A Look at Three of Beretta’s “Cat Guns”
performance metric that’s made unachievable due to some combination of the gun’s slenderness, the stiff trigger, or the whip of the recoil impulse, it’s best to look elsewhere. And one should also keep in mind the sin- gle-stack magazine doesn’t permit too many mistakes. Moving to the Cheetah family, as represented by my Model 84BB, things become a little more familiar to the modern shooter, or at least to those shooters well-versed with the Model 92. With the Series 80 guns, the mag release is located closer to the trigger guard, the gun func- tions in the DA/SA mode, and at least with the 84 and 86 models, the guns feature a double-stack magazine. Incidentally, I’ve found that while the Series 70 and Series 80 guns were chambered in both .32 and .380 ACP, it’s more common to find Pumas in the smaller caliber and Cheetahs launching the more potent rounds.
you can usually get one or the other out of the cartridge, but not both. Serious business aside, the Series 80 guns are definitely a jump into the future from their Series 70 ancestors. The modern Beretta DNA is more evident, and they tend to work very well for a wide variety of users, including those with small hands and those who are slight of build. I still think they’re great choices for defensive or target work! If you found yourself thinking that this set of features and shootability seems poised to make a comeback, you’re not alone – in fact, Beretta itself agreed the Series 80 was too good a design to lie dormant. In 2023, Beretta released the 80X pistol , a Series 80 gun brought screaming into the ultra-modern era with an optic-ready slide, forward slide serrations, and aftermarket threaded barrels available from the factory. Although the Cheetahs worked for a lot
Despite the power upgrade, I’ve found the Cheetahs to shoot simi- larly to the Pumas. The Series 80 Berettas are quite a bit more ergo- nomic, and even the single-stack
of smaller-handed shooters, the 80X really leans into user-friendliness. It’s still a blowback-operated firearm, but Beretta tuned the recoil and hammer springs on the gun to both lower the recoil impulse and make the
Model 85 sits in the hand a little less narrowly than the Series 70 guns. With the Model 84 and 86, the fatter
frame does a better job of distribut- ing forces across a larger surface of the hand, making most differences in recoil a wash when compared to their predecessors. By the time that the Series 80 guns moved from the B/BB series to the F/FS models, the Cheetahs became even more of a “mini-92” with a similar philosophy of use. While the BB guns did have dou- ble-action functionality, using it
slide easier to rack for those with limited hand strength. The design revisions also make the 80X a spiritual successor to the Model 86 – that gun sought to eliminate the problem of stiff slide racking through a cleverly-designed tip-up barrel. You or I might not be the targets of these design modifications, but if such innovations keep our older friends and relatives shoot- ing, I’m all for them. Now, if you really want proof that everything old becomes new again, listen to this: just this year, Beretta announced plans to offer a .32 ACP conversion kit for the 80X – like the 80-Series guns, all you need to do is swap the barrel and magazine and you’re rolling. Looking at it purely recreationally, it makes the 80X even softer shooting. If those kits include a threaded barrel (and a good compensator), you’ll have a makings of a tiny-sized competition gun. When all’s said and done, Beretta’s small-framed offer- ings are no mere mouse guns. While each person will be able to make a clear-eyed assessment of how comfortable they are with the ballistics of either .32 ACP or .380 Auto, these are elegant and sweet-shooting autoloaders that deserve a place in the collection of a real enthusiast. After adopting a few of these cats, I certainly have room enough in the house for a few more. D P
required manually lowering the hammer on a live round. Given the small dimensions and stiff hammer spring, I wasn’t ever comfortable with that process. The F/FS models redesigned the safety to serve as a de- cocker, however, making it a little less hair-raising to actu- ally use the DA functionality for those who preferred that carry method. Given that the 80-Series Berettas feature a very good DA trigger, these models are what I prefer. Like the Pumas, the Cheetah models typically run like… well, let’s just say the name is fitting. Accuracy is almost always better than the majority of shooters can wrangle, and follow-up shots are quick and intuitive. Performance-wise, I’d trust .380 ACP hollow-points to both expand and offer adequate penetration; ballistic testing of various .32 ACP rounds tends to reveal that
23 Blue Press
WARNING: The products offered for sale in this catalog can expose you to chemicals, including Lead, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov . ^ !
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