UPDATE2 - December 18, 2009
If you do have a cracked frame, Call Beretta and insist they send you a shipper - offer to pay for it. It's got to be much less expensive than FedEx. Beretta does not care how much it costs you to send a gun to them. If your gun is less than 1 year old they will probably send you an INOX Tomcat for free. Dec 28, 2019 That's a very good point. Beretta is indeed a reputable manufacturer. They certainly do not want to get hundreds or even thousands of these pistols back for repair. Some of the issues with those frame cracks may have been caused by using + P loads or even heavier loads of which the pistols are not designed for. Welcome to Beretta USA, the official online store for the #1 firearm manufacturer in the World. Shop online for a collection of our firearms as well as clothes/accessories.
To hell with it!I have no more time or patience to deal with Beretta's maze of obfuscation, which you run in to whether on the computer or on the phone.
This Tomcat I'm disgusted with will be the last Beretta product I buy. My advice to anyone happening upon these words is to look elsewhere. Beretta has always been a good brand in my eyes, but no more.
UPDATE - December 18, 2009:
I took this little Beretta Tomcat shooting this morning, after having thought the problem of the stuck safety was fixed, but no.
After shooting just 40 rounds, the safety is stuck again. It is possible to free it from the OFF (down) position by the use of a small glasses screwdriver as shown in the last picture below, but I did not disassemble the pistol this time and the safety gets stuck in the OFF (down) position every time.
I will post Beretta's response. [See above. There's nothing to post.]
This little story gets around to the trouble I had with the safety on a Beretta Tomcat 3032 pistol. It started when my son and I purchased one of these little guns for my wife a couple of years ago. It was my fault that we purchased the Beretta over my son's preferred Kel Tek P32. I was swayed by my lack of familiarity with Kel Tek, my favorable impression of Beretta, the tip-up barrel and the heavier frame (which I thought would help with recoil).
I should have listened to my son, who has known far more than me about guns ever since he was ten years old. My bad. Sorry Eddie.
It turned out that the Beretta was not to my wife's liking because it was just too hard for her to operate. Racking the slide, closing the tip-up barrel, operating the safety and even opening the tip-up barrel all required too much force for her to enjoy shooting this little pistol, so my son and I reclaimed it and got something else for my wife.
All in all, the Beretta Tomcat 3032 that we bought has been a disappointment, largely because of the problems I had with the safety mechanism, which seems to reflect a design or materials flaw of some sort.
Shortly after we bought the little pistol for my wife, the safety lever got stuck in the OFF position. Nothing we tried would free the lever, so we took it to a local gun shop where there is a gunsmith we like and trust. The pistol never even reached our gunsmith, though, because the shop wouldn't work on it. I don't recall exactly why not, but the reason had something to do with Beretta policies. We had the gun shop mail the Tomcat to Beretta for warranty repair.
When the Tomcat came back the safety lever worked again, but in very short order the same problem occurred again. Nothing we did would free up the safety, which remained stuck in the OFF position. I cursed Beretta and put the thing away, and only took it shooting once since then.
Last night I came across the pistol as we were getting ready to go shooting today, and I decided to try to deal with the stuck safety one last time.
Here's a picture of the pistol. You can make out the safety lever in the upper right, shown in the OFF positon because the lever was stuck.
The following picture shows the safety lever in more detail, and you can see the red 'safety off' indicator.
Following is an extract from the owner's manual showing three of the four parts involved in the mis-operation of the safety lever.
It's a little hard to visualize how part number 25, the safety lever, relates to the pictures I'm posting of the pistol, but consider that the schematic drawing is rotated 180 degrees about its up/down axis relative to the position of the pistol in the pictures I'm posting. In the schematic, the images are on the far side of the pistol, which would be pointed to the right. The long, downward-pointing shaft on part 25, the safety lever, traverses the frame of the pistol. Spring 27 fits into a small hole in the main body of the safety lever 25, and safety plunger 26 fits into the spring, which pushes the plunger up against a Safety Plunger Contact Pin shown in the picture below.
Sorry, it looks like you might have to click on the pictures to show them in a bigger size in order to be able to read the red text that attempts to explain what is shown.
In the picture above, the safety is OFF (rotated down).
