The 80X Cheetah Tactical is Beretta's answer to a question the .380 market has been asking for two years: why isn't there a factory .380 that ships ready for an optic, a suppressor, and soft-shooting comped range work? The answer, until now, was always aftermarket milling and third-party threaded barrels. Beretta builds all of that in at the factory on a platform that was already one of the only hammer-fired DA/SA .380 pistols left on the market.

The target buyer is not the deep-concealment pocket-pistol shooter. The 80X Cheetah Tactical runs 25 ounces and 7.3 inches overall with the comp installed, which puts it squarely in compact duty and OWB carry territory. It is aimed at shooters who want .380's lighter recoil but refuse to give up modern features. Think aging shooters who can no longer comfortably run a snappy 9mm, recoil-sensitive new shooters moving up from .22, and home-defense buyers who want a quiet suppressor host with a dot on top. For a direct read on where .380 fits against 9mm and .45, see our 380 vs 9mm vs 45 ACP caliber comparison.

The defining feature is the 4.4 inch 1/2-28 threaded barrel with the single-port compensator already indexed and installed from the factory. .380 ACP is not a high-recoil cartridge in a 25 ounce aluminum-framed pistol to begin with, so the comp is not there for major-power-factor recoil control. It is there to flatten the already-light muzzle rise to near zero, which matters for follow-up split times, for low-light target reacquisition under a weapon light, and for new shooters who lose the sight picture between shots.

The comp is removable, which is the more important part of this design choice. .380 ACP is one of the easier cartridges to suppress because most loads are already subsonic, and 1/2-28 is the dominant thread pitch across .380 and rimfire suppressor hosts. An owner can unthread the comp, install a thread protector for carry, or screw on a .380-rated can for indoor range use or home defense. Very few factory .380 pistols ship with both the threaded barrel and the comp included at this price point. Most require an aftermarket threaded barrel from one of a handful of vendors, typically adding $150-250 and warranty headaches.

The optic cut on the 80X Cheetah Tactical uses Beretta's 80X Red Dot Optic Plate Kit system, the same plate interface as the rest of the current 80X line. Two plates are offered directly by Beretta: a Holosun footprint plate that accepts the Holosun 507K and 407K series, and a Shield RMSc footprint plate that accepts the Shield RMSc, Sig Romeo Zero, and the Shield-cut variants of the Holosun K-series (507K-X2 / 407K-X2). Installation is a plate swap under the rear cover plate, not a mill job.

Coverage across the two plates spans almost every serious micro red dot designed for slimline .380s. Our best pistol red dot sights ranking lays out the 507K vs RMSc debate in detail, but the short version for this gun: the enclosed 507K is the more durable pick for a gun that will live in a holster, while the RMSc footprint opens up the widest optic selection at the lower price tiers. A fiber optic front sight and full-serrated black rear sight are included, so the pistol is shootable out of the box without an optic, and the rear sight is tall enough to provide a basic co-witness when a K-footprint dot is installed.

The X-treme S trigger is a hammer-fired double-action / single-action unit with a skeletonized hammer and an adjustable overtravel screw that shortens the reset to 1mm. Beretta advertises it as a light, crisp single-action break with a consistent pull. The frame-mounted thumb safety doubles as a decocker and sits forward on the frame in the Vertec-style location, which is closer to a 1911 manual of arms than to the old slide-mounted safeties of the original 84 and 85 Cheetahs. That placement matters for shooters cross-training between the 80X and a 1911 or 2011.

The Vertec-style grip profile is the most underrated update on the 80X line. The original Cheetahs had a rounded, swept grip that felt great in smaller hands but pointed oddly for anyone coming from a modern striker-fired pistol. Vertec geometry straightens the front strap and flattens the grip angle, making the pistol point more like a Glock or Beretta 92X Performance. Combined with the LOK G10 panels, the grip is aggressive enough for sweaty-hand retention but not so coarse that it shreds a cover garment. Grip width is 1.06 inches, narrow enough for shooters with smaller hands but still comfortable for average and larger frames. A two-slot Picatinny rail up front accepts most compact weapon lights. See our best pistol lights ranking for options that fit a short rail without overhang.

The .380 market is currently split into two camps: deep concealment pocket pistols (Ruger LCP Max, SIG P238, Glock 42, S&W Bodyguard 2.0) and larger .380s that function as recoil-softened CCW or training guns (Glock 42 FPR, SIG P365 in .380). The 80X Cheetah Tactical is carving out a third niche: full-feature, duty-sized .380 with optic cut, thread, and comp. Nothing else in the category currently ships all three from the factory at this price. Competing options from SIG and S&W require an aftermarket threaded barrel and a separate comp purchase, and few of them come with the extended magazine count.

For shoppers who have already ruled out .380 and just want more comped options, our Glock 19 compensator ranking covers the 9mm side of this market, and our best concealed carry pistols ranking covers the full CCW spectrum from pocket pistols to comped micro-compacts. If you are committed to .380 ACP and want to see the full ranking of dedicated pocket pistols, head to our best .380 ACP pistols ranking, and use the side-by-side comparison tool to stack the 80X Cheetah against specific alternatives.

The 80X Cheetah Tactical Launch Edition is the most feature-dense factory .380 shipping in 2026. Factory-installed compensator, factory-threaded barrel, factory optic cut, three extended magazines, and a Vertec grip profile on a hammer-fired DA/SA action you cannot get from any of the striker-fired majors. Bronze frame with a blacked-out slide is a genuinely good colorway rather than a gimmick launch finish. At $1,049 MSRP the value math is straightforward: a comparable 9mm competitor-comp pistol like the S&W Equalizer Carry Comp or the SIG P365-FUSE COMP runs $900-1,300, and neither ships with a threaded barrel plus compensator plus optic plate kit included.

The gun is not a pocket pistol. At 25 ounces and 7.3 inches overall with the comp installed, it carries more like a compact duty gun than a deep-concealment .380. Shoppers who specifically want pocket-pistol .380 should stay with the LCP Max, P238, or Glock 42. Where the 80X Cheetah Tactical makes sense is for recoil-sensitive shooters building a quiet home defense or range pistol around a .380 suppressor host, and for Beretta fans who want the 80-series updated with modern glass and can. First production run is bronze only. If Beretta is pacing this like the rest of the 80X line, a green or gray colorway will follow in 6-12 months.