Not Hot .32 Ammo for a Beretta Tomcat

[BruiseLee]

I know that Corbons, Buffalo Bore, and some European .32 Acp loads are higher pressure loads propelling the .32 bullets at a slightly higher velocity than typical American manufactured .32 acp. rounds. The problem is I have an old blued Beretta 3032 Tomcat, not an Inox, titanium, or stainless steel one. This gun has been fine so far, but I keep reading about Tomcat owners suffering from cracked frames.

So, my question is, does anybody know of any .32 loads that are slightly lower pressure?

Don't suggest I go out and buy a Keltech P3AT or a Ruger LCP. I live in California, and I don't feel like going to jail because those guns are not on the California approved list.

Also, don't suggest I just contact Beretta customer service and they will send me a new Inox. Just go on the Beretta Forums and see how much luck the scores of other Tomcat owners have had with that.

I know the .32 is already weak as far as defensive rounds go, so asking for even less power might seem crazy. But, I think owning a gun you can't practice with is even crazier. A weak .32 is still better than a .22, a .25, or a .45 in a gun safe.

 

[PX15]

FWIW:

My wife and I both have Seecamps, and Speer Gold Dots jhp's don't seem to "harsh" for either of us, and we've had 100% reliability in both pistols with these rounds.

Jesse

 

[christcorp]

The "Standard" velocity/energy of just about all the 32 ammo; except the fiocchi, s&b, corbon, and buffalo; is about 900-905 ft/ps and 129 ft/lbs. That's just about all of them. From blazer to winchester to federal to magtech, etc...

The fiocchi can get up to 1100 and 205. The S&B can do about 1050 and 175. The buffalo can go a little higher than the fiocchi.

 

[BruiseLee]

Thanks for the replies, that's good information. I think I've shot more S&B thru my gun than anything else - mainly because I've heard it's a little hotter. I've probably put about 500 rounds through the Tomcat so far, and like I said so far no problems. My friend who I bought it from maybe put another 250 rounds through it. I believe he had to send the gun back to Beretta twice before the gun functioned properly. They gave him pretty good customer service because he is a LEO and wrote them he depended on the Tomcat as his BUG.

 

[hardluk1]

Cor-bon is not +P ammo ,shot it. Just leave the euro stuff alone and buffalo. Shoot all the rest. I have shoot probaby close to 800 rounds in my tomcat in it's life of around 14 or 15 years maybe.Never had any trouble with it. I practice with some kind of fmj crap and load and shoot at least one clip of corbon and then fill the mags with hp's.

 

[Mark whiz]

The bad thing about the Tomcat is that it tends to not feed well at all with ammo that is loaded on the lite side. I worked up loads for my old one and I had to go to near max loads to get it to cycle a mag full of ammo reliably.

 

[hardluk1]

I don't remember the last time did not feed a round of cheap or good ammo. Maybe like most gun makers today,the older stuff was better. Even the beretta 92 is said to be worse off than the updated taururs version but our goverment goes and sign's a contract for many million bucks to but more beretta 92's.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Hornady HP were weakest HP Ive fired in 32 My KelTec felt like a cap pistol . Went back to my Corbon.

 

[searcher451]

The two Tomcats that I've owned didn't want to feed or cycle anything ... and I mean anything. Beretta took the first one back and sent me another. That one sits in a back corner of the safe, its case gathering dust. I just don't have the heart to try and foist it off on another poor and unsuspecting gun owner.

 

[christcorp]

searcher; if you want to unload the gun, let me know. A little buffing and tweaking, and she'll be a fine gun. Have you thought about taking it to a smith to have them look at it?

 

[clang]

i just posted my experiences with a cracked frame tomcat here a few days ago. Take a look and it will tell you how Beretta will treat you. Long story short - if you bought one of these guns you were screwed.

 

[searcher451]

searcher; if you want to unload the gun, let me know. A little buffing and tweaking, and she'll be a fine gun. Have you thought about taking it to a smith to have them look at it?

CC: The gun has been to the local 'smith a couple-three times, without much success. He's tweaked and buffed and polished, and it's still an erratic performer, at best. Were it up to me, I'd boot it in a heartbeat, so long as the new owner recognized that it was something less than a stellar performer. Trouble is, my wife has taken something of a shine to it; she likes the size and the feel and the relative low roar of the recoil. So when it does make it out of the safe, it's in her hands and under her control.

 

[christcorp]

I suggest trying to 2 extremes; unless when you say "ANYTHING" that you truly mean you've tried "EVERYTHING". I suggest trying fiocchi fmj and Sellier and bellot fmj. The fiocchi is about 150 ft/lbs. The S&B is about 177. Both are about 1045 ft/sec. If you've tried those, I'd look at buffalo bore. It's close to the 1200 ft/sec mark and 220 ft/lbs of energy.

Also; look at different springs. Maybe a lighter recoil spring. It seems that the smaller a gun gets, the more picky it is on ammo. I have a Walther PPK 32acp and it will literally shoot anything. I have a clone; FEG AP-MBP 32acp and it will shoot anything EXCEPT CORBON. I shot this gun this weekend and put blazers, magtech, american eagle, lawman, and hydra-shoks through it. No problem. Corbons don't fit in the chamber. I read an article about the Tomcat. Sitting and watching tv while you're jacking the slide a lot seems to have produced some good results. (Why I mentioned the springs). I also spoke with a friend of mine who had a similar problem. Before he bought a new recoil spring, he cut out a couple of loops from the original spring. He says the slide seems to go back easier and chambers much better. He thinks that the recoil springs and/or recoil levers may be a little too stiff and causing jams. I'm not that familiar with the gun, but apparently the recoil springs are underneath the grips. And that some lever goes against the springs.

