Beretta 3032 Tomcat?

C

CJF

Inactive
Hello everyone,

I'm considering buying a 3032 Tomcat, I have heard some negative, and some positive comments about it.
It seems like the owners either absolutely love them, or hate them, there is no in between.
I was wanting to hear some more pros and cons if you guys don't mind. Also, I have heard about some firing pin breakage, how common is this with these little guns?And what is the cost to get it fixed?


Thanks
Chris
 
DO A SEARCH

This topic has been popping up every other day now for about 3 weeks. ;)

A quick synopsis? You're correct. People either love them or hate them. There seems to be a strong tendency for the guns to be either flawless or horrible.

I saw 5 of 5 be horrible little jam monkies. Others here defend them vociferously, stating unspotted performance. Roll the dice, take your chances.

Mike
 
I have one, and I think my experience might be considered down the middle. It's a great little gun. Recoil is a little rough at times, but managable. It has been 100% reliable with Silvertips. I have had a few jams with ball ammo though. I think the problem was that it wouldn't properly chamber the next round. I would guess that I've put two to three hundred rounds through it. Not enough for the magical firing-pin breakage, so who knows there.

However, I just ordered a Kel-Tec P32 to replace it. My reason is because I wanted a small and light pocket pistol. For my purposes, the Tomcat didn't really fulfill either. It's width makes it to big for back pocket carry. It's weight makes it very "jiggly" in front pockets of shorts.

Note: Mine is one of the newer "stainless/inox" versions that has the wider, heaver slide. Of course, this didn't help it's compactness any, but supposidly it can take more abuse.

LL
 
My Tomcat...

...has been utterly reliable and quite accurate for a pocket pistol. Some early ones (usually blued rather than "widebody" parkerized or stainless) had reliability and durability issues. Mine is a gloss blue one, but the look of the "PB" logo on the slide leads me to believe that it may have been sent back to the factory and reblued at some point (I bought it used).

I really like mine; it may not be the smallest of the current round of .32's, but I've sampled the lot of 'em and find the Tomcat is by far the easiest to shoot well for me.

AND

Maybe mine doesn't know it's a "Jam-o-matic". It has been entirely reliable for the fifteen months that I've owned it; the only stoppages it's had (2) both occurred during an extended range session when I fired 125+ rounds through the thing at one sitting and the little blowback-operated beastie got just filthy. The two people I've recommended newer Tomcats to also seemed happy with theirs. Do not dry fire them, as it will bust the firing pin.

I've put about 1k rounds through this thing with 2 stoppages, both during the same firing session, both in a filthy pistol.

More info here and here.
 
I had two of the early ones. Broke a number of firing pins, even though I used snap caps. The first was replaced by Beretta under warranty.

The early ones were a problem. I personally know of five that went back to the factory; in one case the frame cracked. Tamara is an obvious exception, but in my experience, the only folks who like them a lot are the ones who don't fire them a lot. (One of my friends raves about his, but when I ask him how many times he's fired it, he admits it is still unfired.)

I was shooting my second one when the slide jammed, off track, in the rear position. I had to use a nylon mallet to free it. (No damage obvious, and it functioned fine afterwards.) The barrel release is in an akward position and its easy to inadvertently nudge it while firing, which causes the gun to malfunction (as the barrels pops up.)

The slide-off-track episode did it for me, and I traded it in on a Kel-Tec P-11, which I kept for several years. Even though the P-11 is a 9mm (with 10 round capacity), it wasn't THAT much bigger than the Tomcat, which is surprisingly wide and bulky for its size.

The new ones may be better. But I think the best small, .32 is the Kel-Tec P-32, which fires from a locked breech, giving less felt recoil.

That said, mine were both VERY accurate. And after about a thousand rounds, the trigger became pretty good. (But, alas, that's about the only way to improve the trigger, as most gunsmiths won't touch the guns: too much work required to do a trigger job -- small, hard to work on -- for the money they feel they can charge.) Teddy Jacobs, a well-known gunsmith who writes for the AGI newsletter said in a recent article on small "pocket guns" that he won't work on them any more.

If you've GOT to have a Tomcat, you should hope they've worked out the bugs. Otherwise, check out the P-32. Its just as accurate, smaller, easier to shoot, and has 8 round mags. More importantly, its a lot less expensive.
 
A Tomcat Is The Devil's Right Hand ... or maybe not ...

I'm picking up my new Tomcat tomorrow ... after I shoot it some I'll recount my adventures on here. I just couldn't stand it and decided I HAD to own the world's most controversial pistol.

I'm acquiring about 7 different brands of assorted hollow point and fmj rounds to test it with, since it may be finicky. But finicky is fine so long as it works 100% with some type of ammo. When I get the money, I'm planning on buying the dies and reloading for it, and I'll write about that too.

I can't wait to get my hands on that Stainless widebody. I was going to get the tritium-sighted "Alley Cat", but to be honest I can't help but wonder if that isn't just a gimmick to sell more slim-body .32's that aren't as durable. Although I liked the Ashley sights, I decided to play it safe and get the more durable (supposedly) wide body.

I hope my purchase of a Tomcat makes some Kel-tec'er wet his pants, since I won't have to "Fluff and Buff" my Tomcat to get it to work.

I mean really, how can a Tomcat be any worse than a gun that's a "fixer-upper" straight from the factory?

Nor does it feel like a chintzy toy that came out of a box of Lucky Charms ...
 
I mean really, how can a Tomcat be any worse than a gun that's a "fixer-upper" straight from the factory?

Nor does it feel like a chintzy toy that came out of a box of Lucky Charms ...
Click to expand...


A lot of folks "Fluff & Buff" every new gun they get -- as it speeds up break in. (What break in is doing, in many cases, is smoothing rough machining; the F&B just accelerates the process.)

The new Kel-Tecs coming off the line, nowadays, apparently don't need the fluffing and buffing that was REQUIRED a few years ago. They've perfected their production process.

I fluffed and buffed my P-11, but I'm not sure I needed to. I put several thousand rounds through the gun and never had a burp. Never could get used to the long DAO trigger, and retired it in favor of a Star Firestar Plus, which I think is a better gun. (Similar size, slightly heavier, but much more shootable -- with a superb SA trigger, ala 1911.)

You'll note, too, if you do a comparison, that the P-11 is not as wide as the Tomcat (1.03" vs 1.09" for the TC), slightly longer (6" vs. 4 7/8") and only 3 ounces heavier (17 oz for the P-11, vs 14 oz for the Tomcat). And it carries 10 rounds (plus 1) of 9mm.


The P-32 beats the Tomcat in all measurements, and because it fires from a locked breech, has milder recoil.

I hope your Tomcat shoots well -- I loved mine until I became disgusted with it (rueful grin)...

Maybe Beretta's problems were all associated with the early models. In hindsight, I found it to not be as concealable as I expected, and small things, like the barrel release lever caused me problems. And, finally, my Tomcat gave he a heckuva lot more trouble than my Kel-Tec ever did.
 
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