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Stoeger Industries' headquarters are in Accokeek, Maryland, United States. Stoeger is a wholly owned subsidiary of Benelli, which in turn is owned by Italian firearms manufacturer Beretta. Before Stoeger Industries was a manufacturer and importer of firearms into the United States. The Beretta 8000 (Cougar) series pistols were manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The Beretta Cougar first appeared on the market in 1994 as a more compact alternative to the full-sized Beretta 92 service pistol in order to offer a compromise between concealability, ease of carry, accuracy and firepower. It was possibly intended to replace the Beretta 92 Sevice pistol, Unfortunatly pistol popularity and demand changed toward the polymer pistols and the Cougar’s aluminum frame was replaced with a polymer frame in the Px4 Storm, to form the latest Beretta service pistol. The design already had NATO approval and was too good to abandon. The Cougar machinery was moved to Turkey, and the Stoeger Cougar 8000 is manufactured there as a cheaper service gun. Marketing and distribution of the Cougar has been transferred to Stoeger Industries, a subsidiary of Beretta. The firearms are now made in Turkey, using Beretta factory tooling. Originally developed for the .40 S&W cartridge, which was a new cartridge at the time, Stoeger now produces Cougars in 9×19mm, .45 ACP, and .40 S&W. Stoeger recently added a more compact-sized Cougar pistol to their production line, currently available in 9×19mm only. The Cougar Compact has a reduced magazine capacity of 13 rounds Cougar 8000 series pistols are recoil-operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistols. These pistols use a relatively rare rotating barrel locking system, in which the barrel rotates on recoil to unlock itself from the slide. The rotating motion of the barrel is controlled by the stud on its bottom, which follows the cam track in the steel frame insert. The frame is made from lightweight aluminum alloy. The basic version of the Cougar pistol is the F model, with double-action trigger with exposed hammer, and ambidextrous safety/decocker levers, located on the slide. Alternative is D version, which is double-action only, and thus have spurless hammer and no safety/decocker levers. Cougar pistols use double-stack magazines in 9 mm, .357 SIG and .40 caliber models, and staggered column magazines in .45 caliber models. Variants: F configuration The F specification is the basic version with double-action trigger, exposed hammer, and ambidextrous safety/decocking levers (located on the slide). D configuration The D specification is double-action only ("DAO") with a spurless hammer and no safety/decocking levers. G configuration The G specification is a DA/SA variant with a "decock" only feature. It features an exposed hammer with ambidextrous decocking levers (on the slide). There is no safety on this model. T configuration The T specification includes a tactical rail.

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