Beretta Bobcat or Tomcat?

[Plan2Live]

I'm thinking about picking up a Beretta Bobcat or Tomcat just for kicks. The sole question here is reliability. Stopping power isn't a factor. This pistol is just a plinker, a fun gun, not a self defense pocket pistol, not a woods gun, not a small game pistol. With that out of the way, which has a reputation of being more reliable?

 

[rperyam]

I have one of each. No problems with either.

 

[Blkhrt13]

32 is more expensive than 22.

 

[Tallball]

My Bobcat hasn't been picky. My Tomcat was a fussy eater.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

My Tomcat wasn't 100% reliable, and was not tolerant of limp-wristing at all. It especially didn't like feeding truncated bullet profiles.
Oh ya, then the frame cracked. Gotta say, not a fan. Wouldn't trust my life to one for sure. Mine was a "thin slide" Italian production, however. Supposedly the "thick slide" US- made guns are better.

Keep in mind both of these designs lack extractors and require carefully inspecting the chamber by tipping the barrel when clearing.

 

[tercel89]

I have had both and I say the Bobcat in .22LR is the best. The Tomcat in .32ACP has a huge reputation of cracking it's frame. This has been going on for years , yet Beretta wont change the design.

 

[Plan2Live]

OP "which has a reputation of being more reliable?

32 is more expensive than 22.

How does that affect reliability?

 

[Nasty Canasta]

I have both. The Bobcat is 100% reliable provided it's clean/lubed & loaded with CCI Stingers. It will have hiccups with other ammo & after shooting for a while that drop the reliability into the 90% range. The Tomcat is the old thin slide model that I much prefer over the wider "improved" model-it always goes bang & frame is still uncracked (they still function with a crack too) I'd carry either with confidence-even if it just a trip to the mailbox.

 

[Seymour380]

I had a Bobcat that I eventually sold because I couldn't achieve 100% reliability with it after trying many brands of 22lr ammo with it. I can say it was one of the guns I enjoyed the most plinking with at the range. I put thousands of rounds through it, and it seemed to be taken to the range more often than any other gun I owned at the time.

Always wanted to shoot the Tomcat, but did not want to foot the bill for 32 acp ammo. If you reload I could see justifying the purchase of a Tomcat.

Really like the tip-up barrels as a feature for older shooters with arthritic hands. I can see getting one of these, or both, when I get tired of racking a slide later on.
(edited)

 

[lincen]

Don’t forget the Bobcat in 25acp. Not as cheap to shot but very reliable.

 

[chicharrones]

I never owned a Tomcat.

My .22 Bobcat was most reliable with non hollow point CCI Mini Mags or Stingers. Even with those ammo types, the gun would make it through 2 to 4 magazines before the chamber needed to be cleaned.

Eventually, the little Bobcat got so wore out that it can’t shoot more than one shot at a time. Maybe.

Now it’s just a paper weight that can be used as a short barrel test gun.

 

[chicharrones]

BTW, as mentioned, limp wristing is a real thing with these guns. Light slides, stiff recoil springs, smallish grips that can move in your hand . . . gotta hold on tight with a stiff wrist.

 

[Blkhrt13]

OP "which has a reputation of being more reliable?

How does that affect reliability?

Fair point. Let me answer again then. I have had both as well as a 950 jet fire. I ran the 950 with hornady hollow points never had a problem. I never had issues with my tomcat. I shot Ball ammo for practice and carried silvertips. I never had an issue. Never had feed problems. Never cracked my frame. But I admit I carried it often and shot it rarely. The bobcat got shot frequently because it ran well on high vel cci. Once in a while it would not cycle perfectly. But I assumed it was errors in rimfire bullets. I ran it more than the other two because I could afford to shoot it more. If I hadn’t had the latter two stolen I would still have them today. Two separate issues. Many of the issues may have been pocket fluff. I carried all of them.

 

[Old_Grouch]

The Tomcat in .32ACP has a huge reputation of cracking it's frame. This has been going on for years , yet Beretta wont change the design.

They made the slide heavier to slow velocity. I don't know if that truly qualifies as a design change but from what I've read it didn't completely resolve the issue.

 

[Jimbo80]

All of my tip up Berettas have been reliable. My favorite is the Bobcat 22. A Bobcat .25 is in my future to round out the set.

