New Beretta 80X Cheetah

[GyroF-16]

I believe it was mentioned that the 80X barrel was redesigned. I'm not convinced a drop in barrel for the originals is a good idea.

FWIW-
Just checked my log, and we’ve got 303 rounds of .32 through my wife’s 80X w/ an 81 barrel, and 99 additional rds using the Allegheny threaded barrel. Zero malfunctions, and no noticeable wear on barrels, slide, or frame.
I know it’s not exhaustive or conclusive, but I’m very pleased with the combination so far, and my wife loves the way it shoots.

[Up1911Fan]

FWIW-
Just checked my log, and we’ve got 303 rounds of .32 through my wife’s 80X w/ an 81 barrel, and 99 additional rds using the Allegheny threaded barrel. Zero malfunctions, and no noticeable wear on barrels, slide, or frame.
I know it’s not exhaustive or conclusive, but I’m very pleased with the combination so far, and my wife loves the way it shoots.

Awesome. I don't know all the Beretta model numbers, refresh my memory on mags for the 32, Model 81?

[GyroF-16]

Awesome. I don't know all the Beretta model numbers, refresh my memory on mags for the 32, Model 81?

They’re double stack, very similar to the .380 mags for the 84 and 80X.

Allegheny had some for sale, and I got one when I ordered the barrel to supplement the 4 81 magazines in already had.

https://alleghenyarms.com/product/be...ound-magazine/
But looks like they sold out.

Earlier, I got two of the 4 from Beretta USA

https://www.beretta.com/en-us/produc...2-round-C85888

[LHS]

I want a .32 80x as much as if not more than anyone, but I wouldn't trust AGW to not screw it (and my gun) up... again.

[GyroF-16]

I want a .32 80x as much as if not more than anyone, but I wouldn't trust AGW to not screw it (and my gun) up... again.

That’s interesting…. I’ve dealt with AGW periodically over the past 10 years for night sights, Cerakoting, and assorted small parts (safeties, speed bump triggers, “dog bone” roll pin replacements for hammer spring housing, etc). Never had a bad experience with service or products.

Care to share what we should watch out for?

I’m not defending the business, nor asking you to run them down.
But I would be interested to know what the problem areas were.

[LHS]

That’s interesting…. I’ve dealt with AGW periodically over the past 10 years for night sights, Cerakoting, and assorted small parts (safeties, speed bump triggers, “dog bone” roll pin replacements for hammer spring housing, etc). Never had a bad experience with service or products.

Care to share what we should watch out for?

I’m not defending the business, nor asking you to run them down.
But I would be interested to know what the problem areas were.

Back about 10 years ago, before Ernest restarted LTT and Wilson was doing 92 work, he was the only game in town and came well recommended. I paid him to convert my .22 conversion kit to G, and he borked it up twice and was absolutely awful to communicate with. I had to literally drive up to Pittsburgh to try and get my slide back. I eventually did get an unmolested replacement conversion kit and my money back, but it was like pulling teeth and I take offense to someone ducking me rather than admitting they screwed up, and then telling me that the work's fine when Ray Charles could see it was fucked up like a football bat.

So needless to say, I wouldn't give that guy the steam of my piss if he were on fire.

[LHS]

To clarify, when I finally (months after the quoted lead time) got the slide back, the safety/decocker lever would get stuck in the 'safe' position because the detent spring hole was drilled off-center. When I pointed this out, his reply was that "Oh, I never fully depress the decocker so I didn't notice it". Then he sent me a new slide with what he swore was good work, but it had the exact same problem (hell it may have been the same slide, for all I know). At that point, he knew the issue with the prior one, and he knew I knew, but he sent me the same garbage and expected me to believe it was fine. I found that rather insulting.

All he had to do was be honest with me. If he'd said up front that he'd drilled the initial hole wrong, and had to re-weld/re-drill or whatever, I'd have been "OK, that sucks, but this is a one-off and there will inevitably be some teething issues". But no, he had to duck and dodge and lie about it, which puts him squarely in my NFE list.

[GyroF-16]

To clarify, when I finally (months after the quoted lead time) got the slide back, the safety/decocker lever would get stuck in the 'safe' position because the detent spring hole was drilled off-center. When I pointed this out, his reply was that "Oh, I never fully depress the decocker so I didn't notice it". Then he sent me a new slide with what he swore was good work, but it had the exact same problem (hell it may have been the same slide, for all I know). At that point, he knew the issue with the prior one, and he knew I knew, but he sent me the same garbage and expected me to believe it was fine. I found that rather insulting.

All he had to do was be honest with me. If he'd said up front that he'd drilled the initial hole wrong, and had to re-weld/re-drill or whatever, I'd have been "OK, that sucks, but this is a one-off and there will inevitably be some teething issues". But no, he had to duck and dodge and lie about it, which puts him squarely in my NFE list.

I don’t blame you at all.

[Just_a_question]

Quoting myself again to update…

Successful testing of the Allegheny Arms threaded .32 ACP barrel in the 80X. Put 99 rds through it today essentially without incident.
The 4.5” threaded barrel is only a bit longer than the OEM, but gave a 6-12% increase in average velocity with various loads.
I shot 71 gr FMJ reloads through it, as well as a few factory Hornady 60 gr XTP. Of note, the XTP went from 983 fps in the stock-length 3.9” barrel to 1055 fps in the new 4.5” barrel. That gives some nice energy and likely increased penetration for that load.

The only minor hiccup was the initial loading of the Hornady XTP. Loading from slidelock, the first round was too nose-low and hung up on the feed ramp. I locked the slide back again and pulled the mag… turns out I’d induced some rim lock when loading the mag - the top round was too nose-low and the next round didn’t really advance properly when I pulled the top one off. After forcefully removing the next round and unloading the next few, I reloaded them all properly. Bottom line- as long as everything’s loaded properly (as evidenced by the top round being appropriately nose-up), everything works fine. After that initial issue, every XTP round fed fine, so the HP shape was not the issue.

FWIW - the new barrel + RDS + my reloads yielded 1.25-1.5” groups at 10 yds. I’m pretty pleased with the accuracy potential, given this gun’s mission.

I'm assuming since it's not mentioned, that there isn't any issue with recoil springs using a 32 acp barrel in place of 380. Subsequently, a dpm recoil system for the cheetah 80x could further be utilized (for possibly even less recoil, if even possible)?