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  4. Dialing it Back to the 1980s: Review of the EAA MC14 G84 .380

We've been evaluating the new Girsan MC14 G84 imported by European American Armory and have a full report on this affordable double-stack .380 with classic Italian styling.

Table of Contents
 
Overview
The Specs
Features
Trigger
Reliability
Accuracy
Pros & Cons
Conclusion
 

Overview

 

Made by Girsan of Türkiye, the EAA MC14 G84 is a faithful clone of the 1970s/80s Beretta Cheetah line, specifically the 14-shot Model 84. Why bother? When introduced, the blowback-operated Model 84 was a beast, a sort of "Super Cheetah," if you will, as it offered a 13+1 staggered magazine in the same profile pistol as the single-stack Model 85 and 86.

An elegant compact double-action/single-action that greatly resembled a down-sized .380 variant of the Model 92, the 84 was marketed at the time for sport, defense, and law enforcement use. 

 

Beretta 84 ads
Beretta ads from the 1980s on the Model 84. 
Beretta 84 movie cameos
The Model 84 was also movie iconic, making cameos in the hands of everyone from Lou Diamond Phillips, James Spader, and Bruce Willis to Jack Nicholson and Charles Bronson. (Photos: IMFDB)
Beretta 84 compared to EAA MC14 G84 .380
The EAA MC14 G84, bottom, compared to an Andreotti-era ex-Italian police issue Beretta Cheetah. You can see the family resemblance. (All photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
EAA MC14 G84 .380
A closer look at the current production EAA MC14 G84 which is available in a classic all-black or a two-tone finish (seen above) using a lightweight forged aluminum frame under a steel barrel and slide. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
The overall length of the MC14 G84, with its 3.8-inch barrel, is 6.8 inches. Note the ambidextrous safety lever which we will get into later on in the review. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380 vs Hellcat Pro
For comparison, the MC14 G84 is about the same size as the polymer-framed striker-fired Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
It comes in shorter than EAA's tip-up barrel MC 14T model. Note that both pistols in this image have been fitted with LOK's Thin series checkered grips. Thinner than the stock grips, especially in the center, the LOK grips feel great and allow for an upgraded feel to the gun, trimming the material that interacts with the webbing of the user's hand. 

 

Related Review: Tip-Up 14 Shot EAA Girsan MC 14T .380


For full disclosure, EAA sent Guns.com this pistol for review purposes. All testing was done on this one gun. 

 

The Specs

 

  • Overall length: 6.8 inches
  • Barrel length: 3.8 inches 
  • Sight radius: 4.8 inches
  • Overall width: 1.32 inches at the widest point over ambi safety levers.
  • Overall height including standard mag: 4.9 ­inches
  • Magazine capacity: 13+1 rounder flush fit (ships with one Mec-Gar)
  • Trigger pull: 6.9 pounds double action, 3.8 single (10-pull average)
  • Weight, with empty magazine: 21.3 ounces
  • Weight loaded: 29.3 ounces (14 rounds of 99-grain Federal Hydra-Shok Deep JHP).

 

Features

 

EAA MC14 G84 .380
The MC14 G84 has vertical grooves in the front and rear straps of the grip for texture and a broad beavertail built into the frame to alleviate the threat of trigger bites. The machining on the gun is well done, and both the fit and finish are decent. Also, note how thin the LOK grips are. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
The surface controls include an ambidextrous safety lever that is not a de-cocker, with the lever simply locking the slide and giving the user a "dead" trigger. This is what Beretta terms a "G" style lever (as opposed to the "F" style safety/decocker), hence the pistol's G84 designation. To de-cock the MC14 G84, the user must do the old bit of holding the hammer, depressing the trigger, and easing the hammer forward slowly while having the muzzle in a safe direction, a throwback to guns like the M1911 and Browning Hi-Power. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
The pistol ships in a simple plastic clamshell box and includes a single 13-round Mec-Gar magazine with a finger extension, a manual, a safety lock, and a cleaning brush. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
It would be nice if it had a couple of extra mags, but they are a fairly common type – the $40-ish 13-rounders used on the Beretta 84/84F/84FS and other Turkish-made clones such as the Tisas Fatih 13 – so the user can shop around for those. For this review, we bought four well-used Beretta/Italy marked mags for $15 a pop and they all (pretty much) worked. Note that older M84 mags usually don't have the finger extension as with the Mec-Gar. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
The reversible magazine release drops the mag free at the push of a button. Meanwhile, the slide catch lever seems to be redesigned from the legacy Beretta lever and is extended. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
Takedown is straightforward for anyone who has ever done maintenance on a Beretta 1951/92/96/Cheetah, etc. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
Note the open slide format and fixed barrel, a feature that goes back to the Walther P-38. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
Sights are fixed three-dot type with the front post molded into the slide. The rear sight appears dovetailed. Unlike many of the new carry pistol options, there is no optics cut. 

