Beretta Cheetah reviews?

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  • gdubyacobb

    Active Member
    Mar 6, 2009
    320
    Patagonia Arizona
    Anyone out there have oppinions about the Beretta Cheetah?
    I really like my 92 but would like a smaller sidearm for CC and it seems to be a scaled down version for the most part.
    Thanks.
     

    newmuzzleloader

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Apr 14, 2009
    4,765
    joppa
    Gun-tests did one a few years ago:
    The all-matte-black Cheetah was a busy-looking gun, with its open barrel (like the old Model 1934), ambidextrous safety, external hammer, slide-stop lever, and the takedown lever on the right side with its release button on the left. But the controls are all easily used and understood, and fell under the fingers pretty much as we’d like to have found ‘em. The Cheetah was well made, we thought, with excellent workmanship everywhere we looked. The barrel was chrome-plated inside, a nice touch that should make maintenance easy over the years.

    The ambi safety lever bears special mention. We first thought it was possible to carry the gun cocked and locked, because there’s a midpoint “notch” in the safety lever’s travel. The safety wanted to stop there, with the hammer remaining fully cocked. However, with the gun cocked and apparently locked with the safety in that halfway point, repeated cycling of the trigger caused the hammer to fall and the safety to go all the way up. To clarify, there are only two positions for the safety, all the way down to fire the gun, or all the way up, which drops the hammer and renders the gun locked. This also locks the slide, so it’s not possible to chamber a round with the safety on. Another feature was that the gun would not fire with the magazine removed.

    We thought fit and the matte-black finish were excellent. We liked the feel of the black, checkered grip panels and the vertical serrations on both grip straps. But we didn’t like the small size of the finger-grooved area on the slide, that you had to grab to pull the slide to the rear. It took a hefty pull — with the safety off — to cock the hammer and chamber a round, and the safety itself also got in the way for some of us. We’d have liked a larger gripping surface. It was much easier to work the slide on a 1911, or on the NAA or the PPK than this one. We tested in extremely cold weather, and this slide hurt our fingers when we pulled on it. We found it was impossible to work it with gloves on.

    Takedown was remarkably easy. Clear the gun, lower the hammer, and remove the magazine. Then press on the left-side button located just above and in front of the trigger, and rotate the right-side takedown lever 90 degrees, so it’s pointing down. This frees the slide and barrel to slip off the frame to the front. This lets you get into the guts of the alloy frame to clean it. Pull the slide spring downward away from the barrel, slip out the barrel, and clean the remainder. Not many guns have as easy a system to get the gun apart for cleaning. But reassembly was anything but easy, we found. The slide-spring rod didn’t want to go back into its hole in the frame as we pulled the slide rearward. We got around that by pulling the slide onto the gun and compressing the spring, so the guide rod stuck out the front. Then, holding the slide rearward against the spring, we grabbed the rod and fiddled it into its hole. Beveling the entryway would probably fix this, and Beretta needs to look into this, we think. We also had the devil of a time getting the takedown latch to go back where it belonged. The downloadable manual (none came with the gun) was of little or no help in this matter.

    We liked the smooth external surfaces, kind to hands and holsters. The sights were excellent, easy to see, and well regulated. Both the integral front square-top blade and the dovetailed, square-notch rear had big white dots, which were easy to see in dim light.

    In all, the gun inspired confidence, despite its excess size for the caliber. We had no problems with it other than reassembly after cleaning, and in manually chambering a round.

    When we tried the Beretta Cheetah DA only at 25 yards, all shots hit very close to the point of aim, and they all went off, which we thought were satisfying results after the failure of the other two guns. The long DA pull left a lot to be desired, we thought, but we could not reject the gun because of that.

    Gun Tests Recommends
    • Walther PPK .380 ACP, $543. Don’t Buy. On the range we had a pleasant time with the PPK as long as we shot it single action. In that mode, the Walther was perfectly reliable, fast to shoot, and more than reasonably accurate. Its decent SA trigger and quick DA pull made hits easy, whenever the gun fired. Some of us have never liked the DA/SA operation, but it worked here rather well, we thought. Our shots all landed 4 to 5 inches high at 15 yards, and even worse in the double-action testing at 25 yards. We would have to fix the sights before we’d be happy. Five-shot groups averaged around two inches at 15 yards. However, the failure of several rounds to fire in DA mode meant simply that this gun didn’t work as designed. By comparison, an older Interarms PPK/S had a stiffer DA pull and it required nearly a pound more effort to manually cock the hammer. We liked the PPK a lot, but S&W would have to fix its problems before we’d buy it.

