Berretta 21a Bobcat

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boatdreamer

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Greetings Highroaders. I've been lurking here off and on for years, most recently while I was scouring the internet for information on the Berretta Bobcat. I've just purchased a used Bobcat in .22 LR and I'm delighted with it. I thought it would be nice to put some hopefully useful information out on the 'net for other prospective Bobcat owners, and after reading the high road's creedo, I figured this would be an outstanding place to do it.

I think a little background about me will help explain where I'm coming from concerning this pistol. I grew up out in the country, and in my youth I generally had either a gun or a fishing rod in my hand. I still live out in the sticks, and while I don't hunt or fish nearly as much as I used to, I still spend a considerable amount of time outside on our farm, doing chores. For years I've been looking for a small pistol that was so easy to carry there would be little reason not to, yet still accurate enough to be useful if the opportunity arose. Additionally, I enjoy informal target shooting; heck let's face it I just like guns. Finally, after an altercation with a neighbor's great dane, I ended up getting a concealed carry permit, which I make use of.

Money's scarce around our place, so I couldn't afford a pile of guns to serve every niche of my desires. I needed something useful, functional, and most of all versatile. I bought a Walther P22 that I kept for a few years, but I found that it was too big to carry effortlessly, and it wasn't particularly accurate (in its defense, I tended to compare it to my Ruger Single Six where accuracy was concerned, which wasn't a fair fight). I ended up selling it to subsidize a deer rifle.

I've got an NAA mini LR that's super easy to carry, but hard to shoot and very hard to hit with. I looked hard at the Kel-tec P32, which would be a snap to carry, but cost me a fortune to shoot, and it's not known for its accuracy. Then my attention was drawn to Berretta's 21a. People raved about them, and it had a reputation for accuracy in spite of its small size.

What makes the Bobcat different? I think most pocket guns are designed to be dedicated self defense weapons or BUGs. Because of that, most of the offerings in my price range are built with loose tolerances, which makes them function more reliably but hurts accuracy. Most of them are also DAO. In contrast the Bobcat is built with very tight tolerances. It's not superlight, weighing in at 10.8 oz empty. It's made of metal, mostly steel, and the trigger is DA/SA. The 21a also has a tip up barrel; I think many of its strengths and weaknesses eminate from this feature.

When you hold a Bobcat, it feels very solid and comfortable. The grips are thick and easy to hang onto. It points effortlessly and looks fabulous; this gun has style and very good fit and finish (mine's matt black).

About those grips-nowhere could I find a reference to how wide a Bobcat is. I think it's because of its fat grips, which house some of the spring mechanisms, and people don't want it compared unfavorably to the likes of Keltec's P32 at 3/4". Well, my black plastic grips measure 1-1/16" thick, which I think makes the gun easier to hold and control. The rest of the gun is considerably narrower; the slide is about 3/4" wide. Fat or not, I find the gun easy to carry in the front pocket of kakis or the rear pocket of my jeans. I bought a pocket holster for a P32 that works well with it.

I've got a lot more to say about this little rascal, but it's time for bed. I'll be posting pictures once I figure out how to downsize them, range reports, ammo testing, and chronograph testing too.

Have you got things to say about Berretta's 21a? Sound off! I'd like this thread to be a trove of information to anyone who's interested in them.
 
A very good first post!
You have me thinking about buying one now.
I had a Jetfire .22 short years back, it was well made and worked well. The tip-up barrel is a good idea, it's said that is particularly good for people with arthritis or weak hands for any reason.
Weird not having an extractor, but it works.
How accurate is the .22lr Bobcat is what I'd like to know, Could it hit a 1 1/2" circle at 15 yards?
For a trail/trapline pistol I think I would have to have it (and me) shoot at least that well.
It IS a good-looking handgun.
 
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I've had a 21A for just under 21 years now according to the receipt in the box. It has always functioned perfectly. I didn't buy it with concealed carry in mind--concealed carry was not even legal in my state when I bought it. I just liked the size and the fact that .22LR were cheap to shoot. But I have carried it when a little gun was all that would fit the requirements.

I've never attempted to do any accuracy testing with it. It's a close range pistol with rudimentary sights. But it's easy to shoot and hit well within the vital areas of a silhouette target out to 10 yards or so.

