Could it get more complicated? The Beretta 3032.

[Eb1]

I know the stories regarding the caliber, and the kinks, and the cracks, and the (you name it).

Well I tried to get my wife to start carrying a lighter gun because the other was to heavy, and guess which one she wanted. Yes, the Beretta 3032. Well they are not in production, and if they are they are not found around here, but I went into a small pawn shop last week, and there it was. With nice new wooden grip, the original black grips, box, paperwork. Looked darn near like it had one or two rounds out of it for $300.00.

Well yesterday my kids wanted a new XBOX 360 so they could play each other without split screen, and I had looked at that as well the day I found the 3032. So when I went back I took my Rossi M720 .44 Special bobbed hammer model with me.
Needless to say $100 bucks later I have a XBOX 360 and a Beretta 3032.

Well I bring it home, and was going to oil it up to take my wife shooting. That is when all heck broke loose. Springs a crunching, tweaking, and the slide locking up.
When I get it back together nothing worked. One shot is all you got. After doodling around with the is gun, and straightening springs per the pics in the manual. I have now become a pretty good expert on repairing the Beretta 3032. I hope I have resolved the issues I created when I let the slide go to far back or something, but I now have the magazine release working, safety checks out in D/A and S/A, I have double action functionality, I can rack the slide for S/A. It all seems to be in order.

One thing I notice, but I have read this is common in single action there is a short break i.e take up before the bang. I don't know if that is normal, but it was like that when I bought it, and I have heard that from other owners.

So she has her little pistol, the kids have their new XBOX 360, and I have learned the ends and outs of this pistol, and traded my .44 Special, but I plan on getting a Lipsey FlatTop SA 4 5/8" barrel .44 SPC very soon. Till then it is the 1911 and .44 mag for big bore hand guns.

Thanks - Eb1

 

[bannockburn]

Eb1

Sorry to hear about your problems with the Beretta and that you had to trade in your Rossi to get it. At least you will have something to look forward to when you get your Ruger Flat Top in .44 Special; definitely worth waiting for.

 

[Eb1]

Nice, Nice!

That is a looker, and what I am wanting mine to look like. I like the white grips. I have a 5.5" Super Black Hawk .44 Mag now, but I am looking forward to the .44 SPC being built on the medium frame, and not the large frame.


Well the Beretta is going to be test fired today. I am confident it will hold. My wife was excited to find it on the bar this morning with a nice little note saying turn around time 15 hours versus 4 weeks minimum. I would not let her carry it today.
In Arkansas they have passed several laws allowing firearms to stay in cars on school property, colleges, and other municipal areas.
Also, it appears Arkansas has become a Constitution Open Carry state. That is another story.

I am so glad I figured out the several springs the Beretta 3032 has in it. That is a finicky little pistol. Easy take clean? Yeah right. You better make sure you don't get the slide back to far. You'll be in trouble with popping spring from here to Italy.

I am ordering new springs from Brownell's to replace or have on hand as spares.

 

[bannockburn]

Eb1

I had a Beretta Model 90 Roma that also was a bit troublesome with a certain spring and reassembly. Took mine to a gunsmith to get it right. The grips on my Flat Top .44 are American Holly wood. Love the look and feel of them.

 

[amd6547]

Hmmm....go to beretta forum, and do a search for "Beretta Tomcat frame crack"...

 

[Eb1]

What was funny is that what became a two spring issue all of a sudden it was like a kids toy where the timer runs out. Boom! Every pieces is now in my hand, on the floor, across the room.
I was very excited to finally get it back together. After I figured out how it all went together. I'd get a section working just to have to take it apart because there is section that needed to be fitted before I fitted what I just figured out. Yes, it was nuts, and my 10 year old was right. "Dad, just walk away from it, and it will come to you."

Well I did. I stopped at 5 PM yesterday. Took a long nap. Could not sleep. Started at 11:30 PM last night, and finished at 2:00 AM this morning, but nothing was making sense yesterday, and last night/this morning it just all made sense.
Fathers, listen to your daughters. Sometimes they can save you hours of headaches. But her being only ten I am sure I have more headaches coming than she'll be saving.

