Beretta Tomcat

[MICHAEL T]

I handled a new Beretta Tomcat today. I don't ever want to hear anyone complain about the DA trigger on a PPK/S again. A Walter is a SA trigger compaired to that Beretta. I mean I have never pulled a trigger as heavy and what seemed a mile long. Life is 2 short to mess with that pistol. Go buy a S&W PPK and have a lighter trigger . better cal. and a thinner pistol.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

I've had two Tomcats. Both of them early models, which had some toothing problems. One was replaced by the factory after I returned. I replaced the replacement with a Kel-Tec P-11, as I had lost faith in the Tomcat.

That said, I think they may have since worked the problems out.

The triggers on mine were never really that bad on either of mine. (It took about 1000 rounds/pulls with snap caps to get them to be half-way decent. Some gunsmith don't really like to work on them, as they are small and hard to tune.)

I just found them too big for pocket carry -- but ideal for a small belt slide holster.

I wonder if you've got something unusually heavy?

 

[rde]

Double action pull on mine is longer and harder than I would have expected. Single action is quite nice. Very accurate, very reliable. Carry it a lot. Not meant to be a target gun with a target double action trigger therefore I don't mind it at all.

 

[Coronach]

The earlier models had some serious reliability issues, which they have supposedly ironed out. The DA trigger pull on every model I have seen has been unfortunate.

Mike

 

[Marko Kloos]

I've owned three over the years, never had a single problem with any of them. They're decent little guns, their best feature being that they shoot and feel like bigger guns than they actually are.

My wife owns a Beretta Tomcat as her personal protection piece and loves it. She has no problems with the trigger. She chose the Tomcat for its smallish size, and because it is one of the very few semi-auto pistols that can be loaded and unloaded safely with one hand.

 

[medmo]

So.... you are not supposed to carry the Tomcat cocked and locked? Ooops..... I thought the DA was only for the first step to be taken in a malfunction drill.

 

[Old Dog]

So Michael T, I'm not getting the point of your post. I (well, my wife actually) have a recent production Tomcat that's exceptional. Yeah, the DA pull is long and heavy. So what? The pistol is not designed for target shooting. In a short-range, adrenaline-fueled encounter where use of this pistol is necessary, I suspect there'd be no problem with the initial DA pull.

 

[MICHAEL T]

My point is people always say what a terrible DA trigger a PPK has.That Tomcat has a trigger that makes a Walter DA trigger feel like a light SA trigger and yet no were have I ever read what a terrible trigger the Tomcat has.Both pistols serve the same roll as SD pistols.
I also found the pistol to be very thick in the grips . I belive to thick to be a pocket gun. So Tomcat verses PPK/S, PPK/s has better trigger (its far from perfect) overall a thinner ,more pocket friendly pistol and a larger cal.(380 )Looks to me that the PPK/s wins.Before anyone brings it up, My PPK/S has been 100% relieable. Flame suit now on.

 

[Marko Kloos]

If the PPK works better for you than the Tomcat, good for you. My wife can't load or unload the PPK safely, which is no issue with the Tomcat...so for her, the Tomcat wins. That's why they make all kinds of guns, and that's why there is no "best". It's all a question of "better for whom, and for what use?"

 

[drf]

I always said I would never sell or trade any of my handguns...
That was until I bought a Tomcat and had too many FTF and FTE problems....
Traded for a Taurus .38 snubby and have been very happy with getting rid of the Tomcat and aquiring the taurus...

Some dont have any problems with the Tomcats but I will never give another one a try .....
For the purpose of a Tomcat which is a bigger and heavier pocket pistol and the fact that the tip up barrel adds in ease of the first round, the snubby wins all of these features of the Tomcat and adds a better defensive caliber rd and is going to almost always be much more reliable out of the box than a Tomcat.....drf

 

[Gixerman1000]

I like my INOX (wide slide) tomcat very much, it's been 100% reliable and is very accurate for a small pistol, I carry it every day in my pocket as a backup.

 

[rde]

Put another 50 accurate totally problem free rounds through my INOX Tomcat today. Have only had 2 failures...failure to properly chamber the next round when I got loose with the grip after I initially bought the Tomcat and was figuring it out (within the first 50 rounds). Never had a problem since. Carry it in my pocket without problems...the size, width, wieght are not a problem for me as an individual and why I think it is pleasant to shoot while helping the shooter be more accurate. The PPK is the same basic size as my Bersa Thunder and there is no way that I can carry that in my pocket without obnoxious printing.

 

[MICHAEL T]

rde. The PPK/s is a little smaller than the Bersa Thunder. I can carry my PPK /s in a Don Hume pocket holster. But their no way I can carry my Bersa in my pocket. even with out a holster.

Ive read that the Tomcat is thicker in the grip area than a 1911A1 I don't know if true or not.
Really best pocket pistol Ive found is the Colt Mustang series. Beats all my small carry pistols period.

 

[rde]

It is thicker/wider than one would expect for a pocket pistol. Especially compared to something like one of those Kel-Tec models. But it is very easy to pocket carry..just not as easy or convenient as some other options out there. But it feels and shoots like a 'real gun" so to speak...while being pocket capable. This is why I chose it over other options. As others have pointed out the early models had some issues but the newer models referred to as the "widebody" (expecially in Inox such as I have) are good solid shooters. The Tomcat allows me to carry when I otherwise wouldn't (to include just being to lazy to suit up with a "real gun").

Never actually fired a PPK. People compare the PPK to the Bersa so I figured they were pretty close in size.

 

[faustulus]

My point is people always say what a terrible DA trigger a PPK has.That Tomcat has a trigger that makes a Walter DA trigger feel like a light SA trigger and yet no were have I ever read what a terrible trigger the Tomcat has

So your arguement is pistol A has a heavy trigger, but pistol B's trigger is heavier. People say pistol A has a heavy trigger and you believe they should say that pistol A and Pistol B have a heavy trigger. Should they also mention Pistols C through Z if they have a heavier trigger?
While we are at it I had a S&W 3919 with a horrible trigger. I guess for fairness we should all mention guns we had with horrible triggers, the extrpolate that all guns by that manufacturer have horrible triggers and since all of us have had guns by all different makers with bad triggers, we can then postulate that all guns have bad triggers.

 

[ezypikns]

I bought one....

NIB and had nothing but trouble with it. Finally took it to a gunsmith who told me it had a trigger problem that should be covered under warranty. I really never cared for it anyway. For a hideout pistol it's a real chunk. So I took it to a gun show and traded it to a dealer I didn't care for. Did I say that?

 

[Alan Fud]

A Beretta Tomcat in .380ACP would be a nice pistol but IMHO it's too big of a gun for the .32ACP round.