    • North American Arms Guardian .380 ACP, $449. Don’t Buy. This was not a particularly friendly gun, we thought. The one good feature of this tiny auto is that it can be easily concealed, and would fit almost any pocket. The gun came in a black, zippered pouch with elastic bands inside that held the gun and the spare magazine. This rectangular pouch had a spring-loaded belt clip on the outside, and an intelligently installed zipper, so it could be attached to the pants belt as a full-concealment holster and would look like anything but a gun. Maybe a cell phone? An iPod? We thought it was handy, and maybe even the best way to carry the Guardian. Would we buy the Guardian? No. We like our bullets to all strike nose first, and reasonably close to where we aimed. Our 25-yard tests killed all our desire for this gun. We thought the trigger pull was too much of a struggle, especially for those with long fingers. In a tight situation, we didn’t want to fight a balky trigger and pathetic accuracy, which would make us wonder where our shots would hit.

    • Beretta 85 FS Cheetah .380 ACP, $575. Conditional Buy. The Cheetah made groups about as well as the PPK, but closer to the aim point. Fast shooting was much easier than with the NAA Guardian, but not as easy as with the PPK, we thought. The long DA pull was not as easy to control as the PPK’s. Nor did we care for the long two-stage — almost three-stage — SA trigger pull, although it broke clean when we got it all the way back. The PPK’s SA pull was more easily managed. We would not call the Cheetah a pocket gun, nor did we think it ideal in self-defense mode. It was longer, higher, and fatter than the PPK, yet held only two more rounds. There are higher-capacity versions of the Cheetah, if that’s what you want, and several finish options too.

    But despite the Cheetah’s size and busy looks, we thought it to be well worth a long, hard look by anyone who wants a good reliable .380 that can do several tasks. It was accurate enough and fun to shoot, and might be an ideal one-gun pistol for the person who doesn’t want to own different guns for plinking and self defense. Handloaded ammo could give lots of low-cost shooting so you can become used to it. And with its longer barrel, the Cheetah got the most out of our hot JHP defense ammo. We might buy it, though most of us would prefer more power for a multi-purpose pistol.


    -Text and photos by Ray Ordorica from Gun Tests team field and range evaluations.

    Hope this helps.
     

    Cold Steel

    Active Member
    Sep 26, 2006
    801
    Bethesda, MD
    A number of things has me bearish on Beretta. First, their magazine springs have had bad reviews from both users and active duty military personnel. Second, I don't like the way Beretta dealt with the initial M92 military problem; and third, I don't like the way it's handled the Tomcat problem.

    If the 92's large size translated into a tough, robust gun, fine, but having to buy an aftermarket magazine to get decent springs rubs me the wrong way. One friend of mine, just back from Iraq, said that the magazine problem was driving everyone a bit batty. "It was no skin off my teeth," he told me. "We just got more from the armorer." But apparently the springs don't maintain their elasticity.

    The good thing about the Berettas is that when they work, they tend to work very well. The military slide problem has been worked out, but only after literally years of denial on the part of the company. And they never did come entirely clean on their Tomcats.

    When the company got the military contract years ago, the prices on the guns went up astronomically over night. Meanwhile the military was getting them for almost nothing.

    Their guns tend to be fine, but the company leaves a lot to be desired. Just giving Tomcat owners a coupon to buy a Tomcat INOX is not my idea of good customer service. Beretta also sends out "ringers" to testers in gun magazines, but then, so does everyone else.
     

    gdubyacobb

    Active Member
    Mar 6, 2009
    320
    Patagonia Arizona
    My understanding is that the spring/mag problem had to do with the govt buying mags from a different contractor and that once they switched back to the factory mags the proplem was resolved.
    I can't say that as fact but it's what I read.
    I didn't know anything about the company, that's good to know for future reference.
    I think I've given up on the cheetah anyway, I'm looking at compact 1911s. Close to full size but much thinner than the 92.
     

    leroygibbs

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 2, 2008
    3,285
    Okay, I'm a beretta junkie... Full disclosure...

    The Tomcat crack crap sucks and is a major screw up with Beretta. The 92 slide "flying off" is mainly overblown Internet stuff. Recall, the whole reason it moved to the FS was to ensure slides don't fly off, even though one may suspect this had more to do with tests and prototypes than real mass produced design flaws, but heck, I'm a shill.

