Why was the Beretta Cougar discontinued?

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Yelovitz_503

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I really liked the full size Cougar in .45 but now it's next to impossible to find one. Does anyone know why they were discontinued? I'm assuming it had something to do with the PX4 entering production...

Bonus question: I know that the Cougar is made under license by a Turkish company now (not called the Cougar anymore though). Does anyone know what the company's name is and what the pistol is designated now? I'd love to scoop one up but it seems like the original Italian ones are few and far between.
 
JTQ & rc:

Thank you so much, I'd been beating my head against the wall all day trying to remember that name! I guess if I can still get one that's made up to Beretta specs I don't care who made it.
 
It IS called the Cougar, and its not made under license; Stoeger is a subsidiary of Beretta. Beretta set up the production line, under the guidance of Beretta engineers, with the same Beretta machinery, with the same Beretta specifications. All that is different is the Stoeger name. For all intent and purposes, it is a Beretta.

That said, I noticed that my Stoeger Cougar doesn't have as good of a paint job as the "real" Beretta. I suspect that while the machining was moved to Turkey, the painting apparatus was not.

But for the ~$400 they sell for, you will quickly forget the paint job as you rack the smooth-as-silk slide...
 
To answer your original question, the Cougar became too expensive to manufacture, given its all metal-construction, vs. the new polymer PX4. IMHO, it is also too heavy and bulky for the role that it is intended for (carry).

The Cougar has crept up in price over the last few years--when It was introduced by Stoeger, I think it was originally like $329. Even at $400, it is a good deal. When you rack the slide, pull the trigger, and hit your target, you will realize that you are getting a $700 pistol. As a CC weapon, you can do better. But if you are a civilian, and your main uses are bedside and range, you are really getting a fine weapon at a steal of a price.
 
I remember hearing that the Beretta Cougar was hyped like crazy for a long time, but by the time it came out it didn't sell well. Which is sad, because it's one of the few Berettas I tolerate (don't like the 92 series or the PX4). I owned a Stoeger Cougar for a while, now it's a good buddys CCW piece.

Thankfully, the Stoeger version is literally just as good and costs a lot less (see Stringfellows comment above). So for the few of us who know about the Stoeger it's probably a good thing the Beretta got discontinued :)
 
2wheels I remember hearing that the Beretta Cougar was hyped like crazy for a long time, but by the time it came out it didn't sell well.
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The Beretta Cougar was a victim of the hi cap magazine ban. The Cougar came out in 1994 I believe and they were only available to the public with 10rnd mags......LE could get them with the 15rounders.
 
will chime in with the these are a great deal crowd. especially compared to the PX4. from my expereinces as a "gun guy" for the local sporting goods place, I'll relate what I saw RE the cougar.

Internally the stoeger was/is just as smooth as any beretta, slick smooth movement of all parts. out of the 20 or so that sold while i worked there we had one cougar had to be sent back for a broken linkage somewhere in the trigger group, then again we sent a brand new PX4 back for the same reason 2 weeks later.

external finish and fitment of some of the smaller parts of the turkish guns are of a lesser quality. less effort is placed on eveness of the finish, parts receive less pre-finish polishing, and parts like the safety/decocker lever have been simplified to allow for faster, easier assembly of said parts at a small cost to appearance.

In other words as a functional gun, the Stoeger branded Cougar is just as good as the beretta branded ones, it's just more "utilitarian" in it's looks.

then, and as a side note this sold more cougars than any other aspect of them, all the ones we sold came with a total of 4 High-Cap magazines, twice as many as any of the similar sized "Berettas"
 
Keep in mind - it was probably discontinued for the same reason the Vertec was... Not enough sales. Plain and simple...
 
Keep in mind - it was probably discontinued for the same reason the Vertec was... Not enough sales. Plain and simple...
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I see where you are headed with this Shipwreck: resume production of Vertec at Stoeger in Turkey! Brilliant!!!!
 
Because the name "cougar" was related to middle aged desperate house wives and they didn't want brand image association. Just kidding, but couldn't resist. :)
 
Because they're clunky in the hand and ugly. Just like the PX4's. Beretta needs to learn to dump the "designers" and go back to good solid pistols.
 
berettaprofessor Because they're clunky in the hand and ugly. Just like the PX4's. Beretta needs to learn to dump the "designers" and go back to good solid pistols.
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What........like the 92?

The Beretta 92 has to be one of the ugliest, most unergonomic semi autos ever made.

I'll take a Cougar any day.:D
 
berettaprofessor said:
Because they're clunky in the hand and ugly. Just like the PX4's. Beretta needs to learn to dump the "designers" and go back to good solid pistols.
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I've shot dozens and dozens of handguns, probably in the 50-60 range, and my PX4 fits me absolutely wonderfully. Comfort in the hand is subjective.

Also, it has shot thousands of hiccup free rounds including cheap and old stuff, 100% record after 4 years of ownership, so that's pretty solid to me. More than thousands of Gen-4 Glock owners can say at any rate! :)

I also temporarily own a bud's Stoeger Cougar 9mm. Nice gun, but a bit finicky unless well lubricated.
 
I have an older Stoeger Cougar and a PX4 both in .40 and love them both. I carry the Cougar more, its frame just fits my hand nicely. Its less bulky than the PX4. But heavier than my wife's Glock 22, but feels lighter than the PX4 in the hand. I have not had a single issue with either except neither would eat Monarch, funnily nor would the G22.

To answer the OP, I thought they dropped it to make way for the PX4. Plain and simple.
 
I recently sold my Stoeger Cougar to fund the purchase of a shotgun. It felt fantastic in my hand, fed the cheap stuff perfectly (monarch brass, wwb, federal) and was accurate enough for me, just had a greater need for a shotgun than multiple pistols. No malfunctions what so ever. My only complaint was that there seemed to be a weak finish on the top of the barrel, that was the only part of the pistol that showed wear.
 
I like my 92FS better--mainly because I like full-sized pistols. But I like the Cougar's grip wayyyy better than the 92 grip. If I could get some more contoured, ergonomic, rubber grips on the Cougar, that would probably be my ideal grip over all other pistols (CZ75 with factory rubber grips currently holds that crown).

To each his own.
 
Stringfellow ..... If I could get some more contoured, ergonomic, rubber grips on the Cougar....
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You might like the long discontinued rubber Cougar grips made by Farrar. They pop up occassionally at a gun show or on ebay.
 
My assumption was that the PX4 Storm more-or-less replaced the Cougar in the Beretta line (higher profit margin on cheaper-to-manufacture polymer-framed firearms). As mentioned before, Beretta sent the Cougar tooling to Turkey, where it is still being manufactured.
 
They pop up occasionally at a gun show or on ebay.
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Sigh. Key word being "occasionally". I have yet to see one. Sad, because Pearce grips bought Farrar, and basically let it die on the vine from what I can tell.
 
Does anyone know why they were discontinued?
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My guess is for the same reasons Smith & Wesson discontinued their line of fine "Third Generation" pistols: the all-metal construction and design elements made the pistols expensive to manufacture, making them difficult to compete price-wise with pistols cheaper to produce. When consumers stop buying products for whatever reason, manufacturers stop making them. Sad but true when this maxim is applied to firearms that are well-made, finely finished, reliable and accurate but too expensive to market successfully.
 
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