Beretta 3032 vs Kel Tec P32

amd6547 said:

The Beretta Tomcat .32 has a history of cracked frames, or I would own one
Kel Tec for the win, in this case

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I have one with the cracked frame.
Called Beretta and they said "too bad".
They finally gave me the name of a gunsmith somewhere they said did their warranty work, I called him and he had no idea what I was talking about.
Maybe I just got the Beretta idiot on the phone, but their customer service was the worst I've ever dealt with.
I vote Kel Tec if I was going to pocket carry a .32
Oh, I still have the Beretta, I broke off the cracked piece so the slid wouldn't catch it and so far, it works. I don't shoot it very often, and It'll never be a carry gun.

I own two Kel-tec P32s, the first gen, "his & hers" as my wife keeps the one with her. I've had mine for 20 years, bought as soon as they came out. Bought "hers" 3 years later.

Many hundreds of .32ACP down the range. No misfires, no rim lock. Suggest FMJ or BUff Bore hard cast WFN to get sufficient penetration.

So tiny & light, with tiny recoil. Mine has hte finish worn off the slide. I ought to get some sort of finish solution from Brownells and give it another finish. Probably going to buy my wife's a Crimson Trace laser deal.

I also own a Beretta 21A, the Tomcat's little brother. Good quality piece, I just have not carried it since I bought my P32, as the P32 is lighter and smaller.

toivo said:

Kel-Tec. I have never heard of a P32 with a cracked frame. Has Beretta solved that problem yet? I've heard many tales of unhappy Tomcat owners who were left high and dry when their frames cracked.

Theoretically the Tomcat should be a more durable gun. For what it costs, it certainly should be. The Kel-Tec won't last forever either, but its warranty should keep you happy.

The best-of-both-worlds option would be the .32 version of the Beretta Pico, which was promised at the initial launch but never spoken of again. My understanding was that it was meant to replace the Tomcat, but then, I don't speak Italian.

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I have always thought the Beretta Pico was not launched simply because the Pico is already such a mild shooter. It also shoots 380 so reliably that not sure the gun or heavier slide would do the same with 32.cal.
Why I owned LCP's that had mutliple cracks, I do not believe the Keltec will suffer with 32 cal. Personally I do not think either the LCP or Keltec 380 were meant to shoot the higher pressures of 380. 32.cal is ideal for the type of build they are.

TTv2 said:

If this is the way Beretta customer service is, I'm gonna say "fuggedaboudit" on the 3032 and also the Px4 subcompact I have way in the back of my mind.

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I wouldn't write them off altogether. For example, with a Model 92 you'd probably never need anything from their customer service department.

Beretta customer service is great . I had a small problem with a gun, called them, got a mailing label right away. Gun was actually picked up at my house, and delivered to my house. Took about 5 days.

I carried a Kel-Tech P32 for 15 yrs. and recently went to the Taurus TCP .380. I really like the P32, it never failed to fire and was accurate and easy to shoot. Back when I bought the piece it was the standard blued slide. Kel-Tec was offering hard chrome slides for $15 and I jumped on that and never regretted it in the humid summers of Kentucky. I did do the basic fluff and buff as soon as I purchased the pistol. I still have it in the same Desanti pocket holster that I bought in 2001.

I have a Keltec .32. It is tiny to carry and does not have the kick of the various dwarf .380s.
I can (DO!) have a midget 9mm for the bulk of the Beretta .32. Yes, it kicks, but seems less disagreeable than the even smaller .380s.

toivo said:

I wouldn't write them off altogether. For example, with a Model 92 you'd probably never need anything from their customer service department.

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That's true.
I was disappointed that they refused to service a widely known issue.

Ratshooter you might want to check here for your Zastava 32.

I should add to my criticism of Beretta, the Tomcat was the only one I had problems with, the rest of my Berettas work fine.

I went with the Kel-Tec for pocket carry. For such a small DAO pistol it shoots well.

sarge83 writes:

I carried a Kel-Tec P32 for 15 yrs. and recently went to the Taurus TCP .380. I really like the P32, it never failed to fire and was accurate and easy to shoot. Back when I bought the piece it was the standard blued slide. Kel-Tec was offering hard chrome slides for $15 and I jumped on that and never regretted it in the humid summers of Kentucky.

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This is getting to be me in a way. I've recently been phasing in a TCP to replace the P32 as a BUG. The TCP is the first of the micro-.380 guns to offer a last-shot slide-lock, and that was one of a few factors I'd taken into consideration in choosing the P32 in the first place (the other two being faster follow-up shots due to lighter snap, and a higher capacity.) I've been switching to weak-side belt carry for my BUG (from a front pocket), and the TCP is easier to get good purchase on for a draw, especially with a fingertip extension on the magazine. When I do carry in a pocket, it's the P32 all the way.

As mentioned above, my primary EDC has been a PF9, and I also swapped out the slide for one of KT's hard-chromed ones. The blued one was certainly handsome, but only lasted two Florida summers before rust began to set in.

TTv2 said:

I've heard of the Beretta 3032 having issues with frame and slide cracking, that's turned me off of them for years,

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Operative word would be "had" issues with the frame/slide cracking. The company rather quickly attended to that issue after a year or so from introduction, and the later models did not suffer the problems.