    The BERETTA mags are great, the Checkmate (gov supplier, sand issue) were problematic, but not beretta. I've abused literally dozens of 92 mags like hell, including using most of them in the desert (Mojave, not un-friendly ones), where they were routinely dropped, re-loaded and stuck back in, without a hitch, but hell, I was goofin' not getting shot at, so maybe Murphy wasn't interested in playing.

    The Cheetah is pretty dang nice, especially the doublestacked 84. I find them to be very easy to shoot, great reliability and very accurate. Now, I have larger paws, and find the size ideal, but many complain it's too large for a .380/.32 With regards to the guide rod, the Gun Tests folks must be cracked, it takes nothing, unless there is a difference in production between the old Italian ones and newer ones. Speaking of older ones, you can carry a BB cheetah cocked and locked, not F or FS.

    On to Beretta customer service, I have had the occasion to deal with them both in the US and in Italy, and their customer service is actually very, very under rated in my opinion, or I've been extremely lucky.

    Corporate wise, the tomcat thing is an big, big Charlie Foxtrot, and really so is the PX4 trigger sting thing, but they make great stuff, just a little slow but they've been around for 600 years.
     

    boatbod

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 30, 2007
    3,827
    Talbot Co
    I have a Cheetah 87BB (.22LR) which is a joy to hold and shoot. It has an ambi safety which blocks the trigger, a trigger operated firing pin block and a mag disconnect. All in all, probably pretty safe to carry in condition 1.

    Other calibers in the Cheetah series had variations in the action such as a decocker instead of a trigger block safety.
     

    ngzcaz

    Member
    Jul 13, 2017
    16
    Old thread for sure but new to me since I recently acquired an 81 in .32 caliber. I've carried a few Berettas in .40 and 9mm over the years. The 9's were reliable right out of the box, the .40's were not and required several hundred rounds before we carried them on duty and were fully functional.

    As I'm getting older my wrists and fingers are subject to all kinds of aches and pains and even a 9mm compact like my Kahr K-9 is more than I want to handle. Enter the .22 phase. I have 4 from the Ruger Competition to the Bersa Model .23... They are fun and easy to shoot but every now and then something seems to be missing. After a few FTF and FTE I found myself looking for a centerfire. Tried the .38 in a snubnose, definitely not for me although I really didn't expect it to be. Also bought a .38/357 in a Taurus Tracker with ports on the front. That was fine with the .38's but bucked a bit with the .357's. Definitely keep the Tracker with the .38 option. Then came the .32.. I checked all kinds of reviews and while the popularity rises and falls I decided to get one. These are the trade in LEO issues. First one was non functional out of the box, something to do with the guide rod/spring set up. Sent it back and the second one functions as it should. Took it out to the range and it functions fine, no issues at all. The recoil is exactly where I want it to be. More than a .22 but way less than the alloy/polymer in 9mm or even a .380. I found ammo to be about the same or a tad more than 9mm, shipping is what pushes the price up. LGS have 5 different varieties of .32 ACP but he's double the price vs the Internet. While I probably never carry it for protection, the new SD loads are very impressive, a major difference from what was was available in 2010.. :)
     

    RegularJay

    NRA & SAF Life Member
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 20, 2007
    1,379
    Harford County
    I have an 84 that fits my hand very well and is quite pleasant to shoot. It is pretty big for a .380 and would be harder to conceal than most other "small" .380's but I find it far better to handle in my fat fingered paws than those itty-bitty single stack pistols.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    The Cheetah family are * Pocket Pistols * by the old school context of early 20th Century , not current Micro Pistols . To Me , that's a positive , for someone whose parameter is fitting in the watch pocket of their tight jeans, not so much .
     

    ngzcaz

    Member
    Jul 13, 2017
    16
    I have an 84 that fits my hand very well and is quite pleasant to shoot. It is pretty big for a .380 and would be harder to conceal than most other "small" .380's but I find it far better to handle in my fat fingered paws than those itty-bitty single stack pistols.

    From what I've read the 84 and the 81 seem to virtually the same as far as size goes. The 84 is a .380 and has more snot than the 81 in .32 I've shot thousands of rounds in Beretta firearms and except for the break ins on the .40 all were exceptionally reliable. You can spend more but I'm not convinced you're getting a better gun.. More aesthetics to me than anything else. :thumbsup:
     

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