded Bersa, they are so similar. The Rock pistol is marked manufactured in the Philippines, however, and there are differences in the two handguns. Let’s just call the Rock a close clone of the Bersa. And why not? The Bersa is a sound design, building on Walther and Beretta operating principles. The slide is similar to a Walther PP, while the exposed action bar is similar to Beretta pistols. 

The Rock’s slide is angular and less round than the Bersa. There is no small rib on top. The forward angles of the slide are beveled to allow easy holstering. The sights are useful, but our least favorite of the three. The front sight is staked in place, and a tiny screw makes for additional security. The rear sight is adjustable for elevation. Oddly, the rear sight features two white dots, while the front sight is black. This led to visual confusion on some targets. It should have been either all black or three dots. A single white-dot front sight would have been much preferable.

The pistol features well-designed cocking serrations and a spurless hammer, a good touch on a concealed-carry pistol. There is enough exposed hammer spur for the shooter to grab the serrated top with the thumb and thumb-cock the hammer, but be careful doing this because the thumb could slip off. The trigger face is serrated in the same fashion as the other two handguns. The slide lock is positive in operation and is easily manipulated. The plunger-type magazine release is easy to operate. The pistol features a serrated front strap and serrated back strap. While similar to the Bersa grip frame, the grips are thinner better suited to pocket carry. We really liked the texture of these grips. One rater, a good shooter with larger-than-average hands, did not like the smaller grip frame.

Takedown is simple. Lock the slide to the rear, clear the chamber and magazine, and press the takedown lever as you move the slide to the rear up and off the slide rails, then forward off the barrel. Not as simple as the Walther PD380, but then the Rock and the Bersa are blowback-type pistols. 

The pistol is supplied with two eight-round magazines. The Bersa and Rock magazines interchange. Like the Walther, the Rock features an accessory rail for mounting combat lights, and the Bersa does not. 

The Rock features a very smooth trigger. One rater called it butter smooth compared to the other handguns. We measured it at 9.75 pounds. Single-action break is a consistent 4.9 pounds. This made combat shooting beginning with the hammer down and cranking over a double-action first shot a little more sure than the other handguns. But in overall combat efficiency, the Rock was in third place. 

The Rock Island has several safety features. There is a magazine safety that prohibits the pistol from firing with the magazine removed. Another is an internal action lock. Insert a key and lock the action. The Bersa shares these features.

The slide-mounted safety functions as a decock lever. When the hammer is cocked, you may depress the safety. A hammer block slides into place, preventing the hammer from contacting the firing pin as the hammer falls. The hammer falls short of the firing pin. We are comfortable with this feature. As a result, the pistol may be carried on Safe or on Fire.

Fired combat style, the pistol offered good hit probability for its class, but it was not up to the other two pistols’ potential, in our view. Shots were centered in the X ring with double-action fire at 5 to 7 yards. The lack of a white dot in the front sight caused the sight to fade away sometimes, so we eventually added a dab of white paint. A rater suggested he would have preferred all-black sights. The Rock suffered a number of failures to fully close the action during the test fire. Once we shoved the slide closed, the pistol fired and usually got off a magazine’s worth of shells, but it sometimes short-cycled during the magazine. All of these malfunctions occurred with Fiocchi ammunition. The pistol proved combat capable, similar to the Walther in performance. The pistol fired high initially. The sights came set high, so we were able to easily adjust elevation. The sights are adjustable but do not offer windage elevation.

Moving to accuracy testing, the Rock Island proved to be an accurate pistol of the type, falling behind the Walther and the Bersa, but still adequate for most purposes, with the average group falling under 3 inches. During the test, we found the pistol was handling as well as the Bersa, save the grip was not as secure. The trigger guard of the Bersa features an undercut for greater control in a short front strap. The Rock’s trigger guard doesn’t have this undercut, which makes for a shorter front strap. You may place your fingers on the trigger guard curve, but this isn’t as sure as the Bersa. If you clone a pistol, be careful making unmerited changes.

In the end, we liked the Rock Island pistol for the price. The integral action lock may be used or ignored. The magazine safety we were indifferent about. The sights, however, were an odd combination without a front dot, although this was easily addressed by the shooter. We rated the pistol down a half grade on the sights. The grip was inferior to the Bersa, we thought. The pistol turned in good combat groups, but it was number three in the test. There were malfunctions with one ammunition brand, and it seemed ammunition incompatibility was the fault. We rated the pistol down another full grade on this because reliability is more important than combat accuracy but we didn’t fail the gun; just be aware of this sensitivity. The price is right, but the Bersa isn’t much more money. 

Our Team Said: The Rock Island failed to fire one of our ammo choices, which just drives home the point that the shooter should always proof every pistol with a variety of loads. The Rock, after all, fed all JHP defense loads. Also, a dab of paint on the front sight, and the Rock is closing in on the Bersa. But we see no reason to purchase this pistol with the very similar Bersa readily available. 

We fired groups double action at 15 yards from a bench using an MTM Case-Gard K-Zone Pistol Rest. We measured velocities with a Competition Electronics Pro Chrony. The first screen of the chronograph was 10 feet from the muzzles.

Written and photographed by Robert Campbell, using evaluations from Gun Tests Team members. GT