IF YOU OWN A BERETTA TOMCAT - Check for frame crack!

A Magnum Opus on heavy loads for the .32 ACP < for use in suitably strong, STEEL framed guns> is being submitted soon for The Fouling Shot, but important safety information needs to get out now and not wait for publication!

My advice is to severely limit loads producing over 130 ft.-lbs. to occasional/emergency use only in micro pistols like the Beretta Tomcat for two reasons: 

1) because they may cause serious “slide bite” if you have meaty hands and don't use a Hogue Grip Sleeve, as I painfully found out. And 

2) after prolonged firing, they are “frame crackers.” 

My Beretta Model 3032 INOX Tomcat until recently had digested over 2000 rounds of hot Euro and heavy bullet hand loads before eventually failing. 

If you own a Beretta Tomcat, open the tip-up barrel and inspect the frame rail above the trigger pivot hole for cracks, as shown in the photo. 

Beretta doesn't “repair or replace” these any more, nor do they warrant them for use with hand loads or ammunition which exceeds 130 ft.-lbs. manufacturer's rating. 

If you choose to use “hot” loads in yours, then you are on “your own nickel.”

I will continue to use my Tomcat as a teaching tool to demonstrate the advantages of the tip-up barrel for women or elderly who have trouble racking the slide, but any shooting will be VERY limited from now on, with more sedate loads than my hand loaded “Buffalo Bore” approximations. 

I still have no reservations firing the heavy .32 ACP loads in STEEL FRAME, standard sized guns such as the Colt M1903, Walther PP, Beretta M1935, CZ27, etc., replacing recoil springs with the heavier Wolff .380 ACP replacements where available.