Learning from a friend
By MARJ LAW
One of the most enjoyable and interesting perks to writing about different handguns and range experiences is that many people invite me to shoot their guns. I’m always fascinated by new guns and old ones too.
The other day, Greg shared with me his Beretta 3032 Tomcat Inox .32 ACP at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range.
The Tomcat is tiny at 3.7 inches tall, 4.92 inches long and 1.1 inches wide. At 14.5 ounces, it’s actually light, even though the slide is stainless steel and the frame is aluminum. For such a small gun, it seems solid and almost heavy for its size.
Greg knows that Joe and I help out newbies and mature people on Wednesday mornings. So one day, he brings his Tomcat to the range. He knows that a lot of range visitors are looking for guns that are easy to handle. Some are arthritic and have hand problems. This can make it difficult to rack the slide. Some find loading a gun to be frustrating. Many are looking for a handgun that is easy to use with a light trigger and low recoil.
So, this day Greg shows me the Tomcat. It is different than any gun I’ve shot. The major difference is in loading.
Usually, when you have a semi-automatic, you load the magazine and then you have to rack the slide. (This means that you pull the slide toward you, which in turn moves a round up from the magazine and into the chamber.) Unfortunately, the act of manipulating the slide can be difficult. On some guns, this can require a lot of hand and arm strength. A lot of people don’t have the strength needed for their handguns.
The Tomcat, Greg demonstrates, has a barrel that tilts upward with the flip of a lever. Now, the barrel’s rear side is in the air. To load a round, you just pop it into the barrel. Push the barrel back down, and you can shoot that round.
Loading the magazine into the Tomcat is remarkably easy too.
“You can load the mag with one hand,” Greg says.
“How can you do that?” I wonder. “Your hands are a heck of a lot larger than mine.”
Greg takes the filled magazine. Placing his fingers on the top of the Tomcat’s slide, he pushes the mag in the grip with his thumb.
I’m not so sure that my hand is big enough to span the gun and load the magazine as well. However, it does work because the gun’s height is so short that, yes, you can hold the gun and load it at the same time.
Now, in most semi-automatics, once the magazine is loaded into the grip it’s time to rack the slide. The act of racking the slide moves a round into the chamber. But, with the Tomcat, you don’t rack the slide because you have already flipped up the barrel and poked a round in the chamber. This has negated the need to rack the slide, which makes the Tomcat easier to load than other handguns.
One of the first things a newbie will ask after “Is it hard to rack the slide?” is: “Does the gun have much recoil?” Even though this gun is very small, the stainless barrel and aluminum frame give it a heavier weight than most of the newer polymer guns. Weight and mass of a gun absorbs recoil, so the Tomcat has quite a soft recoil.
Next, we’ll hear: “Is it hard to pull the trigger?”
The Tomcat is a hammer-fired gun. It can be shot in either double or single-action. In double action, the trigger has to both cock and then release the hammer. In single action, the trigger just releases the hammer. So, if you cock the hammer first so the trigger doesn’t have to, you’ll find it much easier to pull the trigger. That’s single action. However, if you don’t first cock the hammer, you’re making the trigger work harder. That’s double action. And you’ll pay for it in trigger pull. Double action in the Tomcat means a long and very stiff trigger pull.
So, the answer is: “Trigger pull is fairly easy in single action when you’ve cocked the hammer first. Trigger travel is short and the pull is quite light.”
The Tomcat, therefore, is easy to load. It has low recoil. You don’t have to rack a slide. Once you cock the hammer, trigger pull is light and short.
This small handgun is not a distance gun. If you can shoot the target in the first position at 7.5 yards, that’s pretty good. If Mr. Bad has broken into your house with evil intent, it’s rare that he’ll be any further away than the 7.5 yards. Who has a hallway longer than that?
The Tomcat is single-stacked and holds 7 rounds in its magazine, with 1 loaded in its barrel. You can find handguns that hold more, but they’ll be larger and less concealable.
If you haven’t cocked the hammer and therefore the gun can only be shot in double action, it’s a safe gun to carry. It’s highly unlikely that a gun with a 10 to 15-pound trigger could go off without serious intent. The long hard trigger pull is a safety feature in itself, and the Tomcat also has a manual safety on the frame.
The Tomcat’s magazine release button is, for me, in an unusual spot. It’s located in the lower part of the grip, close to the back of the gun. When holding the Tomcat in my right hand, I’d probably dump the magazine by pushing the mag release button with my left thumb.
Besides being small, there isn’t much on the Tomcat that will snag on anything in purse or pocket. However, guns are more stable and less likely to be fouled by purse or pocket debris if fitted properly in a holster.
The Tomcat’s front sight is a slightly elevated rectangle, while the rear sight is a square with the top cut out. When you align the front and rear sights, you make a flat plane. When shooting, the bull’s-eye should sit directly in the middle of this flat plane.
Yes, the sights can be difficult to see as they’re all black and low. This is a close quarters defensive handgun. If you ever have to protect your life with it, you won’t have time to aim: you’ll just point and shoot. However, if you wish to create some muscle memory, you can take French white nail polish and highlight the sights to aid in practice.
You can always look up a gun on the internet, but holding it in your hands, loading it, and shooting it are entirely different than reading about it.
Thanks to our friend Greg, I had a great time learning about this tiny Tomcat at the WCSO range.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.