In the picture below, the safety is ON (rotated up). Note in the picture below that the tip of the Safety Plunger (part 26) is visible, whereas it is not seen in the picture above because it is rotated to a position underneath the Safety Plunger Contact Pin. In the picture below, you can see the tip of the Safety Plunger because the safety is in the ON position (rotated up), and the Safety Plunger has rotated to a position above the Safety Plunger Contact Pin.
So, you can see how, when you rotate the safety back and forth between the OFF (down) position and the ON (up) position, the Safety Plunger (part 26) has to slide past the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, in the process compressing the Safety Plunger Spring (part 27), which releases after rotation is complete in order to secure the safety lever in its new position.
Here's another picture that might further clarify things, in which the safety lever has again been placed in the OFF (down) position, and the Safety Plunger is no longer visible, having been rotated back underneath the Safety Plunger Contact Pin:
As I was Googling this problem I came across forum posts in which people said they had lost the Safety Plunger while trying to deal with their pistol's issues, so I was aware the thing might take off. I was very careful about that when I removed the grip to try to get at whatever ailed the safety. Sure enough, the damned Safety Plunger came out anyway, but at least it landed right on the table where I could see it.
Fortunately, now that I think I know what the problem is, it should not be necessary to disassemble the thing to this extent to get the safety lever to work if it is stuck.
If the safety lever is stuck in the OFF position, it should be possible to free it by pushing on it with a small instrument of some sort as illustrated in the picture below.
You can't see the tip of the Safety Plunger when the safety is OFF (lever down), but by carefully feeling around for the Safety Plunger as shown above, applying a little pressure to push down the Saftey Plunger, and simultaneously applying reasonable upward force on the safety lever, you should be able to free the safety lever.
I think what's happened is that either the Safety Plunger tip, or the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, or both, are insufficiently polished and/or insufficiently hardened, and until they are polished enough by repeated rotation of the safety lever there is too much friction, which effectively locks the safety lever in the OFF position because one is reluctant to apply more force to the lever for fear of breaking something. As it was, I don't think I could have exerted much more force on the safety lever without a pair of pliers (which would probably have been a stupid thing to try).
I suppose the problem could be something else entirely, but clearly, there is an issue for Beretta to deal with. Maybe it's a manufacturing defect in my particular gun, where the Safety Plunger hole is drilled at the wrong angle. Maybe the Safety Plunger wasn't machined correctly, but then why didn't they catch that when they worked on this gun? Maybe the Safety Plunger Contact Pin is not positioned correctly in the frame due to some manufacturing issue. Maybe the Safety Plunger Spring is too strong. Whatever.
I don't know, but it seems that the safety lever on this particular Beretta Tomcat is now working correctly as a function of repeated rotations having polished the contact points of the Safety Plunger and the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, thereby reducing friction between them to an acceptable level.
Beretta Tomcat Frame Cracking Issue
I hope this was a unique circumstance with this one pistol, but that seems unlikely at the moment. I know I could have benefited from a post like this as I searched the Internet, so here it is in case anybody else has this problem.
Beretta, you owe me.