I personally have large hands and short fingers. I love 32's, but the real little mouse guns just aren't for me. I got a Walther a while ago as part of a collection from an estate auction. It fit my hand perfectly. It weighed almost nothing. It's much bigger than a mouse gun 32acp; yet quite small compared to my Sig P220 and many other guns. I can pocket carry it and IWB without problems. The only problem is my wife and daughter. They like it too and pretty much told me I don't get to carry it. I have to carry my P220. (Which I normally do). So I was at a gun show recently and found the FEG AP-MBP 32acp Walther clone for $150. So far, I really like it.

Anyway, maybe when you get a chance you can remove the grips and lake a look at the springs and the lever for the slide. Maybe a good lube job or lighter springs will make it a better feeder. later.... mike......

 

[BruiseLee]

"Anyway, maybe when you get a chance you can remove the grips and lake a look at the springs and the lever for the slide. Maybe a good lube job or lighter springs will make it a better feeder."

I'm not sure this would be a good idea. Remember, the reason for my post was to find .32 rounds that would not pound the prone to cracking frame of the Tomcat.

I'm no expert, but I would think putting in a weaker recoil spring would subject the Tomcat's already marginal frame to more battering. A lighter recoil spring would lead to a higher slide velocity, which means the slide will be hitting the frame that much harder after each shot. I agree you want a load that generates enough recoil to reliably cycle the action, even if the operator limp wrists the weapon to a degree.

Like I said, my Tomcat is reliable, so it is possible to have a reliable Tomcat without resorting to a lot of tweaking and modifications. Although it took two trips to the factory to get it that way.

 

[christcorp]

Very true. But in life, there are always a few things that don't quite work the way they are suppose to. Maybe the springs are TOO strong based on the rest of the gun. Maybe they put the wrong springs in the gun when it was manufactured. I don't have the gun, so I can't determine what kind of feeding problem it is. If it's in the ramp, in the magazine, in the blow back, etc...

One thing you can do is MANUALLY chamber a round; then manually pull back the slide and let it go and see if it ejects the round and loads the next. Keep doing this. This is a lot slower motion, but it should simulate decently. Is it the extractor, ejector, etc...???/ It's so hard to tell.

 

[searcher451]

CC/Mike: Thanks for the advice. I've got a list of ammo that I've tried with the Bobcat and will have to run it down again and take a look, comparing to the recommendations you made. WIll say that Winchester WB feeds in everything I've ever tried, except for the Bobcat, and that always concerns me. But I'll take another look on your advice; thanks for sharing it. Have not swapped out springs and can't imagine doing it with a new gun ... but anything is possible, I guess. I will take a look at the lub job there and see if it's adequate; if not, I'll make an adjustment and give it another whirl. Thanks again.

 

[shield20]

I think you would be OK with Blazers, Remington, Speer GDs, SilverTips, or Lawmans. I have shot all these (other then the Lawmans) in my Tomcat and they function fine. Noticable less recoil/blast then the Corbons.

 

[Confederate]

You're fighting a losing battle. That frame is going to crack if you shoot it, it's just that simple. My suggestion is to take Beretta up on their $178 trade-up for an INOX. I know it's a raw deal, but it's the only real option you have.

In the event you're going to keep it, just load it with the regular ammo and shoot it only in defense. Right now, think of it like a disposable camera. Once the cracks form, the gun will begin jamming and you'll have simply a paperweight.

Beretta is being a real horse's patut regarding this. They have consistently shown that they will not stand behind their products. In some ways I can understand it, because it would bankrupt them on the 92s alone. (They may have fixed the 92's slide separation problem, but they won't retroactively fix anything. They draw a line in the sand and say, from this point on the product should be okay.)

 

[CWL]

I shoot Winchester white box FMJ in my KT P32. Should be able to find it anywhere.

Don't need JHPs for a gun this tiny, I don't believe that they will penetrate or expand in such a short barrel. I want to know that it'll go where aimed and that it will penetrate -nothing else. FMJ increases the chance of penetrating skull and hitting major organs, I don't want to have to depend on such a tiny 'pill' doing damage from expansion.

 

[alistaire]

I have a friend who shoots Wolf from her Tomcat because it is loaded lighter and does not hurt her hand (she says).

 

[BruiseLee]

"One thing you can do is MANUALLY chamber a round; then manually pull back the slide and let it go and see if it ejects the round and loads the next. Keep doing this. This is a lot slower motion, but it should simulate decently. Is it the extractor, ejector, etc...???"

Christcorp, the one thing that can definitely be ruled out as the problem is the Tomcat's extractor. It doesn't have one. The gasses in the barrel blow the case out of the chamber after the recoil spring and the inertia of the slide have delayed things long enough that propellant gas pressure has dropped off to a safe level.

One possible problem I see with this gun is when the mag is fully loaded, the rounds in the magazine start to angle downward. This is due to the .32 acp cartridge being semi-rimed. This also increases the possibility of a rimlock situation in my opinion. My gun will fire fine with a fully loaded mag +1 in the chamber. But, I have a hard time thumbing out that top round in the magazine when it's fully loaded.

You night want to consider not fully loading the Tomcats magazine. Something to think about.