 

[Alex Clayton]

Still have one .32. Have had a couple of the .22's. Often wish I had kept one .22 as they were cheap fun practice for the .32. .32 has never had a problem with anything I stuff in it for many years. The .22 I had was VERY picky. As so often happens it loved CCI MM. That always worked till the thing got dirty. Almost everything else would not run 100%. For something to take out for fun? The .22 is of course FAR FAR cheaper to play with. These pistols for some reason seem to hold value VERY well. Every time I see used they seem to sell for about the same as a NIB even then they are well used. There is a good reason they still sell well even when used.

 

[bannockburn]

I have had several Bobcats and all of them have been fairly decent in terms of their reliability and durability. Most of them seem to run better on high velocity ammo, like CCI MiniMags, than they do with Standard velocity ammo and some of the bulk pack offerings. LOts of fun too at the range or just plinking around with them outdoors.

No experience with the Tomcat but it's reputation for cracked frames and the high cost of the gun (currently priced from $450 to $560), and it's hard to find ammo (currently price $40-$50 per 50 rounds, if you can find it), would kind of keep me from getting one at this time.

 

[GarrettJ]

I have a couple of the Tomcats (one from the ‘90s and one from earlier this year). I also bought a threaded 21A a dozen or so years ago.

The .32s in general have always run well. The .22 runs pretty well. As noted by others, it runs best when clean and with high-velocity ammo. CCI Stingers seem to do the best.

95% of the ammo run through the Tomcats have been my reloads. With current ammo cost and availability, I would recommend getting the 21A if you don’t reload.

 

[wiscoaster]

The Tomcat's DA trigger is a real bitch. Racking the slide is also a real bitch. That being said, you don't really need to do either.

 

[jar]

I have both and like both. I think a lot of DA trigger pull issues are actually more an indication of what one began shooting. I was almost totally a wheel gun shooter and somewhat accustomed to long heavy DA triggers and so simply never really noticed any problems transitioning to the DA/SA semi-automatics.

Of the two I will readily admit having far more fun with my Bobcat. It's just a fun little plinker that is also reliable and accurate enough to get carried at times.

 

[MedWheeler]

Seems to be a consensus forming that the Bobcat may demand some of the hottest ammo available to run well.

Another common opinion seems to be that the guns can be worn out after a lot of shooting.

I wonder if the two are related.

 

[chicharrones]

Seems to be a consensus forming that the Bobcat may demand some of the hottest ammo available to run well.

Another common opinion seems to be that the guns can be worn out after a lot of shooting.

I wonder if the two are related.

Part of what got worn out in my Bobcat was repairing dings at the rim of the chamber. Some jams caused the rim of a cartridge to get slammed into the rim area of the chamber and would actually ding the steel. Apparently, too many repairs over the years caused the chamber rim to be too deep and misfires are aplenty now. Soft steel, I guess.

Also, the little areas of the slide that the recoil levers ride in developed wear over time. The slide doesn't close hard enough in its final 1/16" of forward travel, even with new recoil springs and levers. Misfires in double action developed to the point that I replaced some parts related to the hammer, but that didn't overcome the chamber or slide problems.

I'm going to guess that these Bobcats simply aren't high volume shooters. Probably not much different than many pocket guns.

 

[Old_Grouch]

I'm going to guess that these Bobcats simply aren't high volume shooters. Probably not much different than many pocket guns.

I think the majority of guns like that are bought along with a box of ammo. When the owner sells it, trades it, or dies, part of the original box of ammo is still with it.

 

[MedWheeler]

Old_Grouch writes:

I think the majority of guns like that are bought along with a box of ammo. When the owner sells it, trades it, or dies, part of the original box of ammo is still with it.

I agree. Incidentally, I just bought an older Charter Arms Undercoverette in .32 Long a few days ago. The gun appears to date from around 1970, and has been fired at least a few times, and carried in a leather holster, which was included with it. Its last owner, whoever that was, apparently traded it in along with a box of ammunition (much newer than the gun), and you can clearly tell which six rounds had been stored in the cylinder.

 

[Autodidactic]

I'm thinking about picking up a Beretta Bobcat or Tomcat just for kicks. The sole question here is reliability. Stopping power isn't a factor. This pistol is just a plinker, a fun gun, not a self defense pocket pistol, not a woods gun, not a small game pistol. With that out of the way, which has a reputation of being more reliable?

I have a Tomcat in .32 acp, and I like it a lot. It can only be fed low power .32 ACP though, i.e. 130 foot pounds or less of energy. Without a doubt, it's a nice little pistol to have. I'd suggest getting it used like I did if you can find one ($215 in my case), rather than paying $4-500 new.