Has anyone had any bad experiences with the tomcat (.32 auto)?  I've been told it's a sweet little piece.  Any input would be appreciated.

I have one for concealment.

Okay, here is my experience, you asked the right guy:

I first purchased mine from a local dealer. It seemed to work well for initial inspection and operation. I then took it to the range and tested it out. It shot very well. I noticed the grips getting a little loose so I tightened them to snug. I shot some more and was quite impressed with its accuracy at 50 ft. After completing my shooting I took it home and removed the slide for cleaning. When I attempted to replace the slide it wouldn't pop back down into place. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked. I returned it to the store and they spent a week trying to contact Beretta.

Okay, so I don't really know how long it took them to get ahold of Beretta but they had it for about a week when they called me to come get a replacement. I noticed that the replacement was slightly different. Checking the Beretta web page I determined that I was originally given an earlier model and the new one was the latest design. CHECK THIS OUT. So the new one works very well with no repeat of the original failure yet. I really like cause it is very accurate for such a small pistol. Makes a great pocket-gun.

I would buy another but I'd make sure it was the latest design.

thanks retrodog.

I've had min for about a year now, and it is what I carry when I cannot carry my Glock-36. With the exception of the very first round through it, I have not had any jams with it. I attribute that to not cleaning and lubing it like I should, but just pulling it out of the box and shooting it, I have a bad habit of that. I found that with Win white box, I have some open groups, about 2 inches, at 25 feet, and they open a little more at 50, same with PMC. Now, with Corbon HP, I have literrally dime sized 7 shot groups at 25 feet, with the 8th round about a half inch high because of the double action pull on the trigger on the first shot. ( I practice like I carry )
Yesterday, after my PPC shoot, I was function testing a McGar spare mag I purchased, and shot two mags at 75 feet at a human silloetete target, I made all my body shots, and 4 out of 8 headshots, not bad for a 2.5 ind barrell using PMC.
I wouldn't hesitate reccomending one, but would also reccomend Corbon HP which are powerful for this size round, feed well, and seem to be accurate.

The Tomcat is what I carry when I can't carry my .357. It has been a very good gun so far. No problems at all.
Jim Hall

btt

i got one last year, there are really 2 different tomcats -- wide slide and thin slide -- i think the wide slide is the newer beefier gun, the newer gun should also have serrations on the front and rear of the grip.

it works great with no jams, only problem with mine is the rear site needs to drift over a bit to put it on the X ring. i suspect the factory mags are made by meC-gar.
some complain that the trigger pull is kinda heavy, but it should smooth up in time

your not supposed to shoot bullets over 71gr, becareful cuz the S&B is 73gr and are sometimes listed as 71gr

the alleycat is the same gun but with Ashley nite sites

A friend of mine was shooting one this weekend.

He put the index finger of his off hand on the front of the trigger guard (the way you normally would to steady your shot with ANY other hand gun.).

This put his index finger LESS THAN 1" from in front of the muzzle.

Beretta Tomcat??? NO THANK YOU.

Seems like I ought to run a 200 rounds of Silvertips (the ammo used in the Beretta ads for the Tomcat) through the little unit just to have some fun and make sure it's up to snuff.

Yeah, I like that idea.

IMHO I think that the newest version of this little pistol is a fine little weapon but I have not really tested it thoroughly.

UPDATE:

There is one other characteristic of this one that no one has mentioned yet. The dreaded slide -barely-missing-the-hand issue that so many little guns have. There is little clearance when the slide comes back. And it has nice little angled edges to boot. If you hold the gun correctly and extend your arm then you get plenty of clearance. If you hold it low like shooting from the hip, there may be a problem. I haven't tried it yet so I don't know.

Check it out.

If you're going to be using it for personal defense, make sure you are comfortable with a semi that doesn’t have an extractor.

Hey, 199 makes a good point that I forgot about.

There is no extractor. But the barrel flips up to allow removing a chambered round. It's a nice feature but I do sometimes miss the ability to pull the slide back and remove the round. Trying to do so on this gun will jam it up.

I guess that popping the barrel up is quieter though than pulling the slide back. You just gotta remember that it works like that.

Had mine about 3 years. Sent it back just before 1 year warranty ran out for broken firing(too much dry firing?). No other problems as long I use factory mags. Like Retodog said though, not much room when the slide comes back. I still have a scar on  my left thumb from the first time tried it.

you are NOT supposed to dry fire those guns

next time read the instructions

Have had mine for nearly 3 years.  Encountered several jams the first couple of times I took it out.  Finally figured out that your wrist has to be solid for it to function.  I can make mine jam within 10 shots if I limp wrist it.  Other than that it's been a great shooter being accurate and dependable.

At first I thought it may be ammo sensitive. But likes anything I feed it.