Posted on 08/04/2016 8:00:03 AM PDT by marktwain
On January 26th, 2016, at about 6 p.m., a woman was attacked in a parking garage in Louisville, Kentucky. The man who attacked her had a knife, and demanded "everything you have". He turned out to be an addict. The attack occurred as the woman was seated in the driver's seat of her car. She had placed her purse on the passenger seat. Unknown to the assailant, she had a Beretta Tomcat in her purse. From wlky.com:
"And I thought he was going to kill me because he was pushing the knife toward me and before I could talk, my purse was in the passenger seat and he hit me on my left cheek," the victim said.The Tomcat is chambered for the .32 ACP round. It is sometimes favored by women because it is compact and has a tip-up barrel design that allows it to be loaded without requiring the slide to be pulled back.
Investigators said in January, John Ganobick attempted to rob a woman with a knife.That first shot appears to have hit Ganobick in the neck. The woman is reported to have fired four or five shots. Ganobick was hit twice. Other women who used the garage were interviewed. This was a common response. From wlky.com in January:
She shot him, and later told police she thought Ganobick would kill her.
In an emotional interview, the woman said she pulled the trigger to save her life.
"And the first time I pulled, nothing happened. And he put his hand harder on my mouth and shoved the knife towards my face and then I shot again," the victim said.
That time, the bullet hit its target.
While charges are pending against him, many are praising the woman who took control of a scary situation.I usually recommend against off body carry, but it worked in this case. I do not see many cases where second strike capability was needed and or worked. Modern ammunition is extremely reliable. Perhaps it was foreign military 7.65x17, the metric designation for the .32 ACP. I ran some FN military 7.65x17 through a Tomcat that I had, and it worked. Others have said that some of the military 7.65x17 may have hard primers. It might even have been a handload. If the primer is not completely seated, the first strike will sometimes seat the primer, allowing the second strike to fire it.
"You have to protect yourself, being vulnerable, being a woman, you have to really protect yourself, I felt like it was justified," said Pam Stiger, who lives in Louisville.
Nice little tools. I prefer the Bersa 32 acp Thunder.
I have one. I love it even though I’m 6’2” and weigh on the plus side of 220 lbs.
It’s a great pocket gun (can’t even see it in my pocket), you can load the chamber for a no rack setup (it is a true double action)and works great if you don’t over lubricate it.
It depends on pure blow back momentum to eject the spent case (no extractor because of the tip-up). Over lube the breech and the case can stick. It is truly a great little piece. I have its 22 cal Model 25 brother.
A fine, all STEEL gun and it works reliably. Only problem is that is pricey as are most Berettas.
Very clever design with the tip up barrel. Being it is just blowback with no delay as in the 1911 which keeps the barrel and slide together for a fraction of a second, it needs a stronger spring to hold the gasses in the action until pressure drops enough for safety. This requires a much stronger spring and a harder job of racking the slide. The tip up barrel eliminates that requirement.
My sons .380 Ruger LCP is probably lighter than this tomcat and with a more powerful round. I may retire my .380 Mustang for this little Ruger. Half the weight and nice for summer carry.
Looks like she got lucky.
KY gun laws are VERY baised toward self protection.
There was a recent case where a well known hot dog vendor (Downtown Louisville) killed a man in a road rage incident. He was the one that followed the other guy and verbally confronted him, but when the other guy came at his car with a baseball bat and struck the car, the hot dog vendor “feared for his physical health (not just life)” and pulled his legal CC gun and shot the man dead.
It went to court. He was vindicated.
In KY, you don’t even need to fear for your life, only that you may be seriously harmed. And the first one to threaten by or use any kind of force is the one in the wrong.
For this woman, the case is open and shut. It’s pure self defense.
I also carry now. It’s in my door panel. Easy reach. It’s even legal WITHOUT CC in KY, though I have CC.
I am all for shoot as much gun as you can control and regularly carry 45ACP and 40CAL, but there is always room for options, the more the better.
A 22 vs 25acp, I would entertain that debate. But no way a 22 is better than a 32 acp. Not even close, including penetration.
