Beretta Bobcat .25 acp...questions.
My wife like little tiny guns because she thinks they are cute. We went to a gun show last month and she saw a Beretta Bobcat in .25acp, and now she wants one very much. A gun show coming soon, I said I would pay for it....better that than nothing.
One question...how is it's reputation? We saw some "reviews" on Youtube with the little pistol, it looks interesting. Is .25acp sufficient at personal defense? Anyone else have experience with this pistol? I noticed there is a Tomcat model in .32acp as well.
Thoughts?
Thank you.
One question...how is it's reputation? We saw some "reviews" on Youtube with the little pistol, it looks interesting. Is .25acp sufficient at personal defense? Anyone else have experience with this pistol? I noticed there is a Tomcat model in .32acp as well.
Thoughts?
Thank you.
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Go for the 32 with some good HP ammo. 0 -
Before you buy any gun for your wife, get her to go to a range where you can rent some different ones and let her try them out. "Tiny little cute" guns are most often lousy at anything and everything but looking "cute" in a gun store or catalog.
The micro-caliber Beretta is OK, I had a similar one in the 90's (Jetfire) that was reliable. Accuracy beyond 10' was iffy as the sights were non-existant, however recoil and blast were minimal. The tip-up feature of these guns makes it easy to load and unload. The .25 ACP is under no circumstances a reliable fight stopper, however having a .25 ACP gun is better than no gun at all (But not by much). The .32 ACP Tomcat is a little bit better power wise than the .25, but still not great shakes. If the choice was only between these two, I'd feel better armed with the .32.
If you can get her a .380 caliber pistol, start there as a minimum caliber for serious situations. There are scads of small, reliable .380's that'll fill the niche' you're looking for, and a .380 will be more effective than a .25 or a .32 when the chips are down.
Good luck with your search!0 -
I have the Ruger in .22 LR. It is an excellent quality little pistol and I actually carry it when I need ultra concealability. The tip up barrel has two advantages to offer. For a shooter with weak or arthritic fingers who has trouble jacking a slide, the tip up barrel allows them to charge the chamber. When unloading, the tip up barrel is a guaranteed way to check that the chamber is empty, or to empty the chamber, without having to work the slide.
But, that being said, I am still faced with the reality of the .22 LR cartridge. As has been said, it's better than being unarmed.
If your wife has the strength to work the slides, try to influence her to go no smaller than .380 acp. There are a number of good quality very small pistols out there in that caliber, including Ruger and KelTec. They are physically about the same size as what you are looking at, but provide you with significantly more cartridge power. Load them with round nosed full metal jacket to ensure reliability and maximum penetration. Skip the hollow points. In the .32 and .380 cartridges you will not get sufficient velocity to reliably expand those bullets. What you want is something that can penetrate several layers of clothing and an additional several inches of flesh and bone to hit something significant in your attacker. .32 and .380 can do this, but usually need a FMJ ball to get the penetration. Good luck. [:)]0 -
The Beretta Bobcat is as good a .25acp pistol as you will find. If your wife likes it, buy it. As mentioned, the tip-up barrel alone is worth considering the Beretta. 0 -
The Beretta's are well made, but all autos require that you be very familiar with clearing jams & correcting malfunctions. Women who are not experienced shooters do a lot better with a revolver.
Having said that, the Beretta 950 is a lot more concealable than the 21. The Tomcat is as big as several .380 & 9mm models out there, so it seems to have the tip up barrel as the only advantage.
Neal0 -
I saw one of the 950s but it had a 4 inch barrel...I guess they were at one time made that way...also it was in 22 short not 22 LR. 0 -
do NOT claim to be an expert of the miniature Berettas-
1. The .25 ACP CAN deliver a fatal wound. STOPPING power sucks.
2. Several of the Berettas do not have an extractor- they are true blowback. Round being fired blows cartridge case out. If a round should not fire, the "tap, rack, roll" used to clear a stoppage of other auto pistols does not work.0 -
Beretta .25 is probably about as good as you're going to get in a .25.
The biggest problem with this gun is the round itself. .25 ACP is just an anemic round, ballistically similar to a .22LR.
Sure, a .25 in your hand is better than the .44 magnum you have at home, but honestly, I think you're probably better off with a good tube of pepper spray.
Having a .25 gives you all the associated legal liability of using deadly force, without actually delivering the deadly force.
Yes, a .25 can kill a human being. . .so can a sharp pencil jabbed in the right place. But its also quite likely to create a relatively minor wound that isn't incapacitating.
Bottom line, in all sincerity, while a .25 is better than nothing, if that's all she's willing to carry, she probably isn't serious enough about using a gun to justify carrying ANY gun.0 -
I own Berettas in both .22 Bobcat & .32 Tomcat, both are easy for my wife to load because of tip-barrel. These are point-and-shoot guns, the sights being minimal & are not tack-drivers. As to personal defense, best to hope it would be a deterrent, as stopping power is not there, but for sure, better than nothing. HP bullets in such small calibers are not very effective in anything larger than small game. Go for max. penetration, stick to standard FMJ for most reliable functioning (the #1 issue). Deterrent, deterrent, deterrent: I HAVE A LOADED GUN, LEAVE ME ALONE! 0 -
.25s have been working for people for well over 100 years. If they didn't work, somebody would have figured it out by now! The Beretta .25s are actually very accurate little guns-if the shooter does his part.
Caliber is not a substitute for marksmanship.0
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