The local public pistol range finally had some of the Beretta Cougar
series to rent out, and so my SO and I just had to spend a Sunday
afternoon playing with them.

First thing, both she and I are caliber-bigots, dismissing the 9mm as "not
enough fun." The second thing is, they only had the mini Cougar in .40s&w.
Oh well, close enough. We rented it, slapped in the magazine with the
pinky rest, and prepared to party.

Fit and finish is what we've come to expect on a Beretta -- everything fit
nicely, there was no looseness or too much 'rattle' to the piece, and
there were no visible machine or tooling marks.

Ergonomically, the piece is excellent -- it fits deeply in both my SO's
and my firing hand, is not too heavy, and the trigger is easily reachable.
My only gripe is the location of the safety.

Useability -- the gun is *S*T*I*F*F* -- the safety, the slide, the
magazine release all scream "factory fresh." So much so, that my SO
experieced a few problems racking the slide.

Fireability -- excellent. Something about the firearm, be it the size,
shape, rotating lock-up, or magic, eats recoil. Compared to my standby,
the Beretta 96, the mini Cougar 8040 had less felt recoil, and was just as
easily controlled. My SO, who is fighting wrist problems, noticed this
immediately, as she switched back and forth.

Accuracy -- very good. It did not especially like the PMC ammo we fed it,
generally refusing to do more with it than punch out a 3 inch X-ring at 25
ft, but when I slipped it some Fiocchi 170 gr, I had a few strings of
overlapping bullet holes.

Problems: 
1) The stiffness needs to be worked out, but that happens as
every gun is broken in.
2) The magazine well -- I had the magazine 'stick' halfway in the gun a
few times, because I was slightly off on inserting it. This bugged the
heck out of me, because I've never encountered that before on my '96, the
H&K USP, my SO's SIG, or my buddy's Ruger P90.

Opinions:
I kinda like it, and would feel comfortable recommending something from
the Cougar line-up to my friends. However, it did not especially excite
me, especially since it has to contend with the opinions of a jealous
Beretta 96. My SO will probably test it out a few more times, and is
considering the purchase of one, as the reduction in felt recoil is a
blessing on her wrists.

--
"Frankly, Agent Mulder, alien abduction is the more believable option."
			Agent Skinner, X-Files, 3/09/98 [paraphrase] 
-- John E. Jasen  // DNRC Ambassador to Earth \\  jjasen1@umbc.edu --
-- My views are those of the DNRC only. Prepare to be domesticated --