We also have a Beretta Tomcat. Originally, it was for my wife who wanted something smaller, lighter, and with less felt recoil.
On the plus side, the gun shot well, wasn't too terribly expensive, and had a tip-up barrel, which I thought was pretty neat at the time.
On the downside, we must've gotten a defective model. At one point, we had a malfunction. I wasn't exactly sure what it was because I wasn't shooting at the time. All I saw was my wife racking the slide trying to clear it. Well, it cleared it alright, but not what she had hoped for. Instead of the dud, the gun ejected the firing pin! I know, the proper procedure was to tip up the barrel, not rack the slide. But when we took it to a gunsmith to look at it, he said this is bizarre and is something that SHOULD NOT have happened to the gun in the first place.
Well, we contacted Beretta. To their credit, service was prompt and cordial. Rather than fixing the gun we had, they exchanged us for a new one free of charge.
Since then, my wife has gotten more skillful and confident with her gun-handling skills and have requested a Glock 26 instead. We got a really good deal with a Glock 27 during a gun show so we decided to get that instead. In the near future, we still plan to get a 26 for her as she is comfortable with that round and I'll take the 27 from her as my back-up gun. For now, the Tomcat serves back-up duty in my pants pocket. The sad irony is that because I am pocket carrying, I don't have a round chambered in that gun and the slide is hard to rack. Other reasons for not chambering the Tomcat includes a fickle external safety (in other words, I'm not using it) to fearing another "mishap" with this gun.
My $.02
[This message has been edited by SB (edited 12-30-98).]