- If you own or are intending to buy a used TomCat, please check for function and cracked frame, if the machine was built in the earlier release period. Ed/quote Hey thanksa bunch.I bought mine in either 2001 or 2002.I may be allright on the frame thing recall. I will try some of the silver tips for carry use.
- If your Tomcat has suffered a cracked frame, then it will ultimately need to be retired from service, as the frames, which are serialized and regulated, can be neither replaced nor repaired. On rare occasions, we have been known to sell the owner a new Tomcat at wholesale cost, should this issue occur.
We had the gun shop mail the Tomcat to Beretta for warranty repair. When the Tomcat came back the safety lever worked again, but in very short order the same problem occurred again. Nothing we did would free up the safety, which remained stuck in the OFF position. I cursed Beretta and put the thing away, and only took it shooting once since then. I have the Tomcat Inox. My very favorite carry gun. The frame cracking issue can be avoided by not shooting ammo with a muzzle energy over 130 ft./lbs. (basically.32 ammo over 71 grain). My Tomcat is very accurate, super reliable, and fun to carry and shoot.
A Magnum Opus on heavy loads for the .32 ACP < for use in suitably strong, STEEL framed guns> is being submitted soon for The Fouling Shot, but important safety information needs to get out now and not wait for publication!
My advice is to severely limit loads producing over 130 ft.-lbs. to occasional/emergency use only in micro pistols like the Beretta Tomcat for two reasons:
1) because they may cause serious “slide bite” if you have meaty hands and don't use a Hogue Grip Sleeve, as I painfully found out. And
2) after prolonged firing,
My Beretta Model 3032 INOX Tomcat until recently had digested over 2000 rounds of hot Euro and heavy bullet hand loads before eventually failing.
If you own a Beretta Tomcat, open the tip-up barrel and inspect the frame rail above the trigger pivot hole for cracks, as shown in the photo.
Beretta doesn't “repair or replace” these any more, nor do they warrant them for use with hand loads or ammunition which exceeds 130 ft.-lbs. manufacturer's rating.
If you choose to use “hot” loads in yours, then you are on “your own nickel.”
I will continue to use my Tomcat as a teaching tool to demonstrate the advantages of the tip-up barrel for women or elderly who have trouble racking the slide, but any shooting will be VERY limited from now on, with more sedate loads than my hand loaded “Buffalo Bore” approximations.
I still have no reservations firing the heavy .32 ACP loads in STEEL FRAME, standard sized guns such as the Colt M1903, Walther PP, Beretta M1935, CZ27, etc., replacing recoil springs with the heavier Wolff .380 ACP replacements where available.
Beretta Tomcat Cracked Frame Fix For Wood
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in 'Almost Heaven' West Virginia