Beretta .32 Tomcat...dismal first experience.

[gigag04]

A lady friend of mine is getting her CHL and her dad got her a tomcat over the weekend for home defense and eventual carry.

We shot it today and consistently the last round would FTE or Stovepipe. Is this a break-in issue or a broke-en issue?

Can't say I was super excited about the gun as a whole, but it was small enough for her to carry and she finally figured out how to work it. She prefers to cock it before she racks the slide, which bugs me but at least she is armed now.

Another question, besides the jamming issue, the best way to keep it ready/carry:

Cocked and locked, or DA - hammer down, safety off?? KISS would dictate the second of the two, but I'm checking with you guys on how she should carry.

[John]

Tomcats seem to be either good out of the box (mine was) or problematic. I'd say give it a 100 rounds or so and see if it works out. Mine goes bang every time, but I've broken two sets of grips with normal use. I've heard some say that the mag doesn't hold the last round in very well and this causes a feeding issue on the last round, but I haven't heard of anyone having stove pipes. The entire top of the slide is open so it makes a stove pipe less likely. However, maybe the lack of an ejector negates that. I've never had a stove pipe on mine. Make sure that she doesn’t mix hollow points and FMJ. The .32 Auto round has a slightly raised rim on the case and the mixed rounds will lock-up in the magazine and cause feeding issues. What ammo was she using?

You mention that she likes to cock the hammer before racking the slide. There should be no reason to ever rack the slide (short of a stove pipe or feeding issue). You can tip the barrel up for chambering and un-chambering a round and that eliminates the need to rack the slide.

The Tomcat does not have a firing pin safety, so I would not carry it cocked and locked (it does have a half cocked notch for drop safety). The safety is little more than trigger bar block and it doesn't even disconnect the trigger bar. I carry mine with one in the pipe and the hammer down with the safety on; however, in this configuration it could go boom if dropped. Another note about the Tomcat is that it doesn't like to be dry fired. The firing pin will break.

[ElGato]

She shouldn't need to rack the slide on a Tomcat. When I carry a Tomcat it 's hammer down, safety off, and at quarter cock (safety). Some folk's won't feel OK with the safety off, that should be up to the individual.

[gigag04]

She shouldn't need to rack the slide on a Tomcat. When I carry a Tomcat it 's hammer down, safety off, and at quarter cock (safety). Some folk's won't feel OK with the safety off, that should be up to the individual.

So you're saying you load one in the tip up pipe, and then put the mag in.

[couzin]

The Tomcat is sensitive to two things, limp wristing, and certain ammunitions for FTE problems. Great small carry piece otherwise (even if it is only a .32). Limp wrist is easy to control - just grip it like the subcompact Glocks (hand on frame but not the death grip, second hand up from below over your grip hand, apply the more pressure with the off hand), or use a different one hand grip a little higher anuse the thumb to apply pressur on the finger(s). Careful to get too high up - the slide will bite. I found CMC and Wolf to cause more FTEs - suggest Federal. Also suggest Speer or CorBon for defense ammo. The tip up barrel eliminates the need to rack - just load, point and pull trigger or cock it if wanted (DA/SA gun). She can cock it before racking if she wants. Although IMHO there is a potential safety issue if there just happened to be a round in the chamber, trigger cocked, and during some bit of clumsiness trying to get a grip on the slide, the trigger got pulled that micro inch that sets it off...

[ElGato]

She shouldn't need to rack the slide on a Tomcat. When I carry a Tomcat it 's hammer down, safety off, and at quarter cock (safety). Some folk's won't feel OK with the safety off, that should be up to the individual.

So you're saying you load one in the tip up pipe, and then put the mag in.

That's what the tip-up is for, you can insert the mag before or after you load the barrel.

[flintknapper]

She shouldn't need to rack the slide on a Tomcat. When I carry a Tomcat it 's hammer down, safety off, and at quarter cock (safety). Some folk's won't feel OK with the safety off, that should be up to the individual.

+1 on this for carry mode.


Also, failure to "feed" or "spitting" of the last round is much more common than a FTE in Tomcats. If she had a failure to feed..I could offer some solutions.

For FTE's make sure she's got a firm grip on the weapon (no limp wristing), and that all sliding parts are properly lubricated. A change of ammo can sometimes make the difference. Stay away from really hot loads (corbons) or overly short JHP's like (gold dots). Might try some Winchester Silvertips and give it a little more break in time.

Let us know.

[RPBrown]

I've had 2 Tomcats, still have 1 (actually, the Mrs. has it now) and traded the other because of the same problems. The one i kept has never had a problem with 1500+ rounds thru it.

[MikeJ]

giga04, you didn't say what kind of ammo y'all were using. I've only put 100 rounds of Winchester Silvertip through my Tomcat, but all fed, fired, and extracted with no problems. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to have gotten the idea somewhere that the Tomcat was designed for use with the Silvertip.

[ElGato]

I don't shoot mine much, but when I do it run's just fine. I had the 32 and 22 and didn't like the 22 so I got rid of it.

[longtooth]

Tomcat is the wife's carry. It runs 100%. Use the tip up barrel. All above is very sound.