Beretta 84

[Ghostrider_23]

I have been really thinking about picking up a Beretta 84 double stack 380. I love the looks of the 92 but find it toooooo big for much of anything (I have small hands and like smaller guns). There is something so sexy about the design.

Does anyone have any opinions or experience with this gun.

How does it shoot? (recoil)
Is it accurate?
Does it have any problems? (cracks or jamming)

Would you get one or is it just another gun.

Good or bad please let me know.

 

[bannockburn]

Ghostrider

I had one when they first came out. Ergonomics were great, especially the location of the thumb safety. Build quality was very good and the alloy frame helped to keep the weight down and made the balance feel just right in my hand. The double action trigger was sort of long and heavy, but single action was fairly light and even. Reliability was excellent, the sights were easily acquired on target, and accuracy was more than adequate for the job at hand.

You mention that you have small hands; so do I and that was the one thing that I never felt totally comfortable with the Model 84. It was just that the grip frame seemed a little too wide and a little too rounded for me, possibly due to the factory walnut grips that it came with. I later switched out those grips for Pachmayrs and that seemed to help alleviate that rounded feeling somewhat.

Overall it was a great gun but not exactly my first choice for a CCW. If it's a .380, then I want something much smaller overall; more like pocket size for deep concealment. If I were to move up in caliber, then I would get something in a 9mm. that would pretty much be the same size as the Model 84. Something like a Glock 19, CZ 75 D Compact, or a Ruger SR9c would quite neatly fill this role. Another thing to consider too is the fact that while .380 is now back on the market again, 9mm. is seemingly available anywhere and for considerably less cost than .380 ammo.

 

[rellascout]

It is one of the softest shooting 380 autos on the market. It is rock solid in terms of reliability. For me it is dead nuts accurate. They have a fantastic trigger. They are perfect for smaller hands.

The downside is that it is heavy and big compared to todays mini 380s. They have a mag disconnect which I do not like. You cannot carry the 84FS version cocked and locked but it does have a safety.

The number one issue I have with it is its cost. Most of the time the 84fs or its half brother the Browning BDA are $500+ guns.

I found this one for a price I could not pass up.... If can can check one out.

 

[Pilot]

I have a Beretta M85FS which is the single stack version and a little slimmer. Its one of my favorited guns and I carry it a lot. Accurate, reliable, slim and light. It easily conceals under a sweater or loose shirt.

 

[Nushif]

The wife has one and whenever we go shooting together it is the first one I'll nix for a couple of rounds of ten.
Hasn't misfired ever, is accurate, has a great trigger, especially in SA mode and I can keep it on target stupidly fast. Love that little thing.

 

[usp9]

I love my 84f. It is, IMHO, the best .380 made and one of the all time great firearms... period.

There is a pretty active used market, so a nice used gun may be more economical than new.

I have a choice of four different grip sets for this gun. All work well.

The sights are the weak link. They could be better. I'd love a nice set of Mepros on my pistol.

Acurate, reliable to a fault, easy to shoot well, rugged and robust is how I describe the Berettas.

 

[hemiram]

I've had a bunch of .380's over the last 30+ years, and the best I've ever had, have been the Beretta 84 and it's closed slide version, the Browning BDA .380. You can get a nice used on on Gunbroker for a decent price. Gary Cole has a bunch of them. I paid about $300 for mine, shipped and other than some holster wear, it's in great shape.

 

[xr1200]

To sum it up, to big, to heavy, to weak of a round for its size, to expensive, to out dated. You can buy a brand new glock 23 in 40 sw, that is cheaper, lighter, smaller and holds 13 rounds and is more accurate.

 

[Cowboybootnut]

I've had one for 25 years, I keep it in the night stand on the wife's side of the bed. It has natural "pointability" fun to shoot, reliable and acccurate. Yes it is heavy for CCW, and .380 has SD limitations, but it has 14 rds.

 

[usp9]

23 ounces is heavy?

 

[Fastcast]

Too bad proper spelling/grammar is also outdated and people that review pistols actually shot them so they'd know just how accurate they are.

 

[barnett]

I had one and found it to be one of the finest pistols in terms of accuracy and comfort of shooting that I have ever owned (and I've owned a lot). If it had been the SINGLE stack model....I would never have sold it. Someday I will purchase a single stack version.

 

[jbkebert]

To sum it up, to big, to heavy, to weak of a round for its size, to expensive, to out dated. You can buy a brand new glock 23 in 40 sw, that is cheaper, lighter, smaller and holds 13 rounds and is more accurate.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yet the Glock will never have one thing. A beautiful fit and finish and overall sex apeall that the Browning BDA or Beretta 84 enjoys.