 

Trigger

 

The MC14 G84 uses a double-action/single-action trigger system of the kind that was common in the 1970s and 80s but gets little love these days. While a bit complicated to fans of a more "point and shoot" striker-fired gun, the DA/SA arrangement allows for both a fairly heavy "duty" trigger in double action, with a more crisp and responsive target-style trigger in single action. 

We found the DA trigger to be long but smooth before it came to the wall until breaking at 6.9 pounds on average. The SA pull was much better, breaking at an average of 3.8 pounds with an almost instant wall across a short take-up with a total journey of about a quarter inch. 

Overall, it is a decent DA/SA trigger, and compared to the original Beretta 84 design, has a better feel as it does not have that Italian pony's annoying magazine disconnect safety bar. 

In action both off and on the range, and the safety operation: 

 

 

 

Reliability

 

We ran just under 500 rounds through our test gun. 

 

EAA MC14 G84 .380
Our primary loads used in testing were 100 rounds of Federal Premium's excellent Hydra-Shok Deep and 400 of Federal's green-boxed American Eagle Indoor Range Lead-Free 70-grain 1,010 fps loads. We also used a smaller quantity of flat-tipped 95-grain Winchester and Wolf Poly-formance 1,010 fps 94-grain steel-cased FMJ. 
EAA MC14 G84 .380
We had a few hiccups with the Winchester white box, specifically nose-down failures to feed, as well as one similar FTF on a Federal LF. Of note, these failures were with the same old Beretta magazine, which dated to the 1980s and could be chalked up to a worn mag spring. 

 

Accuracy

 

With a short sight radius, no chance of mounting a red dot, and fixed sights, you are stuck with the sights as-is on the MC14 G84. However, on our test gun, we found it to hit the point of aim without a need to correct anything. 

 

EAA MC14 G84 .380
Four mags fired standing, off-hand, at 15 yards with all hitting inside the 9-10 ring of a B27 silhouette except for one flyer in the 8. 

 

Pros & Cons

 

Pros

  • A compact 14-shot .380 from a proven (40-year-old) design.
  • Affordable. 
  • Nice aesthetic and just feels good.
  • Some aftermarket support (e.g., mags, grips, and holsters).
  • Good trigger.
  • Accurate.
  • Hammer fired DA/SA with a manual safety for those looking for that.

Cons

  • Ammo-sensitive, as are most blowbacks, so find a load that works and stick with it.
  • The DA/SA manual of arms can be confusing to unaccustomed users.
  • Fixed front sight built into the slide.
  • No modern features such as accessory rail or optics cut. 

 

Conclusion

 

This is a high-quality compact handgun that offers the user a decent magazine capacity (13+1 rounds) in .380 ACP, a round that has seen a rebirth in recent years due to the introduction of more modern self-protection loads. 

It has the same classic styling of the original Beretta Cheetah series with a couple of tweaks – in particular the MC14 G84 doesn't have a magazine safety disconnect, and both the recoil spring and trigger seem smoother. It is accurate, and there is lots of support out there for the model, with holsters, replacement grips, and magazines readily available. It’s not the smallest .380 on the market, but its size is a plus on the range, feeling better and less snappy in the hand than something like a Ruger LCP or Walther PPK, while still coming in smaller than 9mm double-stack compacts. 

Plus, you are looking at a gun that falls in the $350-ish range, brand-new in the box. 

The only rocks you can throw is that it falls short for folks looking for more modern features such as an accessory rail for lights and an optics cut for red/green dots. For that, you may want a newer Beretta 80X – at about twice the cost. 

 

EAA MC14 G84 .380
The EAA MC14 G84 by Girsan.
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