Oddly enough, right after I bought it, mine refused to release the slide from the frame when attempting to field strip it. At first, I was afraid I had broken something when I was cleaning it. But it still shoots fine and I've learned to work around this fault. I just use solvent and brush where I can reach and then flush it out with Gun Scrubber and relube. It's been working like that for nearly two decades so I decided why mess with it.

I agree the gun is kind of wide but the width in the grips are due to the design. With the tip-up barrel, it can't use the normal recoil springs of a standard blow back autoloader. The recoil springs are located behind the grip panels, thus the grip area is pretty fat. Have you ever handled the Beretta 3032 Tomcat? It has an extremely fat grip for a .32ACP.

Welcome to THR, boatdreamer. Enjoy that Bobcat!
 
Thanks for the compliment. The tip up barrel is one of my favorite features, and adds to its versatility. It makes it easy to load single cartridges that won't work in the magazine, such as .22 shorts or CB caps. I've found that CCI and Remington high velocity shorts will both eject and recock the hammer, making it a pretty neat single shot. Cool! It even worked with 27 grain short hollowpoints. I've also found that CB cap cases will simply drop out, making it easy to reload. Oddly, this isn't true for Aguila super colibri, their pepped up, 20 grain pipsqueak. Regular colibri cases drop out, though.

I assume there's no extractor because it would interfere with the tip up barrel feature. That's too bad, because digging an unextracted case is a pain. I've been using the "spent case as a tool" method, where you use the open end of a spent case to lever the just fired brass up far enough to get a hold of. I'll cut a short wooden dowel for use next time.

I'm not confident that I could keep my shots within 1-1/2" with a rifle, offhand, at 25 yards. My first outing with the Berretta, I tried 3 shot groups at a 3" target, starting at 10 yards. I found that my bobcat shot very nearly to point of aim, and stayed within the 3" circle. I'd then take a step back and try again. I made it out past 12 yards that way, then something changed, either me or perhaps the light from the afternoon sun, and my shots went wild. Anyhow, I've shot plenty of squirrels at that kind of range, and I think I could get a lot more proficient with practice.

The bobcat's sites are tiny and immovable. The good thing, though, about tiny sites is that they are automatically precise. At short yardage (15-25 feet) just about everything I ran through it seemed to shoot to point of aim, but I was mostly shooting at a 2" metal plate, which only records hits and misses. The previous owner painted the front site white, which has strengths and weaknesses depending on the light conditions. I think I'll experiment with other bright colors eventually.
 
I've never handled a Tomcat. Word on the net is that their frames can easily become cracked. Do you know anything about that, Dogguy? I would think that Berretta would be working furiously on a solution. A bobcat and a tomcat would make a neat combination.

I'm amazed at how easy this gun is to fieldstrip; sorry to hear that your example won't cooperate. My P22 was a nightmare by comparison. On mine, I tip up the barrel, cock the hammer, and pull the slide back maybe 1/8". The barrel end of the slide then easily and naturally tips up, whereupon I move the slide forward until it disengages from the ears in the back. Reassembly is the reverse, plus I use gentle thumb pressure on the barrel end of the slide to "click" it back on.
 
I've had one for about 15 years. Great little .22. It's a fun range gun and is good for taking walks around the farm.
 
Thanks, you've just answered a lot of questions that I had.

I've always liked the Beretta and the Taurus copy but have strayed away thinking I wanted a snub-revolver in .22 or .22WMR. My intentions is a glove box gun and one that I can shoot varmints that I trap around the place, skunks and possums mostly.
I'm within 50yds of houses and thought the .22 short would be perfect to plug one of these rodents since the "bang" is not as noticeable.

I believe I'll be re-thinking the 21A.
 
I've never handled a Tomcat. Word on the net is that their frames can easily become cracked. Do you know anything about that, Dogguy? I would think that Berretta would be working furiously on a solution. A bobcat and a tomcat would make a neat combination.
Click to expand...

I had a Tomcat for years and the frame didn't crack. It's just like a big 21a - fun and easy to shoot. Only sold it because my wife fell in love with the Ruger SR9c, and I sold the Tomcat for the exact purchase price of one!

I really like my 21a too. While some might think it overkill, around 2002 I sent it to Robar and had it refinished in NP3. http://www.robarguns.com/np3.htm Now it doesn't need any lube, and the .22 fouling wipes off with a napkin.

