Establishing a love/hate relationship with a gun is odd. Typically we like guns that perform well, and that often influences our overall attitudes towards the gun. Maybe I’m a weirdo, and maybe it’s just my need to be a tactical hipster but one of my favorite guns is objectively one I’d never suggest to anyone else: the Beretta Tomcat.
I love it, but if you were to ask me if you should buy one, I’d probably say no. Today I’m going to break down both the reasons why I love the gun and why it’s not a good choice for most shooters.
Why I Love the Tomcat
The Beretta Tomcat is just a cool gun. Beretta’s open slide style is eye-catching and very functional. The weapon also has the famed tip-up barrel design that I’ve always loved. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been of the opinion that tip-up barrels are cool. This allows you to easily load a plus one and means you never have to manipulate the rather stiff slide to operate the gun.
Loading and clearing are very simple. The gun is also micro-sized. Its small size makes it look like someone shrunk it. I expect Rick Moranis to come around the corner and explain, “Honey, I shrunk the Beretta 92.” Like the Beretta 92, the Tomcat is a hammer-fired DA/SA gun, which is my favorite type of operating system.
The gun fires the little .32 ACP round, which in my opinion, is the best subcaliber choice. It’s better than .380, .25, .22LR, and .22 Magnum. It’s always fairly accurate. I can land a magazine’s worth of ammo in the chest portion of a man-sized target at 25-five yards. The gun is also reliable and goes bang when the trigger is pressed.
There is just a lot of cool factor with the Beretta Tomcat and even the Beretta Bobcat, but I wouldn’t suggest them for most shooters. For the average shooter, they aren’t a great option. For gun nerds like me, they are a blast.
The big question is why. Why wouldn’t I suggest this gun for the average shooter?
Why the Tomcat Isn’t for Everyone
First, most people won’t care for the recoil. The little .32 ACP isn’t bad, but this is a straight blowback gun, and it’s rather lightweight. You certainly feel the recoil, and it’s a bit snappy for a little gun. There are other .32 ACP guns that use locked breaches which result in much less recoil than the Tomcat.
While the gun is pretty accurate, the trigger is quite bad. Especially the double-action design. It’s remarkably heavy, which is surprising for Beretta, who makes fantastic triggers in most of their guns. One of the selling points of tip-up barrels is that people with weak hands do not have to rack the slide. That heavy double-action trigger is not going to be a great option for those with poor hand strength.
Poor trigger pull can affect accuracy, but that really only occurs with new shooters. Handgun accuracy is a bit more about grip than the trigger pull. The single action isn’t bad, but it’s not impressive. It’s a heavy single action. I will say you could manually cock the hammer, turn the safety on, and carry it locked and cocked like a 1911.
Also, this is a thick gun. Sure, it’s small and technically could be pocket carried, but the Tomcat is 1.1 inches wide, making it wider than the P365, which holds 10 rounds of 9mm. The gun itself weighs 14 ounces.
That’s almost a pound, and for reference, the aforementioned P365 weighs only 17.8 ounces. A little pocket pistol that thick and weighty needs to go on a diet. The Keltec P32 weighs 6.6 ounces and is .75 inches thick, and holds the same amount of ammo.
The Number One Reason
The main reason I wouldn’t recommend the Tomcat to average shooters is pain — real pain from slide bite. Holy crap, does it take a chunk of me with each shot. Within one magazine, I’m bleeding. I rarely shoot more than a magazine through the Tomcat. Slide bite sucks, and it eventually affects accuracy.
You develop a flinch, and it’s rightly deserved. A flinch affects accuracy, and it makes this gun tough to train with. If you don’t train with a gun, you likely won’t be very good with it when it comes time to use the gun defensively. If you’re shooting a Tomcat and haven’t practiced working with that heavy double-action pull, you’ll be in for a surprise.
Why I Still Love It
The Tomcat is just cool. I can nitpick a few more small things like the price and all you get for $600 is a single mag and a cardboard box, but I won’t. Well, I guess I already did. Anyway, I still love the Tomcat.
This specific model is suppressor ready and does suppress well. It’s ultra-small and checks the boxes for some of my favorite carry guns. It’s an all-metal, DA/SA, hammer-fired gun, and I love all those things. However, the overall execution does not make it a gun for everyone.
If you wanted a small, pocket-sized .32 ACP, I’d point you to the Keltec P32, which is about a third of the price. If that’s not for you, then the Seecamp offers the smallest experience in automatic handguns. If that still doesn’t work, the LCP 2 in 22LR is a great gun in .22LR that’s also lightweight and pocket-sized.
If you are a gun nerd like me, you’ll probably like the tomcat. It is just cool and unique in design. You might also wonder what the heck you’ll do with it. There are better guns for carry and better guns for shooting, but the Tomcat still shines as something unique and neat.
Even if it’s not so great to shoot.
