Yesterday I got both the Cheetah, and the new Ruger Mark IV out to the range with plenty of ammo. It was hot, but I got there early and it wasn't too bad. I first got started with the Cheetah, because I was the most anxious to fire it. I lubed up both pistols well before I left. I set the targets at 50 feet, and rested the guns on the frames.
The Cheetah's sights were right on the money with a shallow 6 o'clock hold. I went through about 40 rounds this way, and the gun was printing perfectly. After that I just shot using a conventional 2 handed hold. The gun ran flawlessly all day. Both magazines ran perfectly, as did 2, 10 round magazines I brought from my Model 87 Target. All locked the slide back on the last round, and fed with zero FTF's or FTE's.
The trigger on the Beretta 87's takes a bit of getting used to. It's a bit different than most triggers. It has a lot of travel. But once you get used to it, you know exactly when let off is going to occur, and accurate shooting is easily accomplished. All total I ran about 300 rounds through it, without a single malfunction. This was with both high speed bulk ammo, as well as standard velocity in both CCI and Aguila brands. After about 100 rounds I shot mostly standard velocity because it ran the gun just fine.
The Ruger was up next. It was such a different gun compared to the Cheetah, it took some getting used to. Much heavier and far more muzzle heavy. Like you would expect from a long barreled target pistol. The sights were a bit off, with the gun printing about 4 inches low, and about 3 inches to the right. But they were easily adjusted, and after that I had no trouble chewing the hell out of the bull at 50 feet. Naturally with it's longer barrel and sight radius, the Ruger grouped tighter than the Cheetah.
I had the same flawless reliability from the Ruger. I had a total of 4 magazines with me, and all of them fed well, and locked the slide back on the last round. It also fed both high speed, and standard velocity without a hiccup. I would say I ran around 250 rounds through it total. After that it was getting hot, so I packed it in for the day. As you could imagine both guns were filthy when I got them home. I really loved the way the Ruger Mark IV came apart, and went together in seconds. You can get at everything for cleaning. After a good wet Kerosene wash, and a blow dry with compressed air, both guns were as clean as when they came from the box. A little oil, and both were good to go.
The Beretta was a little tricky to get the guide rod and recoil spring back into battery. But after a couple of tries, it slipped back together nicely. By the time I finished cleaning both guns it was about 105F outside, and I was pretty sweaty. So I took a shower and went for a swim to cool off. Overall I couldn't be much happier with either gun. A good day at the range for sure. Albeit a hot one! But when you live in the desert in August, you can't complain.