Everyone likes shooting the Bobcat, it's just a super fun and pleasant gun to shoot. I'd like to get a few more of 'em, but they get bought from the classifieds faster than I can find 'em!
 
Right on. Remington CeeBees might be a good choice for that kind of work, regardless of gun. It's basically a CB cap that's based on Remington's yellowjacket. It has a long rifle case, a truncated cone, a big fat hollow point, and four cut marks in the crown. The idea is a CB cap that actually expands. I tried some in the Bobcat, and found that my gun didn't like the stubby cone and wouldn't rack. They load fine as singles, however.

Noise is a big issue with me; my dad got his ears pummelled as a helicopter and jet pilot, so he was real careful about noise with us. Because of that, and because I've worked construction and have a farm, I carry ear plugs with me everywhere. One of the problems with small guns is the noise. My 1-1/8" barreled NAA Mini is LOUD. With Stingers the noise is phenomenal. The mini has two noise strikes against it: Very short barrel, plus its a revolver with a built in cylinder gap. Even with high velocity shorts, NRR 29 ear plugs aren't enough for me with repeated firing.

My hope is that the Berretta will be better. One of the things the Bobcat manual says is that it's made for standard velocity ammo. The limited testing I've done so far with mine shows that Remington LR subsonics and CCI segmented subsonics cycle fine, and they're definitely quieter. CCI segmented ammo, BTW, is totally WICKED.
 
While more powerful cartridges are now available in guns that size and weight, my 21 has been fun to shoot, even for kids. It is soda can accurate at 15-25 yards with just about anything you feed it, but really dirty cheap ammo will start to cause some stovepiping - a quick blast of cleaner and you are back in business though
 
My mom actually carries one. Its a nice little gun but is picky when it comes to ammo. Using CCI Mini-Mags it'll go through about 5 magazines before it jams then the chamber needs to be scrubbed. No oil needed just a quick dry scrub. The reason why is because this gun lacks an extractor. Its accurate enough for what it is, you aren't gonna be shooting target with it at 50 yards but it will shoot minute of person at 50 yards. My mom carries it with CCI Stingers which haven't jammed yet even after 5 magazines. I have been looking for some CCI Velocitors to load instead because I believe they have more "power". I wouldn't feel unarmed carrying one even though I'd rather carry my .40.
 
I checked out np3 on the link that harqueb.us provided, and it looks like the bomb when it comes to low maintenance reliability. Do they coat the interior of the barrel too? How good a trainer does the Bobcat make for the Tomcat?

I'll be delighted when I can nail soda cans at 25 yards.:)

I tried some CCI snakeshot yesterday. Shot dispersal was fine. The slide didn't rack, and the spent case didn't drop out, but it was easy to remove with my fingers.

BTW, here's a link to a good source for ear plugs/muffs: http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/
 
I think the Bobcat can serve as a worthwhile concealed carry gun for many people, including myself. My reasoning is that, like most people, I'm fortunate enough to live in a safe and secure environment. I don't live in or frequent high crime areas, and I don't have people or groups who are enraged with me and would be delighted to see me dead. In the unlikely event that I was the target of a violent crime, it would most likely be a robbery or a random act of violence. Assuming I couldn't escape by other means, simply producing a gun with which I could defend myself would likely make the assault no longer worth it for the perpetrator, and gunfire would make the risk/reward equation rapidly worse for him.

Is my reasoning bulletproof? No. Should it apply to everyone? Definitely not. I'd certainly be willing to carry a more powerful weapon, provided I was utterly familiar with it and had plenty of practice shooting it. I think that comes first.

I think a big part of why people carry is peace of mind. Fortunately for us, that's the main benefit over 99% of the time.
 
I've shot a few Velocitors through my Bobcat, and they cycled fine. It's hard to go wrong with CCI. I've found, though, that Velocitors aren't nearly as speedy in my guns as advertised-under 1300 fps in one of my rifles. Still, it's a 40 grain bullet, and targets don't have built in chronographs. I've also found Remington Yellowjackets a bit lackluster. Stingers, however, rock. They clock over 1500 fps in my 22" barrelled Stevens.
 
I really liked mine.

Too bad it would ALWAYS jam with the 2nd to last round in the mag (Tried several mags, and many types of ammo.)