I'll post a pick of my .44 Mag for you. It is stainless, and I had to put large Hogue double action grips to control the gun with full powered loadings because I have smaller hands. Which kinda takes from the look of the gun, but I don't plan on shooting many full power loads for a while so I may put the Cowboy grips back on for shooting 240 LSWC at 800-900 fps for four wheeler riding. Although I have been taking my Tisas Zig M 1911 for that duty. Man, what a pistol for the money.
There is a friend of the family who is a 1911 specialist, and he loves shooting my Tisas 1911 GI Model as much if not more than his $3200+ Custom 1911. He says it just points and shoots so dang good. Where you put that front sight is where it hits. I have to agree with him. I really think I got a deal with that from Buds about a year of more ago. One night they had a make an offer, and I did. Ten seconds later they accepted, and it was $60 off the asking price. So I bought some more 8 round Mec-Gar mags.
Also, the Tisas Zig M 1911 has never had a failure with any magazine from Wilson, Mec, ATI, Springfield, Ruger, you put it in the gun, and it will eat from it.

 

[Eb1]

Deleted. amd6547 see my post below.

 

[Eb1]

amd6547

Thanks for the information. I planned to only shoot American Eagle .32 ACP 71 grain hard ball from this pistol. I think I'll be okay.
In my P32 from Kel-Tec I am shooting Geco 73 grain ammunition which seems to be a little hotter.

Again thanks for the information.

 

[cc-hangfire]

Thanks for passing along your experiences with the 3032. I have one, but apparently I haven't made the error of over-extending the slide during field stripping. I'll be careful. I do like tinkering on my guns, but not under the duress of having springs flying out first!

 

[amd6547]

I like the Beretta Bobcat, and I like the 32acp...the Tomcat seems like a natural for me.
Someday, maybe.

 

[Eb1]

I went to shoot the firearm today. It shot like a champ. The Beretta magazine worked flawless, and the aftermarket that had a pinky finger extension had a failure to feed.

I was shooting American Eagle 71 grain FMJ, and at around 12 yards I setup plastic bottles. Being that I had to perform emergency surgery on the Tomcat without a vet license (haha), I only loaded the barrel with an empty magazine in case of a failure. I shot it DA, and it hit exactly where I was aiming. After shooting that one shot without a failure I loaded the magazine, and proceeded to shoot every bottle exactly to the point of aim.
Then I loaded the aftermarket mag, and had a failure on the third shot. I'll have to try it again to give any thought as to why there was a failure. I only shot two mags worth of shooting, but I could not be any happier with the accuracy of this pistol. I almost don't want to share with my wife.
The person with me was astonished by the accuracy of this little pistol as well. We are going to be shooting it more later this week.

For safety reasons and to be proactive I have ordered some spare springs from Brownell's. You never know when you might need them especially after having to learn to put the gun back together without instruction, and having to bend the springs back to as close to normal as possible. Thank goodness my wife is an artist and has very nice tools that are very, very small.

I am going to call Beretta and ask them about shooting Geko 73 grain FMJ from the pistol as the manual recommends nothing over 130 ft. lbs.
I have no idea how much energy the 73 grain Geko rounds are putting off. I should probably call them as well.

Compared to my Kel-Tec P32 the Beretta seemed to have more recoil. I am guessing it was more due to the design of the firearm because the 3032 is heavier, but is also a blow back design. I did enjoy shooting this pistol, but due to others having frame issues in the past I don't plan on making it a plinking pistol, but do plan to shoot it enough to stay proficient with it. The year it was made per the S/N was 1997 so it is not a "wide slide" model. Nevertheless I feel the trade off of the M720 .44 SPC was a good one.

 

[Old Dog]

I've currently got a non-functional 3032 Tomcat. Apparently, dry-firing this pistol is a no-go. Firing pin kaput.

While it worked (mine is the nicer, later version INOX), it was a cool pistol (in spite of the caliber). Pitiful sights, but reasonably accurate and, until the broken firing pin, reliable.

Long past warranty, gotta find a way to get this thing fixed. Wife loves the tip-up barrel and like the thing as a back-up gun ...

 

[Eb1]

Brownell's has just about every part for the 3032 at very reasonable prices.