Beretta's Cheetah .380

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Critical J

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Over the last week or so I've become fairly familiar with the Beretta 92 series while looking into my first service pistol, though I've always been an admirer of the company and a few particular product lines. I'm a wheelgun guy at heart, but in moving to the big city, starting new jobs and being about to get married, the woman and I are trying all sorts of new things; pistols seem to come with the territory...

For work, I've decided on a Beretta 92fs and have found one for a decent price, so that's that. As for a potential new CCW piece though, for years now I've liked the Cheetah .380, speaking of Beretta, but know even less about that gun as I've never fired .380 myself. The 92s are basically my favored pistols, though no mag-fed firearm will ever be my favorite handgun, so how do various Cheetah .380s compare to the 92 line, which I am familiar with? Are there any models to search for specifically or avoid?
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PS
yes, I know never to carry anything less than a .45 for personal defense, thanks in advance for reminding everyone! the Cheetah .380s went out of production this year and I just want one while they can still be found, capisci?

Link to Beretta 92 vs. Taurus PT92 thread:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9098879#post9098879
 
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I believe that is the Beretta 84 model. Very cool looking guns, I like the style myself. I've never owned one or shot one, but I hear they can be a bit snappy. In my opinion, if you are going to carry something that size, why not look at a subcompact 9mm of some sort, like the Shield or the XDS? If you want to go with a .380, but you still want to class it up, how about a Colt Mustang?

What I'm trying to get across is that the 84 is a large package for a .380, and there are better options in terms of caliber in that size (like a 9mm) that won't give you a hard time with recoil OR there are smaller pistols in .380 that would make concealment easier. I, too, love the styling of the 92, and would love an 84, but it would end up being more of a range gun in my collection as I would never carry it with the other, better options I have (better caliber and smaller). However, I know what it is like to long for something, so best of luck in your search for one of these beauties if that is the way you decide to go, and please post some pictures!
 
You should look into the 8000 series Berettas since their layout is like the 92, just more compact. Their advantage is that they come in 9mm and .40 and their manual of arms should be like your primary so there won't be any muscle memory confusion between the two depending upon what you've shot most recently.
 
I have a few 92FS's, and a Beretta 85FS Cheetah which is my summer carry, so I like the platform. The Cheetah's safety/decocker is frame mounted, and operates the same direction as most other safeties, including the 1911. I prefer the Cheetah's safety, but don't mind the 92's Walther like setup as I don't use the safety as it is DA/SA.

The Cheetah is one of the best .380's out there but time is passing it by as smaller, lighter 9MM's are now available.
 
So I noticed that you called the 92F your service pistol. If it is going to be an everyday carry piece and something that you need to qualify with, I definitely recommend staying with a very similar platform for your personal carry piece.

Just like HSO said
Their advantage is that they come in 9mm and .40 and their manual of arms should be like your primary so there won't be any muscle memory confusion between the two depending upon what you've shot most recently.
Click to expand...

On duty I carry a G22 (dept issue). When I'm not on duty I carry a G23. I'm not really a Glock guy but I like the fact that the platforms are identical. I shoot my duty weapon A LOT, so the muscle memory is there if I ever have to draw my personal G23.

As far as the Cheetah goes, it's a cool little gun. I have a few .380's and the Cheetah is right up there with my Walthers. The Cheetah has a fixed barrel and that definitely contributes to its accuracy (in my opinion). Just a warning, during the last ammo/gun scare in '08, .380 was pretty hard to come by. I have no idea why that caliber disappeared but it did. I started reloading it shortly after.
 
I made the mistake of trading a CZ RAMI (2075) for a Beretta Cheetah as a carry piece. Never liked shooting the Cheetah and for a .380 it is a significant chunk of iron. From a shooting perspective it was just uncomfortable for my small hands.
I have not compared the physical specs, but I suspect my Walther PPS 9mm is smaller, lighter and definitely has a better defensive round. My Bersa Thunder and to a lesser extent the Walther PPK/S were more enjoyable to shoot for .380s and were more concealable. I recently picked up an LCP (another .380) as a backup carry option.
 
I carried a Beretta 84f for quite a while. It is one of a very few .380s that were approved for off-duty carry of LEOs. I like the gun mainly because it was 100% utterly reliable and because I could shoot it very well. It was always a favorite at the range. I tried many different grips, plastic, wood, Pachmayr and polymer, with good results from all.

I also purchased a model 85 but never carried it. The two guns shoot and feel the same to me.

