Welcome back to Part II of the Beretta 80x review. In Part I, we took a look at the design and features of the gun. This part of the review will focus on shooting and carrying it, which I did a lot over the last few months. Let’s get into it.

Beretta @ TFB:

• Langdon Tactical Reveals Optics Ready Beretta Tomcat
• POTD: The Beretta ARX200 DMR – With Extras
• Beretta Unveils Their New Assault Rifle Platform
• POTD: Beretta NARP (New Assault Rifle Platform) Suppressed
• Beretta To Assist in Manufacturing Ammunition In Hungary

Disclosures for this review: I don’t have a prior relationship with Beretta. I asked my editor Pete to reach out to get me an 80x to review, and Beretta graciously provided it along with the accessories. I bought the ammo for this review. 

Accessories

As mentioned in Part 1, Beretta provided a Holosun K-cut plate for this review. It was easy to mount to the gun, and it held zero the entire time it was on the gun, which was about 650 rounds. It also was not bulky or obtrusive either on the range or in the holster.

Beretta also sent an ANR Design AIWB holster. There are not many holster options for this gun yet, but Beretta sells a few options. The ANR model is made of Kydex and has a wing to keep the butt from protruding. It carries well and was easy to live with during the review.

Ballistics 

The .380 Auto is a less potent round than 9mm. There is no debating that point. But how much worse is it? And how much of that ballistic downgrade is due to the extremely short barrels common on most other .380 pistols? I fired a few types of ammo through a chronograph to see what kind of velocities the 80x could produce.

Ammunition	Projectile	Velocity
Norma Monolithic Hollow Point	85 Grain HP	1,111 FPS
Remington Ultimate Defense (Full Size) Golden Sabre	102 Grain JHP	1,044 FPS
Remington High Terminal Performance	88 Grain JHP	966 FPS
Federal American Eagle	95 Grain FMJ	885 FPS
Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics	95 Grain FMJ	833 FPS

These numbers are clearly less potent than a 9mm Parabellum, but some are not so “Kurz” on performance. The Remington Ultimate Defense 102 grain load was particularly close in performance. That load also shot very well and was what I carried in the 80x.

On The Range

I put just over 1,000 rounds through the 80x. Most of that was Fiocchi FMJ, but I did run a few other brands of FMJ and a few hollow point options through it as well. There was only one hiccup, a failure to lock back on the last round. However, that was with the old magazine from my 84BB, not a current-production magazine. One other note about the magazines is that they are extremely stiff and difficult to load when new. They did break in and after a few loading cycles, they were much easier to load.

The only other quasi-issue was operator error. There were a few times where, with my thumbs high, I ended up pinching the slide hard enough to stop it cycling. When I eased off and let the slide move again, it went back fully into battery. This would probably not be an issue for the intended market for this gun, but if you have large hands and ride them high on the grip it is a thing to be aware of.

It is not really possible to do a proper burndown with only three 13-round magazines, but I did my best to try. I put about 300 rounds through the 80x as quickly as I could given the limited number of magazines. There were no issues but the frame did get very hot. 

I split the shooting between a red dot and the iron sights. The irons are not anything special but they work fine. Shooting with a Holosun 507k was much more enjoyable. The light recoil and lack of muzzle rise made it really easy to keep the dot on the target during rapid fire. Even though the 80x is a smaller gun it is still capable of respectable accuracy. My best string at 25 yards on a B8 was an 89-4X, strong hand only with the iron sights. That is not going to win a bullseye match but it is far better than what the typical pocket .380 can do.

The Target Demographic

One of the key markets for the 80x is women who like nice things. The small grip, moderate recoil, and Italian style all play well with that crowd. I also happen to be married to a woman who is part of that crowd. She is a Glock girl but took the 80x for a spin while we were at the range. Overall she liked it though the double-action/single-action operation was an adjustment from the striker-fired triggers she is used to.

As A Carry Gun

Beretta was kind enough to provide an ANR Design IWB holster to use in the review. I carry every day and much of my time at my day job I dress in business casual. The 80x is very easy to carry. It’s not very heavy, and it doesn’t have any sharp edges or pointy bits that are annoying. It’s always disappointing when a new carry gun has an obtrusive feature that only makes itself known after three or four hours of a 14-hour day. Thankfully that did not happen with the 80x. 

Some manual safeties have a habit of getting bumped from one position to another. This is particularly true with ambidextrous safeties. Thankfully, this safety lever always stayed right where I left it.

Finally, possibly the most important feature of all for a carry gun is reliability. The 80x absolutely has it. I wiped down the barrel and slide assembly after the first 50 rounds, then left it dirty for the rest of the review. It worked 100% with every ammunition type I tried, including FMJ and hollow point.

Conclusion

I love the Beretta 80x, and I think many people would too so long as they keep it in context. The 80x is a concealed carry pistol for people who don’t want or can’t shoot a micro 9mm. It is not a full-frame duty pistol. It is a cool, accurate, reliable pistol with way more soul than the current crop of polymer concealed guns. The 80x does demand a price premium over those guns, with an MSRP of $1,000. But it’s also a ton of fun to shoot and is nice to carry. If a high-end .380 sounds at all interesting to you, go check out the Beretta 80x. You won’t regret it.

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