# Beretta mini-Cougar 8000D failure to feed



## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

I have a Beretta mini-Cougar 8000D 9mm DAO that I bought new some years back. The pistol was purchased some years after Beretta discontinued production of the Cougars so it may have been sitting on the dealer's shelf for some time. It has always functioned reliably.

A couple of weeks back I had one or two failures to feed but they occurred with a crappy Promag magazine and I figured it was the fault of the magazine. Yesterday I was shooting it with two different Beretta factory magazines and had failures to feed with both mags. The cartridges would hang up half out of the magazine with the projectile nose jammed against the barrel hood. I was using PPU (Prvi Partizan) 115gr brass cased FMJ ammo. This is a budget ammo but I have never had problems with it and my Beretta 92 FS digested it just fine.

The FTFs occurred whether the magazine was nearly fully loaded or nearly empty. The round count on this pistol is relatively low, probably around 500, certainly less than 1000. It seems to me that it would unlikely be a recoil spring problem with the low round count.

Apart from examining the feed ramp and barrel throat, and trying different ammunition, does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting?


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

Is the PPU ammo about the only flavor you have fed the Cougar? I know this sounds childish, but have you tried a few different brands and bullet weight/profiles? Just curious. Maybe the PPU is not "hot" enough for the slide to do it's thing?


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

berettatoter said:


> Is the PPU ammo about the only flavor you have fed the Cougar? I know this sounds childish, but have you tried a few different brands and bullet weight/profiles? Just curious. Maybe the PPU is not "hot" enough for the slide to do it's thing?


That may well be. I have shot a pretty wide variety of ball nosed ammo through the pistol in the past without problems. Unfortunately, this last time out the only 9mm Luger I had with me was the PPU. I will give the pistol a good cleaning and lube, examine the feed ramp and barrel throat and try some different ammo next time around.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

When's the last time you changed magazine springs? Generally, if a Beretta pistol is not working properly, which is extremely rare, I first look to the following: 

Worn magazine spring, recoil spring, dirty extractor channel, possible replacement of extractor and extractor spring.:smt083

Bypass the Promag until you rectify the issue would be my advice as well.


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

I have not changed the magazine springs or the recoil spring. With such a low round count it seemed unlikely to me that the recoil spring would be the culprit but I suppose anything is possible. As for the magazine springs, they have not seen that much use either. I realize that Promag mags are unreliable but if this is a magazine spring issue it would mean that the springs in three different magazines got weak simultaneously. I will, however, disassemble the mags and look at the springs.

I will check the extractor, but it seems that the pistol is extracting and ejecting just fine, just not feeding.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

It's all a matter of deduction, and starting with the feed ramp and barrel throat would be very far from my first deduction, if ever, on a Beretta pistol. I presume you have field stripped, cleaned and lubed the pistol? Likewise, have currently taken apart the magazines and cleaned?

You need to start somewhere, I'd try different ammo, preferably hotter, such as WWB, or 124grn Nato and see if you can replicate the issue with the factory magazines.

If you can run about 200 rounds of WWB in all of your factory magazines w/o a single hick-up, you have the answer as berettatoter has stated.


If that doesn't do the trick, I'd replace the magazine springs(extra power if I could find them). Then on to the next.


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions. I have indeed field stripped, cleaned, and lubed the pistol although it didn't look that dirty and appeared well-lubed. I took a look at the feed ramp and barrel throat and polished them up a bit with metal polish but they looked fine. I have also disassembled the magazines and "cleaned" them although they did not look dirty in any way.

One thing I noticed when examining the feed ramp is that the feed path is partly the ramp on the frame and partly on the barrel throat. There is some longitudinal play in the barrel so that the two ramps might not line up precisely. I had never noticed this before. The central block tooth and matching barrel grooves look OK.

I have several other magazines for this pistol, 5 in all. My plan was to take them all out and load them up with some Winchester 124gr Nato and see if I can replicate the malfunction. If not, I will try a variety of other 9mm FMJ ammo.


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

Indeed this appears pretty clearly to have been an ammunition issue. I went out today and shot some Federal American Eagle and Winchester Nato through my mini-Cougar 8000D using several different magazines with no problems. As soon as I tried the PPU ammo I had immediate failure to feed. Today not even my Beretta 92FS (which has digested everything without complaint) would not feed this stuff.

Disappointing since I have shot Prvi Partizan ammo in 9mm Para, .40 S&W and .45 ACP in the past without problems. Maybe a bad lot. I still have nearly 150 rds of this stuff. What to do with it?


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## Spike12 (Dec 10, 2008)

Glad it's figured out to what I was kind of thinking it would be. WAY too soon for springs. I had a Stoeger Cougar in 40 and loved it. Very well made and damn good finish. I just couldn't get good with that da/sa trigger. 

I'm a little surprised about the PRVI ammo. Before I reloaded I never had a problem with it, BUT the history of the 9mm caliber is full of the pitfalls of underpowered ammo. In fact, underpowered 9mm almost stopped it's introduction into the US. 

I'd contact PRVI and see what they have to say. They might replace it. Can't hurt.


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

pblanc said:


> Indeed this appears pretty clearly to have been an ammunition issue. I went out today and shot some Federal American Eagle and Winchester Nato through my mini-Cougar 8000D using several different magazines with no problems. As soon as I tried the PPU ammo I had immediate failure to feed. Today not even my Beretta 92FS (which has digested everything without complaint) would not feed this stuff.
> 
> Disappointing since I have shot Prvi Partizan ammo in 9mm Para, .40 S&W and .45 ACP in the past without problems. Maybe a bad lot. I still have nearly 150 rds of this stuff. What to do with it?


Well, you could just shoot it up, struggling through the stoppages. If you reload, you could pull the ammo apart and reload it yourself...maybe you will have better luck?


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

The interesting thing is I also have some "Monarch" branded 115gr 9mm Luger ammo on hand (as sold by Academy Sports) and I have shot a good amount of that in the past with no problems. The Monarch ammo clearly has "PPU 9mm Luger" stamped on the bottom of the cases. It is identical in appearance to the ammo that doesn't work, but it works fine.


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