CoronaVirus Update - 6/1/2020 Service centers are open with limited staffingat Beretta USA. Refer to list below for details. Sorry for any inconvenience. Beretta USA currently has five service centers available to consumers and dealers located in the United States. These service centers are fully equipped to handle general maintenance and service requirements as well as warranty repairs for Beretta, Sako, and Tikka firearms as indicated below. | ||
Beretta USA values all of our customers, and as such, repairs are made in the order in which received, to ensure repairs are made in a timely fashion. We cannot, under any circumstances, move any repair service to the front of the queue. We appreciate your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. | ||
Facility | Contact Information | Firearms Supported |
Beretta USA Corp. | Phone: (800) 237 3882 (1-800-Beretta) Ext. 2003 Web Site | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns RepairTurnaround Time: 4-6 weeks, for the quickest service please select another location. |
Cole Gunsmithing Inc.(Maine Facility) 21 Bog Hollow Road Harpswell, ME 04079 Region Served: Northeastern United States | Phone: (207) 833-5027 | Shotguns Only. Specializing in repair of current and obsolete over-under and semi automatic model shotguns. No service for handguns or rifles. Repair Turnaround Time: 3 weeks |
Cole Gunsmithing Inc.(Florida Facility) 5740 Shirley Street Naples, FL 34109 Regions Served: US for DT-10s and Wood Please call for shipping instructions. | Phone: (239) 352-0345 Fax: (239) 352-0345 Web Site | Shotguns Only. Specializing in premium shotgun repair ( SO/ ASE/ DT-10) and repair of all over under models, current and obsolete; BL, 680 series etc. No service for handguns or rifles. Repair Turnaround Time: 2 weeks |
Gunsmithing, LTD. 2530 Post Road, #3 Lacey Place Southport, CT 06890 Region Served: Mid-Atlantic United States | Phone: (203) 254 0436 Fax: (203) 254 1535 | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns, UGB25s & Premium Grade Shotguns |
Midwest Gun Works, Inc 1101 Mason Circle Drive South Pevely, MO, 63070 Region Served: Central United States | Phone: (636) 475-7300 Mac find stored passwords. Find a MAC cosmetics near you with our makeup store locator, and explore the latest beauty trends and makeup products we have to offer. Find an Apple Store and shop for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Sign up for Today at Apple programs. Or get support at the Genius Bar. | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns. Parts and service for Beretta vintage model (non-current) firearms. |
Bolsa Gunsmithing 7404 Bolsa Ave Westminster, California, 92683 Region Served: Western United States, Alaska and Hawaii | Phone: (714) 894 9100 Fax: (714) 898 9164 Web Site | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns |
Repair Turnaround Time is calculated on the average time from receipt until repair when parts are available. Specific turnaround times may vary based upon parts and labor availability.
Beretta Tomcat Cracked Frame Fix For Free
Wood Stocks and Forends: If you require a forend only, please contact Midwest Gun Works regarding availability. If you require a stock or both, please contact Beretta USA. Stocks are replaced as a set to ensure proper wood match. Forends, which are less expensive, are typically matched to the stock, which is the best value for the customer.
UPDATE - December 18, 2009:
I took this little Beretta Tomcat shooting this morning, after having thought the problem of the stuck safety was fixed, but no.
After shooting just 40 rounds, the safety is stuck again. It is possible to free it from the OFF (down) position by the use of a small glasses screwdriver as shown in the last picture below, but I did not disassemble the pistol this time and the safety gets stuck in the OFF (down) position every time.
I will post Beretta's response. [See above. There's nothing to post.]
This little story gets around to the trouble I had with the safety on a Beretta Tomcat 3032 pistol. It started when my son and I purchased one of these little guns for my wife a couple of years ago. It was my fault that we purchased the Beretta over my son's preferred Kel Tek P32. I was swayed by my lack of familiarity with Kel Tek, my favorable impression of Beretta, the tip-up barrel and the heavier frame (which I thought would help with recoil).
I should have listened to my son, who has known far more than me about guns ever since he was ten years old. My bad. Sorry Eddie.
It turned out that the Beretta was not to my wife's liking because it was just too hard for her to operate. Racking the slide, closing the tip-up barrel, operating the safety and even opening the tip-up barrel all required too much force for her to enjoy shooting this little pistol, so my son and I reclaimed it and got something else for my wife.
All in all, the Beretta Tomcat 3032 that we bought has been a disappointment, largely because of the problems I had with the safety mechanism, which seems to reflect a design or materials flaw of some sort.
Shortly after we bought the little pistol for my wife, the safety lever got stuck in the OFF position. Nothing we tried would free the lever, so we took it to a local gun shop where there is a gunsmith we like and trust. The pistol never even reached our gunsmith, though, because the shop wouldn't work on it. I don't recall exactly why not, but the reason had something to do with Beretta policies. We had the gun shop mail the Tomcat to Beretta for warranty repair.
When the Tomcat came back the safety lever worked again, but in very short order the same problem occurred again. Nothing we did would free up the safety, which remained stuck in the OFF position. I cursed Beretta and put the thing away, and only took it shooting once since then.
Last night I came across the pistol as we were getting ready to go shooting today, and I decided to try to deal with the stuck safety one last time.
