“He’s too much twisted steel and sex appeal.” I heard that line back in 1989 in the movie “Always,”when Holly Hunter’s character, Dorinda, was describing a handsome man. Obviously, the Beretta 30X Tomcat is not a man, and I haven’t seen that movie in many years, so I was amused that the phrase was the first thing that popped into my head the moment I saw this sweet little gun.
Sponsored by Beretta
The specifications on the 30X Tomcat include the following:
I took the gun to my local indoor range and tested the 30X Tomcat freehand while standing, using three different brands of ammunition at seven yards. Results were as follows:
The Norma and the Fiocchi ran flawlessly, but the Critical Defense was a different story. This gun does not like this ammunition. It had multiple malfunctions. To check to see if it was the ammo or the gun, I switched back to the Norma and the gun loved the ammo again and ran with no problems.
This is a good reminder that not all guns like all ammo. It’s critical to practice with your defense ammo. I’ve heard of people who didn’t want to practice with it because it’s more expensive, but it does you no good if it doesn’t work for you. So, make sure you try various brands of defense ammunition and find the one that works flawlessly in your gun.
The Beretta 30X Tomcat is a gun that’s small enough it can easily be concealed on-body and can also fit in smaller concealed carry purses. Yet, it doesn’t have that snappiness that most small guns have.
It also helps answer the dilemma that some women have – they avoid guns because they don’t have the grip needed to manipulate a slide. With the 30X, it has the tip-up barrel so that a first round can be put in that way instead of racked. I always appreciate opportunities to help solve that problem. It does, however, still take a small amount of strength to get it pushed back down. It also takes a little bit of strength to cock the hammer, too; however, I found that simply shooting it double action was not hard at all and took less strength than cocking the hammer.
It comes with two eight-round steel magazines that load easily. No need for the assistance of a mag loader.
The sights were a little difficult to see clearly, but I was still able to hit good groups. The rear sight can be adjusted for windage, and both front and rear sights are removeable so they could be replaced. However, with a gun such as this, you would most likely be using it in a close encounter where you would just point-and-shoot and wouldn’t be lining up the sights for precision shots.
The recoil is so light it’s hardly noticeable, and my hand felt no pain shooting this gun, even after 150 rounds. The weight of the steel helps absorb the recoil, which helps get back on target faster and theoretically, improves the gun’s accuracy. I would have no problem carrying this gun and using it for self-defense.
MSRP $649
Nancy Keaton is a retired college administrator, president of her local gun club, competitive shooter and freelance writer whose work has appeared in A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League, "American Shooting Journal," "American Concealed," "Northwest Meetings + Events," and other publications. She enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics and interviewing ordinary people doing amazing things. To see a compilation of her writing, check out her website at www.nancykeaton.com. View all posts by Nancy Keaton
