I picked one up for $250 cash.  It feels like a Beretta and it was a deal at $250. I thought about using it for my truck gun.  I need mags but the cheapest I can find online is $30 each from CDNN.  Anyone have any mags laying around?  I know you can mod 92 mags to fit but I'd rather not trust my life on a modded mag.

I like them - Nice pistol, nothing wrong with it or the Cougar by Stoeger.  They are under valued in my opinion.
Perhaps It wasn't square  enough for Glock lovers or Sig lovers, and not elegant enough for purveyors of the 92.

I have the Stoeger version.  I don't love it, but neither do I hate it (although it tries my patience at times).  The safety/decocker is awkward and difficult to use.  I've never been able to make a good shot in DA.  I'm good in SA mode though.  Well, except for all the jams, and boy does it like to jam up in all kinds of strange ways (average around once every couple of magazines worth).  I assumed it was just me (this was my first pistol), but I don't have issues with any of my other ones.  Stovepipes, double feed, triple feed, severe jams that tap, rack, bang doesn't help.  It turns into drop mag, try and rack, poke objects in to pry out the big jammed up mess...

So far, different ammo and mags don't help.  Dunno.  Maybe time to start playing with different springs.  Sigh.  I really like how it shoots once I get the stupid safety off and am in SA mode.  However, if I could get my hands on a good double stack 9mm 1911, I'd probably dump the Cougar.

I haven't had any issues.  The DA trigger is heavy but so is the 92 unless you change the hammer spring.  My Beretta doesn't have a safety.  The leaver only functions as a decocker.

The Beretta/Stoeger Cougar was and is a well made pistol. It was built from the ground up to be a .40 S&W and .45 ACP gun.

My sister bought a Stoeger Cougar a couple years ago and I gotta say, it impressed me.  I wasn't sold on the idea of her choosing that particular gun but I did the research and it all pointed to it being an excellent gun for the money.  It's not as pretty as my Beretta, but functionally, it's the real deal.  Shoots great and is as accurate and reliable as my Beretta.  She also has a Stoeger shotgun (I can't remember the model) that cost WAY, WAY less than my Benelli M1 but shoots great.  Again, it's not nearly as pretty, the finish is dull and it doesn't scream "nice" but it runs great and does everything a tactical shotgun is supposed to do.  I'm now a firm believer that if you want good quality, very reliable "fighting guns" and don't have the money or don't want to spend a lot of money, the Stoeger guns are fantastic choices.  The Cougar is built tough, it's a stout gun that is literally built like a tank.  It's my idea of a great TEOTWAWKI gun...cheap, accurate, reliable, tough as hell and extremely easy to take apart (even the innards are built big and tough).

I still choose my Beretta's and Benelli's because I'm a bit of a gun snob and I like my guns to look as good as they perform but if I was hurting for cash and needed a great gun, I'd definitely buy a Stoeger Cougar.

Stoeger and Benelli are Beretta.

 

do they use 92 mags?

Nope, they use Cougar magazines.

 

I seriously considered a Cougar a few years ago, but the inability to
use the 92 magazine killed that idea.  Same for the PX4.

I had an Cougar 8045, which I believe was the first .45 ever offered by Beretta.












 

I got an 8040 during the old federal AWB. Not a bad gun. Still carry it once in a blue moon.

I carried the 8000 as a duty gun for quite a few years. I would guess 25k rounds through it and only one issue. Tried some new lube and it gummed up. It would still fire, but have a very slow blow back action.

Either way, it worked when I needed it most. It is now one of my bedside guns. Look at the D spring mod and quick polishing. It makes a big difference in trigger pull.