The size, weight, reliability, accuracy, capacity and ergonomics all add up to a excellent choice IMHO. I love that gun and only retired it after about 14 years. it never let me down. It rode in a Galco Fletch or a DeSantis holster.
 
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I have the 84bb model, which has the round trigger guard and no decocker. I agree that they are one of the finest 380's out there. Mine will feed and fire any type of 380ammo.High quality that is hard to come by these days!
 
@ usp9

Just had my hands on one down at the local shop, really felt good! Admittedly, it popped outta my hand during disassembly but that was a just a rookie mistake on my part. The slide on that thing though, like tugging a mule from the bit on a bad day! Did I just pick-up a lemon or are they all that fierce???
 
As you see, disassembly is fast and easy. The slide recoil spring is heavy, designed to absorb recoil energy. I did it enough that it seemed normal. Beretta made a similar model that loaded via a tip up barrel, instead of the normal slide rack. the model 86. These are hard to find though.
 
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are you referring to the .32 Tomcat - it has a tip-up barrel?
Click to expand...

There is a .25 acp called a Bobcat with a tip up barrel and a .380 Cheetah with a tip up as well.
 
The Beretta 86 has the tip up barrel. 8rd capacity. The 87 is a .22 variant. The 84 is a double stack(13 rd) and the 85 is a single stack(8 rd) and the 81 & 82 are .32 ACP
I've got a couple of the 84F's and a pair of the Browning BDA's which were based on the 84 and made by Beretta. They are .380 ACP(or 9mm short). Main difference between the 8x's series & BDA's is the location of safety. On the frame with the 84 and the slide with the BDA's. They're straight blow back design so that's the reason they're hard to rack. But after a while you don't really notice it much. Really nice shooters, nicely balanced & low recoil(compared to my 92 &96). The only downside is that right now, .380 is slightly more expensive than 9mm.
 
Here's a pic of the model 86. it's similar in action to the small pocket Berettas, but built on the 81 series frame size. hard to find and fairly expensive because of it's rarity.

BER862.gif

photo borrowed from photobucket


Gratuitous pic of my two .380s
004.jpg
 
I bought an 84F for my wife last year.

She loves my old PD trade-in 92F but wished that Beretta had a smaller version..... I knew about the 80 series Berettas but I didn't say a word....

Instead I put some $$$ away and quietly looked for an 84 or 85 for over a year with no luck... I couldn't even find a new one. Local gun shop said that they could get me one for almost $700.... :what:

Then last year I started seeing some import marked and beat up 84F's and 81/82BB's at local gun shows.... The wife immeadiatly noticed them too.... Turns out Cole Distributing imported a bunch of them, trade-ins from European Police Depts. All different conditions and priced right. I took my time searching and found a really nice (almost mint) 84F for $349.

They were selling like hot cakes for a while but you still might find one.

**EDIT TO ADD**

Cole Distributing still has a million of them and even thou the condition is a little used they are accordingly priced lower.

http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=Beretta+&IncludeSellers=2621012

Will
 
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I've shot the 92 and the 84. I find the full size 9mm gun's grip to be way too chunky, by the time I reach my finger around that big thing and pull the trigger, my front sight is off target. Hated it. Never felt good in my hand, couldn't hit a damned thing.

The little 380 was a dream - totally different experience. With .380 FMJ white box ammo, it hit where I aimed and had minimal recoil. It was pretty confidence inspiring, especially for a "small" gun. Not a pocket pistol by any stretch, but concealable.
 
the wife has spoken

Showed her this forum thread and a comparison
to the Beretta 92, of which she was not thrilled.

"I want that"
- wife
106-troll-face-girl.jpg

SOLD!
 
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There is a compact version of the 92. My retired cop friend has one for his CCW but it's not much smaller than the fullsize 92.
Tomac
 
As was mentioned before, the Browning BDA-380 is what you want, instead of the 84, as the safety/decocker will be the same as your 92FS. Best of both worlds, built by Beretta to Browning standards, it's finish is much nicer than the 84 with deep bluing.
This one was my first handgun, and was a pleasure to shoot.

P1010003.jpg
 
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@ Tomac
Yea, I looked into those with high hopes, but while I'm sure every little bit helps, I honestly walked away wondering why Beretta had even bothered - it was like roughly an inch shorter, not quite. Certainly not enough to warrant the price jump, for me at least. Check the link at bottom of the opening comment...

@ Hex Head
To be fair, I haven't held one yet, but it was actually the open slide design that drew me to Berettas in the first place, so I dunno - also, these 84s are only like $300!
 
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