Sold it to a dealer at a gunshow and made $25
 
"will these cycle with normal federal bulk?"

So far mine will, but I've only tried a few magazines worth. Federal bulk ammo is my preferred cheap ammo, so I'm going to give it a good try.

I've discovered that loading the magazine properly is important. At first, I was pulling the slide down and rather loosely inserting bullets. This can cause the rims to overlap the wrong way, which results in a FTF. I haven't had any further trouble out of LR ammo since I figured this out. I suspect that most failures have to do with the magazine or a dirty, sticky chamber. I don't think this gun was designed to fire hundreds of rounds at a time without any attention. Fortunately, all the attention mine seems to need at the range is a Q-tip of gun oil applied to the chamber and slide face now and then.

Most owners report no troubles from the first several magazines shot. That should make the Bobcat plenty reliable enough out in the field.
 
I had 2 of the Taurus equivalent. I have had lots of Taurus but these 2 went back. One came apart - the slide cracked, grip came off the frame, wasn't the best scene. Fortunately I was at the range and not in a fire-fight. Taurus replaced it with a 4" 9-shot 22 revolver which has been very handy. The 2nd PT-22 also came apart at the seams, Taurus replaced with a 44 Mag which has been a wonderful piece that has hunted many deer and black bear. They were fun to shoot and I'd buy one again as I think the 2 failures I had were flukes. A buddy had the Beretta 21a and loved his. I'd be temped to go that route for a 22 of this nature in the future. Meanwhile, My NEOS just came back from recall and boy is it fun to shoot with a holographic red-dot and laser sight! Finally found a holster for scoped 22 target pistol that makes all the difference in the world. Now I can pack the target 22 which was always relegated to the range in the past! My point is that if you can find the proper holster, you can get FAR better accuracy with a 22LR target pistol...
 
I love mine, and like the OP, mine is my outdoor carry gun. I don't want to lug around 2 to 4 pounds of large centerfire weaponry, and climbing in and out of a tractor make that kind of carry nearly impossible. Pocket carry makes life a lot simpler.

I just need a little 15 yard gun, and the Bobcat does the trick. If more outdoorsmen knew the beauty of this little gem, you would see more happy outdoorsmen. Look! No back pain!

Thanks for the reminder boatdreamer! Mine goes in the pocket tomorrow morning.....
 
I have had the 21-A for many years. Mine has the wooden grips and it's very accurate for what it is. Never had a problem with any ammo or mags. I killed a coyote at about 10yds, don't know which round or combo did it because I fired five fast shots. I carry it in a pocket holster when I absolutly can't carry anything else. Combined with a decent walking stick/cane and my SOG FlashII I don't feel unarmed.
 
"Too bad it would ALWAYS jam with the 2nd to last round in the mag (Tried several mags, and many types of ammo.)"

That's pretty bizarre. You didn't get hexed by anyone, did you?
Click to expand...

Musta been the gun b/c I had other people shoot it with the same results.

Older nice blued one with wood grips and paper box.

Too bad, I had planned to suppress it.
 
I had the Taurus POS and replaced with the Beretta I actually bought 2 of them . I shoot CCI Standard Velocity 22 LR Lead bullet . We fired 10 boxes one afternoon between both guns neither needed cleaned or oiled during the shooting. Both ran perfect
I shoot one of the Beretta's almost every day I live in country and I can shoot no problem I have train my dog when he's out running the property mainly woods To come when he hears a shot. At time he out of yelling range I just shoot a round and wait couple min. he comes right to me. Beats a whistle .
I also own a model 20 in 25 auto and 2 of the 950 BS 25 auto's I consider the little Beretta 950's 25 autos the best of the 25 pistols
 
I've had mine for about a year & a half.
It's very picky with ammo, and I didn''t wanna spend $10 or more on a box of ammo.
So I went through a LOT of the cheap ammo til I found one that works.

I tried pretty much everything I could get my hands on.
Remington, Winchester, Federal, and of course CCI stingers & velocitors.

The only cheap ammo that works reliably is Fiocchi 40 grain High Velocity.
On the box it says "40gr CPSP" and "22HVCRN"

This ammo has worked perfectly.

Before I forget boatdreamer, Welcome to this side of thr!
Lurkers are welcome, but those who give input, are the ones that make thr the REAL High Road. :D

21a.jpg
 
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