Here's a picture of the pistol. You can make out the safety lever in the upper right, shown in the OFF positon because the lever was stuck.
The following picture shows the safety lever in more detail, and you can see the red 'safety off' indicator.
Following is an extract from the owner's manual showing three of the four parts involved in the mis-operation of the safety lever.
It's a little hard to visualize how part number 25, the safety lever, relates to the pictures I'm posting of the pistol, but consider that the schematic drawing is rotated 180 degrees about its up/down axis relative to the position of the pistol in the pictures I'm posting. In the schematic, the images are on the far side of the pistol, which would be pointed to the right. The long, downward-pointing shaft on part 25, the safety lever, traverses the frame of the pistol. Spring 27 fits into a small hole in the main body of the safety lever 25, and safety plunger 26 fits into the spring, which pushes the plunger up against a Safety Plunger Contact Pin shown in the picture below.
Sorry, it looks like you might have to click on the pictures to show them in a bigger size in order to be able to read the red text that attempts to explain what is shown.
In the picture above, the safety is OFF (rotated down).
In the picture below, the safety is ON (rotated up). Note in the picture below that the tip of the Safety Plunger (part 26) is visible, whereas it is not seen in the picture above because it is rotated to a position underneath the Safety Plunger Contact Pin. In the picture below, you can see the tip of the Safety Plunger because the safety is in the ON position (rotated up), and the Safety Plunger has rotated to a position above the Safety Plunger Contact Pin.
So, you can see how, when you rotate the safety back and forth between the OFF (down) position and the ON (up) position, the Safety Plunger (part 26) has to slide past the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, in the process compressing the Safety Plunger Spring (part 27), which releases after rotation is complete in order to secure the safety lever in its new position.
Here's another picture that might further clarify things, in which the safety lever has again been placed in the OFF (down) position, and the Safety Plunger is no longer visible, having been rotated back underneath the Safety Plunger Contact Pin:
As I was Googling this problem I came across forum posts in which people said they had lost the Safety Plunger while trying to deal with their pistol's issues, so I was aware the thing might take off. I was very careful about that when I removed the grip to try to get at whatever ailed the safety. Sure enough, the damned Safety Plunger came out anyway, but at least it landed right on the table where I could see it.
Fortunately, now that I think I know what the problem is, it should not be necessary to disassemble the thing to this extent to get the safety lever to work if it is stuck.
If the safety lever is stuck in the OFF position, it should be possible to free it by pushing on it with a small instrument of some sort as illustrated in the picture below.
You can't see the tip of the Safety Plunger when the safety is OFF (lever down), but by carefully feeling around for the Safety Plunger as shown above, applying a little pressure to push down the Saftey Plunger, and simultaneously applying reasonable upward force on the safety lever, you should be able to free the safety lever.
I think what's happened is that either the Safety Plunger tip, or the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, or both, are insufficiently polished and/or insufficiently hardened, and until they are polished enough by repeated rotation of the safety lever there is too much friction, which effectively locks the safety lever in the OFF position because one is reluctant to apply more force to the lever for fear of breaking something. As it was, I don't think I could have exerted much more force on the safety lever without a pair of pliers (which would probably have been a stupid thing to try).
I suppose the problem could be something else entirely, but clearly, there is an issue for Beretta to deal with. Maybe it's a manufacturing defect in my particular gun, where the Safety Plunger hole is drilled at the wrong angle. Maybe the Safety Plunger wasn't machined correctly, but then why didn't they catch that when they worked on this gun? Maybe the Safety Plunger Contact Pin is not positioned correctly in the frame due to some manufacturing issue. Maybe the Safety Plunger Spring is too strong. Whatever.
I don't know, but it seems that the safety lever on this particular Beretta Tomcat is now working correctly as a function of repeated rotations having polished the contact points of the Safety Plunger and the Safety Plunger Contact Pin, thereby reducing friction between them to an acceptable level.
Beretta Tomcat Frame Cracking Issue
I hope this was a unique circumstance with this one pistol, but that seems unlikely at the moment. I know I could have benefited from a post like this as I searched the Internet, so here it is in case anybody else has this problem.
Beretta, you owe me.
