Experience with the Beretta Tomcat?

[George Dickel]

A friend of mine has pretty bad arthritis in her hands and has a lot of difficulty racking the slide on a semi-auto, even on the S&W Shield EZ in .380. I remembered the Beretta Tomcat with the tip up barrel and this might the solution to her problem. Insert magazine, flip up the barrel and load the chamber, push barrel down. I've never fired a .32 ACP so I don't know how much felt recoil there will be. The Tomcat is fairly heavy for a small pistol and should soak up some of the recoil so do you think it will be a solution to her problem?
As an aside to this she used to shoot a .357 magnum all the time but time and health have slowed her down.

 

[Thomas Mayberry]

I bought one for my (now ex) wife many years ago. The tip up barrel was handy, the recoil was very light and it was plenty accurate for a small gun. My only concern was the lack of an extractor but it really wasn't an issue since you could flip up the barrel and shake the round out.

Now out of production, Beretta also made the model 86 cheetah in 380. Larger but it was a single stack and had the tip up barrel.

 

[golden]

AVOID THE BERETTA 86 Cheetah. It is the most unreliable BERETTA I have come across.

As for the .32ACP BERETTA 3032 Tomcat, I think it is a very good gun. If I bought a new one, it would be one of the INOX guns since they have a heavier slide.
My wife is in the same boat and used the Tomcat for many years. Now she uses a GLOCK 42, but still has the Tomcat. It is one of the few guns she can operate and shoot.
It is large, only compared to the micro .32's and is not heavy. It is much smaller and lighter than my WALTHER PPK.
I have found them to be very reliable and accurate for the small size. I say them, because after my wife tried mine, I needed to get another one to replace it!
I would bet my life on!

Jim

 

[.308 Norma]

Just anecdotal, but my dad was probably the most recoil shy individual I've ever met. Dad passed in 2007 when he was 77 years old, and when he passed, I guarantee he had the Beretta Tomcat I gave him either in a pocket in his robe, or stashed somewhere on his motorized wheelchair.
I bought that little gun for myself, thinking it would be good protection from the farm and ranch dogs around here that, after running a hundred yards down driveways, yell at me for trespassing on "their" sections of a public road when I'm on my exercise hikes. However, I changed my mind and just started carrying my EDC gun instead.
As a side note, I've never had to shoot one of those farm and ranch dogs. They're intimidated by the big honkin' hiking staff I carry, and I carry pepper spray as a second line of defense. I've never had to use it either.
At any rate, the Beretta Tomcat I had was reliable, didn't kick very hard, and Dad loved the tip-up barrel feature. Besides that, Dad was always an "Anything 32" type of guy anyway.

 

[rskent]

Nice little gun, almost cute. My only 32, likely ever. It did have to go back to Beretta for a new firing pin. Ya don’t want to dry fire one of these.

 

[sabbfan]

I never owned a Tomcat but did own a .22 Bobcat. I really liked that little thing, it really was accurate and fun. I’d still own it if it was a Tomcat in a centerfire round as I really had no need for a little 22. The tip up barrel would be perfect for arthritic hands, I actually ended up selling my Bobcat to someone with the same situation the OP is describing.