I have the Browning version and really prefer the swept hammer of it over that knurled hammer of the Beretta. How ever the frame mounted safety of the Berretta is a plus. As far as accuracy i can hit ritz crakers at 17 yards all day long.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

They are accurate, reliable, easy recoiling and fun to shoot. Just get one.

Now the question is:

Blued or nickeled
84F or BDA?

I picked my choice for each. No regrets!

 

[Jeb21]

I had the 85 and found it to be accurate, reliable, beautiful and fun to shoot. I sold it because I go through moments of temporary insanity. If I could find another one, or the 84 for a good price, then I would snap it up.

I do agree that for its size and weight there are other more powerful handguns available now. Still that pistol is a classic that will give your decades of good shooting service.

 

[Jaywalker]

I had an M84 in the early Eighties. It felt good, looked good, was reliable, and pretty accurate, and nicely machined. For a 23-ounce .380, though, I thought the blowback action (as opposed to the locked breech on 9mm) led to sharper than expected recoil. As it pretty much duplicated my Browning HP in size, I let it go. I liked the pistol enough to buy an M87 .22, which is a fantastic pistol, too.

If you like it, then buy it - it's a fine pistol.

 

[usp9]

I read Bersa Thunder posts, and never does anyone say "The Bersa is too big and heavy for a .380". The Beretta is the same size and weighs the same, maybe less, so why is the Beretta and not the Bersa tagged with the big and heavy millstone? Is the Bersa too a dinosaur ready for extinction?

Why isn't the 1911 always, in every thread about it as is the Beretta, labeled "too big/ too heavy"? It is of course big and heavy and there are many smaller lighter .45s available.

Why is the Beretta 84 the whipping boy? I wonder?

 

[labhound]

My wife has the Cheetah 85FS which is the single stack version with a smaller grip than the 84. She loves it. Its very accurate, super reliable, recoil is not an issue, and its a classic gorgeous pistol. The sell for around $750 new in my area.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have been really thinking about picking up a Beretta 84 double stack 380. I love the looks of the 92 but find it toooooo big for much of anything (I have small hands and like smaller guns). There is something so sexy about the design.

Does anyone have any opinions or experience with this gun.

How does it shoot? (recoil)
Is it accurate?
Does it have any problems? (cracks or jamming)

Would you get one or is it just another gun.

Good or bad please let me know.

I have an early model 84, about 1980 or so. It has the reliability of a light switch and shoots about anything. I even loaded some 110 JHPs for it and they shot just fine.

The only problem I had was where the slide hits the frame on recoil. Overtime, it peens over the aluminum of the frame and makes the gun difficult to disassemble. I just cleaned up the area with a small round file.

My pistol has over 3000 rounds through it.

Great pistol. I'd like to get a Model 85 sometime.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I had its cousin, the Model 86, a single-stack (8-round) with a tipup barrel and selective double action (allowing the option of "cocked and locked" carry). Beautifully made, accurate, reliable and quite fun to shoot. I bought it chiefly because of its unusual design, not as a "go-to" defensive sidearm, as it rivals the size of any number of compact or "middleweight" 9mms, but I wouldn't want to stand in front of 14 .380s.

 

[berettaprofessor]

hemiram; who's Gary Cole and how do we get in touch with him?

 

[AJChenMPH]

+1 to what others have said: accurate, soft shooting and reliable.

I have the Browning BDA-380 -- inherited it from my father. However, if I were to buy one for carry purposes, I'd get the Beretta 84: the sights are better, and for IWB carry, the spur hammer on the BDA-380 digs in something pretty fierce into my side.

I also happen to have a small problem shooting the BDA-380 (don't know if it translates to the 84, I've never shot an 84), where the "beavertail" bites into the web of my hand between the thumb and index finger something fierce, to the point where I can only shoot about 50-75 rounds before I have to stop, lest I want to bleed all over my BDA.

ETA: if you're specifically looking for a "full-size" premium .380, then by all means get one -- enjoy and don't look back. But as others have pointed out, there are definitely other pistols more suitable for carry.

 

[hemiram]

Berettaprofessor:

go here and look at his many other auctions:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=210388986

 

[Onmilo]

I have a CZ83 in .32 acp.
The Beretta 84 is certainly not any great deal larger than these guns.

I agree with many other posters that you can get a 9mm in the same size catagory now but if you don't want a 9mm that arguement is pretty mute.

The Berettas make fine shooting pistols.
Don't hesitate to buy one if the urge really hits you, they disappoint very few of the people that actually own them.

 

[usp9]

The Beretta 84 is certainly not any great deal larger than these guns.

Measure for measure the CZ and the Beretta are pretty much identical, as are several other popular guns of this genre. IMHO, it is that size, that relationship to the average hand, that makes them so well liked and ergonomically perfect.