Question on some guns?

[fred1814]

I’m looking to buy a handgun and I want to know if any one has had any experience with them? reliability, accurate, and does it jam

Beretta-
Tomcat .32
bobcat .22

Phoenix Arms-
HP22

CZ52

[fred1814]

I’m looking to buy a handgun and I want to know if any one has had any experience with them? reliability, accurate, and does it jam

Beretta-
Tomcat .32
bobcat .22

Phoenix Arms-
HP22

CZ52

[bwiese]

I've owned and fired the Beretta Tomcat 32ACP (separate guns - never fired my own before I sold it; bought it on a lark...).

They work just fine, are reliable, etc. I only shot it with Winchester white box and Fed Red box 32ACP though.

DO NOT dry-fire the Tomcats. Their firing pins are stiff pieces of a wire-like material and apparently with stress can separate.

I know: I was dry-firing my brand-new Tomcat back in 1999 at TV when news with Sen Barbara Boxer was appearing on it. After a couple of DA trigger pulls I then heard "click-TINK": the front half of firing pin separated and flew down the barrel, hitting (and slightly dinging) the TV screen.

Perfect head shot, though.


Bill Wiese
San Jose

[ivanimal]

I own the HP22 with 2 barrels 3" and 5" it was a purchase I made to satisfy the want for a safe semi auto for a child to use. It will not fire with the mag out or one of the 2 safeties on. A good training tool. The hammer disconnect is nice to have if you want to dry fire a 22 rimfire pistol. I would not do that to any other gun in 22 caliber. It is available in other calibers, 380 and 25 but those go by other model numbers. I was surprised with how readily it ate up almost any ammo and no hiccups. Not bad for a handgun that starts at just under $120.00 mine is used and nickel-plated. Google the model number and read some of what other owners have to say about this little gun. I recently took the gun to a shoot and let Wheelgunner try it out, he was impressed with the feel of the gun and the fact that it just worked. The safeties are a bummer, if you plan on keeping it under your pillow, you may get beaten up before you figure out how to use it in a hurry.

Here is a link with opinions on the gun.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2001_Annual/ai_63922916/pg_2

[maxicon]

I'll throw in a few cents on the CZ52. I've got a soft spot for inexpensive, quirky guns, and the CZ52 is definitely one of those.

I don't shoot mine much, though, for a variety of reasons. It's got a nasty trigger slap that numbs my finger if I'm not careful (not all of them do this) that I haven't gotten around to trying to fix, and there have been some safety issues with them (not everyone agrees that it's a serious problem) that have me a bit paranoid.

The CZ52 is fun, but not very practical. It's heavy, not very ergonomic, the grips are big and awkward, the sights are terrible, the trigger is poor, the ammo selection is limited, the firing pin breaks easily with dry-firing, and the firing pin block doesn't work when it's a little bit out of battery. Magazines are expensive for such an inexpensive gun, and they aren't always real robust.

On the plus side, they're cheap, easy to disassemble and clean, you can improve the grips with a Handall slip-on. They're loud, with nice muzzle flash (depending on the ammo), milsurp ammo is cheap (but corrosive).

Some of the problems can be fixed easily (like the fragile firing pins) or compromised (like a better trigger pull with a new firing pin that disables the FP block).

Overall, it's one of my least favorite handguns out of a pretty wide variety of guns, and one of the first I'd consider selling if I ever sold anything.

That said, lots of people like them a lot, but by the time you do some fixes to it and put some pretty grips on it, you could have bought a much better gun.

YMMV, as always.