Tag Archives: 80X Cheetah

Leon, is that you?

Beretta continues to release innovative variants of its .380 ACP Cheetah series, with the newest model sporting a factory-mounted compensator, extended magazine capacity, and other goodies.

Boom:

The company had long marketed the 80-series Cheetah platform, going back to the 1970s, and debuted the modernized 80X in 2023 to bring the model into the 21st century with more contemporary features than were available during the Disco era.

The newest 80X Cheetah Tactical variant is a special-edition model that retains the pistol’s double-action/single-action trigger system, two-slot Picatinny accessory rail, svelte profile via a Vertec-style alloy frame, and fully ambidextrous controls –including a frame-mounted safety with decocker and a reversible magazine release.

Specific upgrades to this model include extended 15+1-round magazines (ships with three), a red dot mount hidden under a removable optic cover, a built-in compensator on an extended threaded (1/2×28 TPI) muzzle, aggressive G10 grip panels, and a bronze-anodized frame.

The new Beretta 80X Cheetah Tactical Special Edition
The new Beretta 80X Cheetah Tactical Special Edition sports a two-tone blacked-out slide and a compensator that would give the AL/GI/MEC-equipped Model 92s seen in “The Professional” a run for their money. (Photos: Beretta) 
The new Beretta 80X Cheetah Tactical Special Edition
Note the extended beavertail, skeletonized hammer, and combat-style trigger guard as well as the black G10 grip panels and slim Vertec frame. 
The new Beretta 80X Cheetah Tactical Special Edition
The slide includes a red fiber-optic front sight, a blacked-out rear sight, and an optics cover plate. It runs a lightweight recoil spring, making it easy to rack. 

Launched first in Europe with an MSRP of €1,099, which works out to ~$1,300, the model wasn’t supposed to start shipping in the States until June, but we are already seeing availability for it for like $999. 

How about that sizzle reel?

Oh, that Cheetah roar

Probably one of the most underrated of .380ACPs, the old-school Beretta 84/85 Cheetah, with its subcompact alloy frame and its 13+1 capacity, was a rock-solid classic back in the 1990s and early 2000s.

I have a couple of different .32 and .380 Beretta Cheetahs, all recently imported former Italian police guns, and I really like them.

Well, Beretta has brought it back in a very modern second generation, the 80X.

As its name would imply, borrows the Vertec grip, X-treme S Double/Single trigger, and skeletonized hammer as seen on the 92X line, but shrinks everything down a bit while keeping a 13+1 round capacity.

Direct blowback action, it runs a 3.9-inch barrel giving it an overall length of a very handy 4.9 inches. Weight is 25 ounces unloaded. Either way, nice to see folks are still making hammer-fired metal-framed guns for mainstream carry use. 

More in my column at Guns.com.