Let’s get something out of the way first: I’m an avid fan of my Italian-made Benelli shotgun, so the vast majority of my experience Shooting Italian shotguns is good. On the negative side, my Pietta made, Cimarron imported .357 mag colt clone SA was sold off due to the accuracy issues I had with that pistol. The only revolver I have ever sold off… I qualified and shot many “well used” M-9 Beretta pistols in my period of service as a Naval Officer - and I found it to be an adequate, reliable and accurate pistol, though of a design that I wasn’t overly fond of (DA/SA). Though my dislike of DA/SA is purely personal preference. So my experience with Italian made firearms is a mixed bag overall.

As many of you likely do not care; I am an erstwhile collector of Yugoslavian & Serbian pistols and of the .32 ACP caliber in general. The cheaper, the better. Why .32? Well of course this is the first, semi-auto cartridge developed by the Legendary John Moses Browning. It’s all not tacticool at all; euro, more humane round from a bygone era. No serious self-defense advocate would recommend you EDC the humble .32 ACP. (I don’t) That’s part of what I love about it - my Collecting a semi-obsolete caliber that is purely for fun and no practical reason. It on this pursuit that I succumbed to a “Black Friday” sale of a Beretta Tomcat “covert” (ie threaded barrel) 3032 .32 ACP. What could be better than a small mouse gun in an anemic caliber weapon th a giant supressor completely obscuring the fixed sights? While the pistol has yet to arrive; I have received the extra magazine I ordered for it.

I started loading it up with some agulia .32 ACP FMJ that I had lying around. After 3 rounds the magazine jammed up and I wasn’t able to get the bottom round back out at all; without completely dissembling magazine. I asked myself … why would a magazine not be able to feed a common loading of the ammo? So after reassembling the magazine I reloaded it with some PPU ammo that I just bought in quantity as the price had recently fallen to 19.95 (a great deal for this not quite “boutique” round.) Sure enough - no problem. I got my calipers out and sure the aguila was .98 OAL and the PPU was .96. I thought this a bizarre occurrence that the Aguila ammo functioned so well in my Zastava M-70 pistol & also upon inspection, the magazine had much more space for OAL of Cartridge. The Tomcat magazine is pretty much only is enough space for a maximum Cartridge OAL of .96. I’m also willing to bet that a larger .32 caliber Beretta like the model 81 has a better magazine design. However, I haven’t got my hands on one of those gems yet.

I get that it’s a purposely diminutive magazine sized for a mouse gun with an ironic name of “tomcat.” Having exterminated many, many raccoons with .38 specials, .22s, etc. I would not think it reliable to cleanly kill a “cat-sized” creature (raccoon). And I will definitely leave an mousing up to my two beloved, feline tomcats.

I eagerly await my ridiculous, impulsive purchase of my Italian Tomcat to do a full review. One of the things I’m intrigued to try out is the “tip up” barrel feature for chambering the first round. I imagine it’s fairly cumbersome with a suppressor equal to the weight of the pistol? And my experience with Berettas being good enough I figured let’s give it a go.


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I have a Beretta 3032 Tomcat in 32 ACP. It's very concealable and I especially like the pop up barrel for loading that last round. I agree though that a Beretta 81 would be a much more comfortable shooter, the Tomcat is small and very concealable, but it's a small frame for 32 ACP or 380 ACP.

highdesert wrote:I have a Beretta 3032 Tomcat in 32 ACP. It's very concealable and I especially like the pop up barrel for loading that last round. I agree though that a Beretta 81 would be a much more comfortable shooter, the Tomcat is small and very concealable, but it's a small frame for 32 ACP or 380 ACP.

Thanks for chiming in. I can’t wait to shoot it.

I found this video which discusses most of the pluses and minuses of the Bobcat & Tomcat. Also compares the pistol to similar sized pocket pistols.

https://youtu.be/qxMxC-i2n0U


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I applaud your .32 collection; BRAVO! The more guns you own just for the pure enjoyment of shooting, the better. People get way too tied up in defense... Shooting can be a whole lot of fun!

Last weekend my son and I grabbed two old Winchester pump action .22 rifles, drove out into the desert to just shoot at rocks. Just pick out a rock that's way too far for an open sight .22 and see who hits it first. We burned through a brick of ammo pretty fast, and went home with HUGE smiles on our faces.

INVICTVS138 wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 12:56 pm

highdesert wrote:I have a Beretta 3032 Tomcat in 32 ACP. It's very concealable and I especially like the pop up barrel for loading that last round. I agree though that a Beretta 81 would be a much more comfortable shooter, the Tomcat is small and very concealable, but it's a small frame for 32 ACP or 380 ACP.

Thanks for chiming in. I can’t wait to shoot it.

I found this video which discusses most of the pluses and minuses of the Bobcat & Tomcat. Also compares the pistol to similar sized pocket pistols.

https://youtu.be/qxMxC-i2n0U


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Thanks for the very good video link. I agree with the reviewer the Bobcat would be the most pleasant to shoot since they're small pistols. It's not on the CA Roster so it can't be purchased new here. The only 3032 Tomcat available here is in stainless, I purchased mine earlier with the black aluminum frame. One caveat is don't dry fire them without a snap cap, I had to replace a firing pin because I made that mistake. I have a Galco IWB holster that is very concealable, it has the factory grips which work for me.

I finally showed up at my FFL. Loaded, it’s just a hair heavier than my S&W 642. I hope to be able to sneak off to the range in the next week or so to have some fun with it! I’m definitely going to order some pierce grip extensions as they definitely help me shoot these pocket autos better. Not as necessary for a JFrame as I can get my grip much higher with no exposed hammer or slide.


You can see how much finish has worn off my 642; as you can see it gets carried a lot, and shot almost every time or at least every other time I go to the range.


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Is that button on the grip of the Tomcat the mag release? Seems like it's gotta be. Odd place for a mag release.
But what about the Cheeta? I hardly hear anything about them.

tonguengroover wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2022 9:29 am Is that button on the grip of the Tomcat the mag release? Seems like it's gotta be. Odd place for a mag release.
But what about the Cheeta? I hardly hear anything about them.

I bet that's the tip-up barrel release. Mag is a heel release.

tonguengroover wrote:Is that button on the grip of the Tomcat the mag release? Seems like it's gotta be. Odd place for a mag release.
But what about the Cheeta? I hardly hear anything about them.

You never hear anything about the (81 & 84) cheetah Becuase it’s by our modern standards, kind of a large pistol for .380 or .32. More of a small holster gun than either a pocket pistol or a duty sized or subcompact. However, that’s what makes it nice to shoot. To me: We are in the age where every new pistol design has to be a max capacity for size 9mm, tactical do all. The cheetah is from a bygone era.


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INVICTVS138 wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2022 9:50 am

Dang. Totally misread the original question. Least I got the tip-up barrel part right.

Huge group but considering that I couldn’t line the shots up on the target as the back of the suppressor totally obscured the sights not too bad (all were on paper.) As expected —-.32 ACP is an absolute joy to shoot suppressed. Quiet & no recoil with both JHPs & FMJs. Even the forward weight of the suppressor was fine as the pistol has almost no barrel protrusion. The DA trigger is sweet.

So far, the 3032 Tomcat is a winner in my book.


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