How Can You Tell A Widebody Beretta Tomcat?

[BruiseLee]

I bought a .32 ACP 3032 Beretta Tomcat off a friend about a year and a half ago. I've been reading here at THR about how Beretta came out with wider, thicker guns due to cracking. But, I've never seen any photos of what these beefier guns look like. Nor have I seen any detailed explanations of exactly what the differences are between these widebodies and the original Tomcats.

Of course, it would also be nice if they gave us the serial numbers where they made the switch to the widebodies. I've gone to the Beretta web page, but I couldn't find any information there.

So, does anyone out there have any DETAILED information on how you can tell a widebody Tomcat from an early production Tomcat?

Just so you know, my friend had to send his first Tomcat back to the factory because it was totally unreliable. The gun I bought off him has been very reliable and accurate. It handles nicely, and to me the sights are pretty good for a mouse gun. I had a Beretta Jetfire.25 too, and that was a surprisingly accurate little gun. I could actally hit metal plates at 25 yards with it - too bad the plates barely moved when I hit 'em.

Bruise

 

[tiberius]

I can tell you this. My Tomcat was purchaed in 1998 and is definitely NOT a wide body. According to my digital calipers:

Slide: 0.914"
frame: 0.618"

If yours is thicker, it must be a widebody... I guess

 

[BruiseLee]

Using an old fashion ruler and my rather limited math skills, I came up the the following measurements for my Tomcat:

Slide: 0.875"

Frame: 0.625"

Frame + Grips: 1 3/32"

So, it definitely doesn't look like I have a widebody. Bummer. Thanks, Tiberius for taking the time to measure your Tomcat for me.

Bruise

 

[Nick96]

The Tomcat's are failry large for "mouse guns". I wouldn't think a MM or fraction of an ounce or two would matter. That said, I'd really like to get one. But I don't like the skinny SA/DA trigger. My chubby diget folds over the skinny trigger and prevents DA ignition. I'd get one in a heart beat if they made it along the lines of the SA 950 Jetfire (the best of the mouse gun breed in my opinion).

 

[tiberius]

No problem, as it happened both my calipers and Tomcat were on my desk when I saw your post so it only took about 1 minute.


I thought that someone who really new the Berettas would have chimmed in by now.

I do like the Berettas, but ever since I aquired a P-32 (and recently a P-3AT) I don't carry it anymore.

 

[BruiseLee]

Widebody Owners, Where Are You?

Yeah, I was kinda hoping someone out there with one of the newer production Tomcats would've contributed to the thread by now. I know some of the newer ones have a higher visibility sights/front post. Looks a little more prone to snag when drawing, though.

You know, I don't think I've ever read a post where someone actually cracked their gun while shooting it. Plus, the Tomcat is already kinda big for what it is, so maybe it's a good thing I don't have one that is even larger.

Bruise