# Cougar 8000?



## Richard (May 8, 2006)

Has anyone seen a Cougar 8000 by Stoeger? I have read two very favorable reviews touting them as great bargains. The retail for these is $320 and they hold 15 rounds of 9mm or 10 rounds of 40 S&W. This is the old Berreta design, it is now made in Turkey, and marketed in the US by Stoeger Industries a Berreta subsidiary. They sound like a good choice for car/house service. Regards, Richard


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Yes, I believe we've talked about it ib the Beretta section - I think it is a very good buy for the money.

I had one of the first Beretta Cougars in the 1990s - it had a blue steel slide. I ended up selling it because w/ the grip, it was essentially a fullsize gun, but it has less than a 4" barrel. I generally don't shoot as well w/ a sub 4" barrel.

But the gun itself worked fine.

For the money, I'd buy one of these if I was on a big budget.


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## Spenser (Nov 6, 2006)

The Beretta version is a great gun. If it can be bought cheaper, that's certainly a deal. 

I shot a .40 for quite awhile, and I found it had almost no perceptible recoil, at least for me. It's the best shooting .40 that I've messed with. I don't know if it's the rotating barrell or what.


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## NCHornet (Dec 20, 2006)

It is on my list to check out. The latest issue of Handguns has a nice write up on the new Cougar.


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## coolguy (Oct 28, 2006)

Yeah, Stoeger's Cougar dominated cover pages of many handgun mags recently. They all seems to agree the new Cougar is accurate. At $340 a piece, it's very affordable, I am starting to consider side arm :wink: :wink:, but how reliable are they? 

To the naked eyes, both Beretta and Stoeger cougar look the same. I believe there's more than meet the eyes. These guys are businessmen. Why would they invest more money to move their tools and operation to Turkey to make the same thing than sell for less. Are Turkey men value less then half the price of an Italian men. If price have any relationship with quality/reliability/durability... one must deeply ponder 'what are the REAL differences between Beretta Cougar and Stoeger's Cougar?'


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## spacedoggy (May 11, 2006)

coolguy said:


> Yeah, Stoeger's Cougar dominated cover pages of many handgun mags recently. They all seems to agree the new Cougar is accurate. At $340 a piece, it's very affordable, I am starting to consider side arm :wink: :wink:, but how reliable are they?
> 
> To the naked eyes, both Beretta and Stoeger cougar look the same. I believe there's more than meet the eyes. These guys are businessmen. Why would they invest more money to move their tools and operation to Turkey to make the same thing than sell for less. Are Turkey men value less then half the price of an Italian men. If price have any relationship with quality/reliability/durability... one must deeply ponder 'what are the REAL differences between Beretta Cougar and Stoeger's Cougar?'


That's a dam good question. I just bought the Tauras PT92AR. It's about half the price of the Baretta. I have own in the past the 357 and 44 Tauras revolvers and they did not hold up well. This PT92 seems well made and shoots great but I wish I new how much better the beretta is and is it worth the money to upgrade or purchase in the first place.


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## Revolver (Aug 26, 2006)

I came very close to buying one. Almost wish I did. I bought the S&W 39-2 instead which is currently out for rear sight repair.

If I'm not mistaken, Stoeger is owned by if not strongly affiliated with Beretta. Since the Stoeger Cougar has the same name as the Beretta, one would think that Beretta would not allow Stoeger to tarnish their trade name(Cougar). 

Taurus on the other hand acquired Beretta tooling and I think possibly may be licensed by Beretta to make them and that's where the association ends. That is what explains the difference between the 92FS and PT92. Beretta plays no role in the PT92's manufacture or any of Taurus's operations.

At least that's what I gather. I could be totally wrong here.


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## reconNinja (Sep 26, 2006)

Revolver- The Taurus bit sounds right, but I know you are correct with the Stoeger and Beretta affiliation. There was a write-up about it in the latest Guns & Ammo. I can't remember if Stoeger had it first and then Beretta just did it for all these years and now they are going back to Stoeger or what, but you're right they definitely are in cahoots.


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## spacedoggy (May 11, 2006)

I think Tarus got their revolver tooling from S&W and their semi's from Beretta. Anyone know for sure.


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## reconNinja (Sep 26, 2006)

spacedoggy, that sounds about right. A lot of Taurus and Smith revolvers are a lot alike. Rossi's too..


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