Beretta Tomcat

[YeshuaIsa53]

My Tomcat has barked once: head shot on a snake. Never fired it since. I do not carry it.

 

[Joe in SC]

I purchased mine as soon as I could after they came out. I will say that over the years my experience has been very good with the one I have. There was a waiting list for several months after they started shipping the Tomcats because they hit the market about the time SC started allowing carry permits. There was no mini nines available then and 9mm ammo hadn't been developed to the dependable state it is in now. So, with WW Silvertips it was reputed to be as good as the best 380 available at the time, if I remember correctly.

I have fired only silvertips in mine as recommended and it has never failed to fire. It has developed no mechanical issues or cracks. It is not a target pistol but it will certainly will suffice at defensive distances. I carried it to the range every time I went for 4 to 5 years because it was my carry gun. Shot 2 to 3 clips every time, and as I said with no issues. I have confidence that it will do the job it was designed for, considering the caliber. I don't think an average jackal will stick around for you to pump 5 or six 32 acp hp rounds in his gut. I still carry it on occasion, mainly in my windshield bag on the motorcycle.

My main small edc is a 9mm now. Not getting rid of the Tomcat though because I like it. I like the size, the reliability and it's paid for along with a couple 50 round boxes of ammo remaining.

Haven't posted in several years but I've been in the shadows reading all the great stuff here. I thought I would try to get in the habit of contributing again when I can add something positive.

 

[max503]

How do you identify the older, "weak" ones that crack? A friend has one. I might be able to get it.

 

[BB57]

Gee, I didn't thing I'd have to spell it out. These guys were not buying anything crazy - they were using plain, underpowered American ball ammo. I can't give you specifics without more digging than I'm willing to do, but my statement that I'd not buy one after my friends' experiences stands.

With the Tomcat, details matter on the ammo.

Essentially what you said in your first post is that they shot factory ammo.

Now you’re saying it was “underpowered American ball ammo”, but without knowing what it was they actually shot.

Feel free to stand behind your statement and your recommendation. However, I’ll continue to stand behind my statement that ammo matters with the Tomcat.

In my experience the Tomcat isn’t likely to crack if you select your ammunition appropriately - and in my experience many Tomcat shooters don’t understand that not all American ball ammo is “underpowered”.

 

[BB57]

How do you identify the older, "weak" ones that crack? A friend has one. I might be able to get it.

The difference is in the slide, not the frame.

A lot of people assume they made the frame thicker, but there isn’t any difference with the new versus old Tomcat. The “Inox” version is often though to have a stronger frame but it just has a stainless steel barrel and a matching anodized frame finish. The Alley Cat had the same frame as well, it just had tritium sights in the slide. The most recent “Covert” also has the same frame.

For a couple years Beretta did offer a version with a titanium frame and that is the only difference in any of the frames.

What Beretta did do was widen the slide and raise the frame rails. That added mass to the slide and decreased the slide velocity which reduced the stress on the frame.

The difference in width is subtle and telling one from the other just based on the width would be a little tricky without comparing them side by side:

However the wide slides also have raised slide rails and the right hand rail is relieved to allow for unrestricted ejection. That makes the newer wide slide Tomcats easy to spot as there will be a relief cut in the right hand rail: