Beretta Tomcat EDC Everyday Carry Concealed

For lots of carriers, if they can’t carry something small, they won’t carry anything at all. Mark packs the ultra-concealable, under-appreciated Beretta Tomcat .32ACP pistol.

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34 COMMENTS

      • I’ve never actually seen a Seecamp in the wild. It’s a unicorn.

        Hard cast lead for .32? Make a hell of a load in bear country.

        • I don’t know about you, JWM, but I don’t plan on ever pointing a gun at a bear unless it is at least a MINIMUM of 10mm in semi-auto or .44 Magnum in a revolver with hard-cast ammo (preferably made by ‘Buffalo Bore’) in either.

          This boy won’t point a .32 ACP at ANY bear in ANY situation…

        • OK, Geoff. Here’s a scenario. Me and you are walking in the woods and a pack of rabid bears attack. Quick as Wild Bill I pull my .32 acp and shoot you in both knees.

          Then I go and console your widow and help her decide what to do with your life insurance policy.

          .32 acp is the perfect round for bear country.

        • You’re one cold, heartless bastard JWM.

          I knew I liked you…

          *Snicker* 😉

        • My grandfather actually pocket carries a seecamp, bought him a molded leather desantis for it a few years back.

        • Geoff,
          “I knew I liked you”
          Just don’t go hunting with him, unless your wearing armor, especially around the kneecaps!

        • JWM you’ll have to take care of me before you discuss the life insurance situation with his wife. I’d probably be there, I am the guy who does his wife when he’s not home.

      • Gotta throw in a plug for North American Arms here: their Guardian is a dead ringer for the Seecamp, isn’t too hard to come by and has actual sights. It’s also available in my favorite oddball chamberings: .32 NAA and .25 NAA.

        Okay – don’t get one in those sizes… that’s just too weird…
        🤠

    • If you’re going to carry a .32 ACP, my Kel-Tec P-32 has been very reliable. Trigger is about on par with a typical DA-only revolver, which means it’s fine for me — I shoot revolvers all the time. P-32 is +P rated, not that you find a lot of +P .32 ACP.

      My wife tried mine along with a bunch of my other handguns and wanted a P-32 of her own.

      It’s ridiculously comfortable to shoot for such a small gun. No recoil. Only complaint my wife has is the grip is too small. Bought her some 10-round extended mags and now she’s good to go — can get a full grip on it. Plus, 10+1 is great when the rounds you are shooting are so small. Make it up in volume.

      The sights are rudimentary, but it’s not a target pistol.

      Just shoot FMJ. Hoping for expansion in a round that slow and light is … optimistic.

  2. What’s that at the lower right, a bracelet? Looks like it could double for a set of brass knuckles.

  3. I HAVE ONE W/ CRACKED FRAME ….BERETTA WOULD NOT REPLACE OR REPAIR ….TOLD TO DISCARD THE FIREARM….I BET THERE’S NOT 100 RNDS THROUGH IT…

  5. Like the load out. But….32 acp vs. .380 acp.? Had a .32 a looong time ago, nice to shoot, low recoil but ammo was an issue. Europe likes .32. But which is more practical given improvements to .380?

  6. Interesting choice.
    We don’t see many Tomcat tippping barrel pistols here.
    I am surprised that other manufacturers don’t make a gun with a tipping barrel marketed to women.
    The first round is put in the chamber without needing to rack the slide.

    • Taurus has their PT22. Once upon a time they made a .25acp as well. I’ve a Beretta 950 sitting in front of me right now – my “summer gun”, I call it.
      If Beretta was smart, I’d suggest they bring back the 86 Cheetah for a while to compete with the Smith&Wesson 380 EZ and the Walther PK380 – for folks with too much money who want an easy-to-use and beautiful piece for the lady in their life.
      🤠

  7. I have a Taurus 380 that weighs 12.2 oz. with full mag, and 8.8 oz. without mag. The info I could find say’s the Thomaskitty weighs 14 oz. Don’t know if that’s loaded or not, but gun weights are usually given with unloaded gun.
    Considering the added power of the Taurus, plus the lighter weight, I guess I wont be looking for any used Tomcats. I do think they are a nice little gun though. I especially like the way the barrel tips up, no hard to rack slide.

  10. I love the look of the pistol, and I like shooting 32 ACP quite a bit. The price and reliability questions have always scared me off a bit from buying a Tomcat, though.

  11. Beretta made a version of the Tomcat they called the Alleycat. It had XS Big dot sight on it and that was the only change. Just that one enhancement made the pistol noticably better. The Tomcat could really be a better firearm but Beretta doesn’t seem interested in improving it. I’ve always liked the Beretta model 84 and 85 but the price doesn’t make sense to me. In my area those pistols range in the $650-750 range.

  13. The Beretta “cat” pistols (ie, the .22LR, .25 ACP and .32 ACP) tip-ups aren’t Beretta’s best showing, by any criterion. They’re small – OK, they got that going for them. They’re not terribly expensive, so… well…

    But their triggers are harsh and need either expert attention or lots of “break in” to feel like something better than dragging a garden rake through railroad ballast. They shouldn’t be carried with the hammer cocked.

    They fill a niche, I suppose, but I think that niche could be better filled by a very small frame revolver. Carrying a .25 ACP is worse than carrying a handgun in .22LR with modern ammo, so I’d give that option a complete miss these days.

  14. I had an old Beretta Minx chambered in .22short. I got it used with no magazine, spent two years looking for a magazine before finally finding one. I loved it. Super fun little pistol. I even got it a little case for it! Then I foolishly left it and my tools in my car one too many times. Some punk from the school nearby probably saw it and smashed out my car window then stole it. Seriously, who the hell steals a gun slightly bigger than one’s palm, and a fraction more powerful than a pellet gun? I filled out a police report and never heard anything more about my little Pew Pew. I miss that little gun.

  15. The original Tomcat had some slide cracking issues. Beretta modified the gun, and made it thicker. Dunno if the modified version has the cracking issues.

  16. I have one of the heavy slide blue Tomcats, it’s always been 100% for me. The trigger on mine is not bad at all. The trick to not cracking the frame is not to shoot the hotter European ammo, and to not let the slide slam closed on an empty chamber.
    It’s not a heavy use range gun though. I just shoot it enough to keep proficient and carry it when a bigger gun is not possible.
    I don’t think I would go out and buy one, there are better options for its niche, but I got mine in trade.

  17. I never noticed before, but the safety location on the Tomcat is weird as heck: a button low on the left side of the grip. If you’re left-handed, I bet it’s easy to squeeze that a bit too hard. 🙁

    • That is the magazine release.
      The safety lever is in the normal location, it is rather small on older models, but a nice size on the newer ones.

  18. I have an Alley cat. I carry it as a backup, but there are times in hot weather where I just slip it in my front pocket in a custome made wallet like holster. Works great, but as stated if your a lefty like me the mag release gets pushed by accident. I have gotten into the habit of always checking the mag is not disengaged, and developed a way to draw while checking the mag. It takes some practice.

    I came Accross a page that gave real world shooting statistics for most pistol calibers, and it stated the 32 had a 69% one shot stop, so I figure a few well placed shots ups that percentage. That is if those stats are correct. Not my first choice, but a good Caliber to have in a small pistol for those times you need something small. I have had it for awhile. Before all of the 380 offerings. That may be my next purchase. That mag release is really in a bad place for a lefty.
    I had a NAA 32acp that I had them put the gutter night sights on as well as the rounding treatment where all the edges are rounded so as not to snag. Same reason as the gutter sights.
    The old man fell in love with it so I gave it to him, and got the baretta.

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