Beretta Tomcat - Speak Comfort To Me

[marb4]

I recently bought an Inox (stainless) Beretta Tomcat 32 ACP. It should arrive at my FFL early next week. I've been doing some reading since my purchase and have seen numerous reports of frame cracking with the Tomcat. It seemed at first that just the older slim blued models had the problem but I found a few that also documented the issue with the Inox version. Any Tomcat owners out there that have had a frame crack? Someone please speak comfort to me! I'm getting kind of nervous.

 

[JustinJ]

Mine cracked after less than 300 rounds. Sorry, but they are junk. Mine wasn't stainless though. The flip barrel is a very neat design but the gun in general is is way too prone to breakage. Not to mention you can get a much more effective caliber in guns which are only slightly bigger. If it was me i would try and sell the day it arrived.

 

[Kiln]

It's a known design flaw that Beretta refuses to acknowledge. From what I understand the thicker version is better but still tends to have the cracking issue.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Just couldn't come to love the Tom Cat
Sorry, but I went with the KT P32.

 

[Ron James]

At one time I owed The Tomcat, the NNA Guardian and the Kel-Tec P-32, all new in the Box. After sending the Tomcat back twice for repairs, I now only have the NAA and the Kel-Tec { which I carry ). The Beretta Tomcat just didn't feel comfortable in my hand. Also a small thing that some people don't like is no extractor. .32 ACP is very reliable, but if you do have a miss-fire you can't rack the slide to eject the bad round and chamber a new one. You have to flip the barrel up and fish it out. Clean barrel, should be no problem, fouled barrel, well you might have to use your fingernails to pull it out, then close the barrel and then rack the slide. Sorry about that . I'm sure that there are those who own the Tomcat and like it just wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[hardluk1]

I had one 20+ years ago for a while. never carred that much. Also did not think much of the 32 cartidge or the trigger pull weight. Finally got back around to buying a micro pistol but a 380 TCP. Way better shooter and the slide is easy to rack if you need to. More accurate, heck just a more rounded pistol. Just to many cons with the tomcat today. years ago it was one of the few micro pistols. Not today.

 

[420Stainless]

My wife's been shooting an Inox version for 10 years. No problems so far - I think it is a very nice and surprisingly accurate little pistol.

 

[prestpat]

Mine's been trouble-free, but I haven't shot a huge number of rounds through it. I still like the gun and would still consider one if I were shopping for a pocket pistol today. That said, the pocket pistol market has grown a great deal and there are a lot more options than there used to be.

 

[JERRY]

the cracking problem was aleviated with the introduction of their wideslide. this wideslide comes in blue and stainless (inox).

 

[helitack32f1]

I owned the thin slide, non-inox version. I had to send it back once for a firing pin that vaporized for no apparent reason. I eventually lost interest in it and sold it when the Ruger LCP came out. LCP was a lot better pistol but eventually sold it due to lack of necessity and interest as well.

 

[khegglie]

As pointed out, the wide slides have the same issues. Check the Beretta forum.
I loved the look of my inox Tomcat and it functioned well; but I found myself checking that little sliver of metal at the known fail are after each shoot.
Got good trade in value towards a lasermax LCP and am quite happy.

 

[AdamSean]

I never had the frame crack, but I immediately sold mine after I found out they do not have an ejector. This means that if you have a failure to fire or other jam, you cannot clear the malfunction by racking the slide. You will have to open the barrel, clear the malfunction by hand, close the barrel, then rack the slide to chamber the next round. Way too long if your life is on the line.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

If you have a failure to fire you simply hit the barrel release lever and the round will literally fly out. Put barrel back into battery and rack slide. Never rack the slide with the barrel out of battery as you will have the frame in one hand and the slide in the other.

 

[k_dawg]

Less than 100 rounds and mine cracked.

Beretta refuses to simply acknowledge the design flaw and make things right. I got rid of my paperweight.

 

[paradox998]

I had TWO Tomcat's crack the frame. Beretta replace the first one (it was new) with a another one. It also cracked. Both cracked with standard ammo in the first 50 rounds. They replaced the second one with a FS92. Can't recommend the Tomcat, at least not in the blued model.

 

[Cornhusker77]

Mine cracked after a couple hundred rounds
I called Beretta and they didn't seem interested in fixing it.
I kept shooting it.
Eventually the piece broke off completely.
It's pretty thin, and the only thing I can see it's good for is covering the pin.
I still shoot mine, and no more problems.
Structurally, that piece doesn't do much

 

[IdahoSkies]

I had one. I loved how it felt, very comfortable, I loved the tip up feature. Overnight the accuracy went to crap. Found a frame crack and sent it pack. Trade it for a p32. I really like the pistol but the design is just flawed.

Some people never have problems with it, others due. I hope your is problem free. Don't shoot hot stuff in it that is almost surely a way to crack it.

 

[Orion8472]

Is this just a tomcat issue, or can this also happen with the Bobcat [22lr]?

 

[HankR]

I'm one of the first to badmouth the Tomcat (my story matches those told above). Good news for you is that mine was just before the Inox came out (but they gave me a new old (non-Inox) version, not the Inox. I did ask for the Inox, since the cracking problems were well documented at that time, but they refused and gave me a new copy of the gun w/ the defective design. At the time, a reliable .380 could be had without giving up much (if any) size to the Inox, so I'm not sure that we would have used it anyway. Luckily my wife learned to appreciate a 9mm while Beretta stalled on fixing/replacing her Tomcat.

I loved the .22lr version, and had no problems with it. Kind of a neat gun, but I had it mainly as a trainer for the .32 and haven't shot it for years. I'm sure I got 10x the rounds through it as through the Tomcat (but that's not saying too much).