Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Stoeger Cougar opinions

Anyone out there have any experience with one of these? They are pretty darn cheap and from what I have read, they get descent reviews. What do you boys think of them.

The Stoger Cougar is just as good as the Beretta Cougar, it's predecessor. Stoger is owned by Benelli which is owned by Beretta.
When Beretta discontinued the Cougar they shipped the manufacturing equipment to Stoger who then continued production.

The Cougar itself, in it's day, was smaller than the common full size service pistols then popular.
The Cougar was also unique, featuring a rotating barrel lock-up system that contributed to superior accuracy.

I always liked the Cougars and still do. I did have one chambered in 357 Sig.
A friend later acquired it - and he loves it.

I haven't had one, but I've never heard anything bad about them. Like P Weed said they have a great history.

Can't speak to the Stoeger, but have one of the original Beretta Cougars in 40sw.
They are supposed to be the same gun as mentioned earlier in the thread.
It's a good reliable gun, always goes bang, and feeds everything it's been fed just fine.
Mine's a DA/SA ; not the best trigger in the world in DA mode, but not terrible.
Points well and with ammo it likes it's plenty accurate, but not a tack driver.
Shot a Beretta 96 in 40sw side by side with the same ammo and the Cougar had less felt recoil with the rotating bbl. lockup.
Read somewhere once that the Cougar was the issued sidearm of the Turkish Army at one time ; not sure if that's true or not, or if it matters.
For the price point I think it's a good buy ; wish my Beretta had been that inexpensive!
Good luck whatever you decide,
Ted

Beretta sold the manufacturing to Turkey where labor costs were cheap. The Turkish gun were sold here for around $400. I have a friend who owns one in 9mm and he has no complaints.
BTW for $400 you can buy a Turkish made copy of the Beretta 92FS Centurion.

I had a couple of officers who had the Beretta version. I shot them and they are decent, accurate pistols. They are reliable if kept well oiled, but will eventually choke if you run them dry.

Of the few .40s&w pistols I've shot, the Beretta Cougar had the most comfortable recoil. The Stoeger Cougars I've seen don't have the fine finish of the Berettas.

My brother-in-law has one in 9mm. I have shot it and I think that it's a very good pistol.

It is a good idea go put a small dab of grease on the lug on the central block and the corresponding groove on the outside of the barrel. That should cure the choking issue.

I'm not fond of DA/SA autos, but I carried a D model (DAO) .40 Beretta Mini Cougar for a while and it was a nice, reliable pistol.

I had one in .40 for a while. It was a good, reliable, accurate gun if just a bit on the heavy side.

I did have one in 40 S&W. accuracy was average. Functioning was very good. I sold it because A did not like or get use to the torque from the rotating bbl lockup.