My only experience with Kel-Tec was the P11, and it was garbage. Literally could not get through two consecutive magazines without malfunctions and requiring immediate cleaning.

My Tomcat, on the other hand, is a cool little pistol. Yes, someone chunky for the caliber (especially considering recent advances in pistol production), but the tip-up barrel is a great feature (especially for some women or elderly folk who have trouble racking slides).

amd6547 said:

The Beretta Tomcat .32 has a history of cracked frames, or I would own one
Kel Tec for the win, in this case

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So you've never owned one, nor apparently paid attention to what the company did to rectify early issues.

The internet for the win, in this case.

If you get a good k/t that works it should serve you well. I have carried one for about 20 years & shot it over a thousand times & the only problem was a peened firing pin which k/t sent me a new one. I tried the Beretta and found the grip to be way too thick for my pockets. The k/t just disappears with zero printing. Just stay away from short rounds especially in the k/t so you don't get a rim lock. You can avoid rl with short rounds by putting one in the pipe & one on top of the mag.

The tip-up Beretta pistols, like the 3032, have an unusual design and a very unusual manual of arms. The manual of arms for these pistols is not necessarily a problem, but anyone considering these pistols for serious purposes should be aware of how they work.

The Beretta 3032 Tomcat has no extractor, which means that there is no hook on the slide to extract a case when the slide is pulled back. When the pistol fires, the brass is pushed out of the chamber by the pressure of firing, then the brass hits the ejector, and is ejected clear of the pistol.

You will sometimes hear people say that a blowback action semi-auto does not need an extractor in order to function, because the pressure of firing is sufficient to drive the spent brass out of the chamber. So the only reason an extractor is necessary is to clear unfired rounds out of the chamber. And this is why the tip-up pistols can be built without an extractor. On these pistols, you can remove unfired rounds by tipping the barrel up.

However, this is where the manual of arms gets strange. Without an extractor, tipping the barrel up is the ONLY way to remove brass from the chamber besides firing it. So the standard ways to resolve a misfire will not work. If you get a misfire, and you rack the slide, you will get a double feed every time. The round in the chamber will remain in place, and the slide will still try to chamber the next round.

So if you get a click instead of a bang, you MUST tip the barrel up, remove the round, then close the barrel and rack the slide. Or, if you have a loose round handy, you can tip the barrel up, remove the dud round, manually insert another round, and then close the barrel.

Overall, I don't think the unusual function of the tip-up barrel Beretta is a total deal breaker, but I am not a fan either. These guns can be a fit for someone with hand issues, since it is never necessary to rack the slide. But anyone considering these pistols should be aware of exactly how to operate them. And I think most people are better served by a pistol that works just like every other semi-auto pistol.

cfullgraf said:

But, I kind of like my Colt 1903 for 32 ACP but it is larger than either.

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I have one of those also. It is my carry for formal attire since I can't find a PPK.

Which again begs the question, has anyone, anywhere actually seen a new Tomcat on the dealers shelf recently?

The brilliance of the .32 is in the ability to carry a 6 oz pistol. To me the berretta gives up this advantage. In the prototipical "3-3-3" shooting (3 shots in 3 seconds at 3 feet) the .32 is quite adequate.

I’ve spent a lot of time on Beretta forum and read a lot about the Tomcat and Beretta’s poor response. The frame cracking issue was well known on the forum for a couple years, yet a guy would call Beretta about his cracking, and Beretta customer service acted like they never heard of such a thing. And yes, I have heard of the newer fat Tomcats cracking in the same way.
I love Beretta firearms, but their warranty is an embarrassment.

amd6547 said:

And yes, I have heard of the newer fat Tomcats cracking in the same way

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Ditto.
Not as many, it seems, but still happening.

Neat gun but something ain't right when you consider that the keltec is anorexic as compared to the tomcat and the keltec seems more durable or at least as durable.

danez71 said:

Neat gun but something ain't right when you consider that the keltec is anorexic as compared to the tomcat and the keltec seems more durable or at least as durable.

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I think the Keltec 32 has a locked breech action, while the Beretta is a blowback. In a blowback action, the pressure of the round is contained by the weight of the slide and the strength of the rebound spring. Whereas, in a locked breech action, the slide and barrel stay locked together until the pressure drops. So blowback actions tend to impart a lot more energy to the slide. This might explain why the Keltec can be a lot lighter and still be stronger.

Note that locked breech designs are pretty uncommon in small caliber pistols, since blowback guns are simpler to manufacture. I am sure there must be other locked breech .32 ACP pistols, but I can't think of any.

I think the Tomcat is a neat little 32. And it’s fun to shoot. But when you compare it to a baby .380, well it doesn’t seem like much of a comparison.

Is there any reliable information about whether the cracked-frame issue has been finally resolved by Beretta? I want to like the Tomcat; I'm a fan of .32 ACP, and I like the form factor of a small gun with a chunky grip. For me it would be a minimalist belt gun rather than a pocket gun. But I don't want to spend that kind of money and end up with an unfixable paperweight.