The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Stoeger Cougar 8000

kymasabe · December 23, 2006, 06:42 PM

First of all, my apologies, I'm no journalist, gunsmith, or photographer so you going to have to deal with my best efforts which may not be up to your standards. Having said that, here we go:

I sold my Sigs and was looking for another reliable home defense gun. I'd seen the Stoeger on the CDNN ads and read about it in Guns & Ammo like everyone else, decided to buy one and take a chance. I had handled a used Beretta Cougar at the local gunshop and thought the gun fit my hand nicely, was keeping my fingers crossed the Stoeger was as good. I really wanted the 9mm but everyone was out of them so I settled for the .40cal.

The gun arrived in a plastic case, wrapped in a piece of heavy wax paper and absolutely soaked in oil. Came with a trigger lock, a bronze and nylon brush and a plastic cleaning rod with permenantly attached cleaning jag. Was too wet to take to the range so took home, stripped, cleaned, lubed and then scheduled range time.

Disassembly is easy, simply flip the disassembly lever down 45-degrees and yank the slide off. After owning Sigs for years, I expected the slide to come off and everything stay intact but to my surprise, when removing the Cougar slide, the recoil spring and the block it rides inside of fall right out when you pull the slide. Disassambly is best done with the gun upside down so nothing drops out and gets lost and so you can see how things come apart. The block the recoil spring sits in has a big arrow on the side to assist in reassembly. The barrel needs to be rotated to be removed and reinstalled. First time I took it apart I thought "Wow, what a pain in the @ss!" but now that I've done it a few times, it only takes less than a minute longer to disassemble and reassemble and a little more attention to make sure things are in place correctly.

Machining inside the slide looked good. I didn't see any rough machine marks, barrel has a nice smooth finish and has also been carefully machined. The frame and slide have the serial number stamped on them and the barrel has matching number, appears to be laser etched, can faintly see it but can't really feel it.

After reassembly, started playing with the controls. Mag release is decent, not hard to get to, mags drop free. .40 cal came with two 10-round mags. Mag springs by the way are very stiff and loading them is a chore. I'll leave them loaded for a few weeks and hopefully they'll relax a little. Slide release lever is also easy to reach, works well. The action is DA/SA and the safety is also a decocker. I'm not a fan of Beretta-ish safeties that need to be flipped up in order to fire. Seems like an un-natural act and I prefer safeties that flip down so I'll probably never safety the gun, just decock and carry in DA, like my Sigs. I don't have a trigger pull gauge so I'm just winging it here...DA and SA felt a little heavier than my Sig P226. I read somewhere that the DA is 12lbs and the SA is 8 lbs but there's no way that they're that heavy. I'd guess 8 and 5 instead. SA has alot of slack before trigger is ready to fire but breaks cleany. DA is very smooth with no stacking, just a clean, consistant pull.

Function at the range today was flawless. Ran 100 rounds of Fiochi 170 grain flat-nose jacketed range ammo with no problem and threw 20 rounds of Winchester 180 grain subsonic JHP's as well. The gun does feel a little different with the rotating barrel and short stroke in comparison to other guns I've fired. The guns seems to cycle quickly. Spent brass was tossed a few feet to the side and for those of you looking to reload, you'll be happy to hear that the Cougar does not dent, ding, or deform in any way the brass it ejects. Recoil was surprisingly light for a .40cal. Was more than my Sig P226 9mm but less than my Sig P239 .40cal. The Cougar has nice checkering on the grip side panels and some stippling on the front and backstrap that make it easy to hang onto. Grip angle and shape make it easy to point.

Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase, an excellent gun for the $299 I paid for it. Looks like I'll be keeping it for a while. Pics attached, don't mock my target, was shot at 10 yards with my new-to-me gun.

December 23, 2006, 06:42 PM	#1
kymasabe Senior Member Join Date: June 10, 2005 Location: SW Florida Posts: 2,747	Stoeger Cougar 8000 - Range Report First of all, my apologies, I'm no journalist, gunsmith, or photographer so you going to have to deal with my best efforts which may not be up to your standards. Having said that, here we go: I sold my Sigs and was looking for another reliable home defense gun. I'd seen the Stoeger on the CDNN ads and read about it in Guns & Ammo like everyone else, decided to buy one and take a chance. I had handled a used Beretta Cougar at the local gunshop and thought the gun fit my hand nicely, was keeping my fingers crossed the Stoeger was as good. I really wanted the 9mm but everyone was out of them so I settled for the .40cal. The gun arrived in a plastic case, wrapped in a piece of heavy wax paper and absolutely soaked in oil. Came with a trigger lock, a bronze and nylon brush and a plastic cleaning rod with permenantly attached cleaning jag. Was too wet to take to the range so took home, stripped, cleaned, lubed and then scheduled range time. Disassembly is easy, simply flip the disassembly lever down 45-degrees and yank the slide off. After owning Sigs for years, I expected the slide to come off and everything stay intact but to my surprise, when removing the Cougar slide, the recoil spring and the block it rides inside of fall right out when you pull the slide. Disassambly is best done with the gun upside down so nothing drops out and gets lost and so you can see how things come apart. The block the recoil spring sits in has a big arrow on the side to assist in reassembly. The barrel needs to be rotated to be removed and reinstalled. First time I took it apart I thought "Wow, what a pain in the @ss!" but now that I've done it a few times, it only takes less than a minute longer to disassemble and reassemble and a little more attention to make sure things are in place correctly. Machining inside the slide looked good. I didn't see any rough machine marks, barrel has a nice smooth finish and has also been carefully machined. The frame and slide have the serial number stamped on them and the barrel has matching number, appears to be laser etched, can faintly see it but can't really feel it. After reassembly, started playing with the controls. Mag release is decent, not hard to get to, mags drop free. .40 cal came with two 10-round mags. Mag springs by the way are very stiff and loading them is a chore. I'll leave them loaded for a few weeks and hopefully they'll relax a little. Slide release lever is also easy to reach, works well. The action is DA/SA and the safety is also a decocker. I'm not a fan of Beretta-ish safeties that need to be flipped up in order to fire. Seems like an un-natural act and I prefer safeties that flip down so I'll probably never safety the gun, just decock and carry in DA, like my Sigs. I don't have a trigger pull gauge so I'm just winging it here...DA and SA felt a little heavier than my Sig P226. I read somewhere that the DA is 12lbs and the SA is 8 lbs but there's no way that they're that heavy. I'd guess 8 and 5 instead. SA has alot of slack before trigger is ready to fire but breaks cleany. DA is very smooth with no stacking, just a clean, consistant pull. Function at the range today was flawless. Ran 100 rounds of Fiochi 170 grain flat-nose jacketed range ammo with no problem and threw 20 rounds of Winchester 180 grain subsonic JHP's as well. The gun does feel a little different with the rotating barrel and short stroke in comparison to other guns I've fired. The guns seems to cycle quickly. Spent brass was tossed a few feet to the side and for those of you looking to reload, you'll be happy to hear that the Cougar does not dent, ding, or deform in any way the brass it ejects. Recoil was surprisingly light for a .40cal. Was more than my Sig P226 9mm but less than my Sig P239 .40cal. The Cougar has nice checkering on the grip side panels and some stippling on the front and backstrap that make it easy to hang onto. Grip angle and shape make it easy to point. Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase, an excellent gun for the $299 I paid for it. Looks like I'll be keeping it for a while. Pics attached, don't mock my target, was shot at 10 yards with my new-to-me gun. __________________ God's creatures big and small, eat them one, eat them all.