CoronaVirus Update - 6/1/2020 Service centers are open with limited staffingat Beretta USA. Refer to list below for details. Sorry for any inconvenience. Beretta USA currently has five service centers available to consumers and dealers located in the United States. These service centers are fully equipped to handle general maintenance and service requirements as well as warranty repairs for Beretta, Sako, and Tikka firearms as indicated below. | ||
Beretta USA values all of our customers, and as such, repairs are made in the order in which received, to ensure repairs are made in a timely fashion. We cannot, under any circumstances, move any repair service to the front of the queue. We appreciate your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. | ||
Facility | Contact Information | Firearms Supported |
Beretta USA Corp. | Phone: (800) 237 3882 (1-800-Beretta) Ext. 2003 Web Site | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns RepairTurnaround Time: 4-6 weeks, for the quickest service please select another location. |
Cole Gunsmithing Inc.(Maine Facility) 21 Bog Hollow Road Harpswell, ME 04079 Region Served: Northeastern United States | Phone: (207) 833-5027 | Shotguns Only. Specializing in repair of current and obsolete over-under and semi automatic model shotguns. No service for handguns or rifles. Repair Turnaround Time: 3 weeks |
Cole Gunsmithing Inc.(Florida Facility) 5740 Shirley Street Naples, FL 34109 Regions Served: US for DT-10s and Wood Please call for shipping instructions. | Phone: (239) 352-0345 Fax: (239) 352-0345 Web Site | Shotguns Only. Specializing in premium shotgun repair ( SO/ ASE/ DT-10) and repair of all over under models, current and obsolete; BL, 680 series etc. No service for handguns or rifles. Repair Turnaround Time: 2 weeks |
Gunsmithing, LTD. 2530 Post Road, #3 Lacey Place Southport, CT 06890 Region Served: Mid-Atlantic United States | Phone: (203) 254 0436 Fax: (203) 254 1535 | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns, UGB25s & Premium Grade Shotguns |
Midwest Gun Works, Inc 1101 Mason Circle Drive South Pevely, MO, 63070 Region Served: Central United States | Phone: (636) 475-7300 Mac find stored passwords. Find a MAC cosmetics near you with our makeup store locator, and explore the latest beauty trends and makeup products we have to offer. Find an Apple Store and shop for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Sign up for Today at Apple programs. Or get support at the Genius Bar. | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns. Parts and service for Beretta vintage model (non-current) firearms. |
Bolsa Gunsmithing 7404 Bolsa Ave Westminster, California, 92683 Region Served: Western United States, Alaska and Hawaii | Phone: (714) 894 9100 Fax: (714) 898 9164 Web Site | Handguns, Rifles, Shotguns |
Repair Turnaround Time is calculated on the average time from receipt until repair when parts are available. Specific turnaround times may vary based upon parts and labor availability.
Beretta Tomcat Cracked Frame Fix For Free
Wood Stocks and Forends: If you require a forend only, please contact Midwest Gun Works regarding availability. If you require a stock or both, please contact Beretta USA. Stocks are replaced as a set to ensure proper wood match. Forends, which are less expensive, are typically matched to the stock, which is the best value for the customer.
Firearm Accuracy/Shotgun Patterning Evaluation: This service is performed only at Beretta USA in Accokeek, MD. The customer is responsible for shipping costs of the firearm to Beretta USA and will be quoted a $70 fee which covers testing, ammunition and return shipping charges. If the firearm is found to not meet factory specifications and is under factory warranty, the firearm will be corrected to meet specifications and the $70 fee will be waived. If your shotgun is not under warranty, we will contact you with a quotation for service. Almost of the shotguns that we receive for patterning evaluation are found to be within factory specifications and no corrective action is required. The same holds true for rifle and pistol accuracy evaluation. You can learn more about shotgun patterning here and pistol accuracy here.
Now you can check the status of your firearm sent to the Accokeek, MD Service Center on line. For other service centers, please contact the respective service center.
Instructions on how to send a firearm to a service center are located here.
In states that require us to return a firearm via an in-state FFL, Beretta will not reimburse any fees associated with the transaction. We recommend that residents of NY, NJ, and CT ship their handguns for service via their local dealer. CT residents should ship long guns via their local dealer as well.