Your reasoning is sound ... except that the 22lr is a rim fire cartridge and not as reliable as the center fire 32. Having the repeated strike capability should eliminate the difference however.
Lehigh Defense makes a very interesting round for the .32.
I haven’t tried it, not having had a .32 for about 32 years, but some of their other similar projectile designs seem quite effective, at least in my test media.
My sons .380 Ruger LCP is probably lighter than this tomcat and with a more powerful round. I may retire my .380 Mustang for this little Ruger. Half the weight and nice for summer carry.
My wife and I both carry LCP’s. Nice little gun.
But my wife doesn’t have the grip strength to rack the slide.
Little hammer guns are easier. You can thumb back the hammer first loading one spring then you only have the slide spring to control tend with when you rack the slide.
The biggest problem is a very heavy first trigger pull. Except for the trigger pull, in all other respects the TomCat is a great carry gun for women. Bought one for my mother and she had a very difficult time with the trigger pull. Ended up getting her a S&M Air Weight instead. Don't know why Beretta never tried to improve the trigger and then focus marketing efforts to women.
At contact range, shove the pistol into the eye if possible. Bone behind the eye socket is very thin, usually no need to shoot more rounds.
And the first one to threaten by or use any kind of force is the one in the wrong.
Sounds like he got away with one, having followed and "verbally confronted" (threatened?) the other guy.
The tip-up barrel is a good idea. You can easily load a cartridge with the hammer down and then carry it safely. When done, it is easy to remove the cartridge, again with the hammer down. BTW, it took a LOT of firing to smooth it up enough so that it is totally reliable. It works great now.
I also have a Kel-Tec 32ACP. It is smaller, lighter, and cheaper. However, the only way to chamber a cartridge is to jack the slide. When that is done, the shrouded hammer is half cocked and cannot be let down. I am concerned that that is unsafe.
I also have a few other .32ACP’s (Walther pre-war PPK, wartime Mauser HSc, Browning 1910, etc). They also have pros and cons, but they are too large for true concealed carry. Nice to shoot, though.
I also have a Model 21 in addition to the .32ACP version. The .22LR is a little smaller, but not much. It was very unreliable until it was broken in. The instructions suggest 200 rounds. It actually took 500 high-velocity (1,300fps listed on the box) 40gr bullets to break it in. It does not like less than 40gr bullets (30 and 32gr are out) and does not care for anything other than round nose bullets (forget SWC or hollowpoint SCW). Eventually, it got broken in enough so that it could use other cartridges reliably. It is a lot more accurate than I would expect.
The 32ACP also took a lot of firing to break it in, but not as many as the .22LR. I think it was about 200 rounds. Since I reload, that is not a problem. I would shudder to think what it would cost if I had to buy all of them, especially about 3 or 4 years ago when I got it. I have had the .22LR for at least twice that long.
Another nonviolent drug offender.
It’s a little like the old “wild west” of old TV shows: Taunt the farmer to pull a gun on you and then shoot him dead “in self defense”.
But in this case, I think the hot dog vendor did not really mean to “set the guy up”. Rather, the guy made the mistake of bringing a baseball bat to a gun fight and took the first swing. I doubt the vendor expected more to happen then cross words.
There’s a great youtube “crash compilation” video where a guy stops in front of the car with the dash cam, opens his trunk, pulls out a big stick, and approaches the car angrily. Suddenly he stops, drops the stick, raises his hands, and backs back toward his car as the driver of the car with the dash cam comes into view properly holding, with two hands, a pistol aimed right at the guy.
I am a very, um, assertive driver. I’ve had a lot of guys want to rage with me, but I ignore them. However, if one gets REALLY bent on confrontation, well, this is why I started carrying in my car a week ago. It’s in the door panel.
Us old guys can be dangerous to the young and stupid.
I have read reviews that said pretty much the same thing. Is yours the matte black version or stainless? Did you try 'polishing' any of the parts? I heard the matte black was more prone to require break-in because of the finish. You would think what you pay for a Beretta it would be a little more reliable.
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