top for precision isn’t something that happens every day, particularly in .22LR.
The first shot always going somewhere other than where the subsequent shots went was disappointing, but hardly a surprise. This is called “4+1 syndrome” and is widely documented. It occurs with semiautomatic pistols (and to a lesser degree with semiautomatic rifles) when the first hand-chambered round puts the parts in a very slightly different firing alignment, or “battery,” than what they go into during firing when the mechanism cycles automatically and auto-loads each subsequent cartridge. Interestingly, the standard Beretta 92 in 9mm does not seem to be particularly prone to this, certainly not to the degree I saw in the test sample of Beretta’s .22 conversion unit.
Does this make it useless? Not at all. Whether you’re shooting bull’s-eye, IDPA, or IPSC, you go to the firing line cold each time and then load for the string of fire. Thus, competition with a gun that suffers from 4+1 syndrome can be a problem. Remember, though, that Beretta does not market this accessory as a match gun, they market it as a practice gun. Since practice is less formal, it should be no problem to load the gun with one round extra (.22 ammo is cheap, after all) and fire the first shot into the backstop, then simply keep the magazine topped off. By running the range “hot,” every subsequent practice shot can be fired with a round automatically cycled into the firing chamber by the gun’s mechanism, allowing the shooter to take advantage of what is obviously an otherwise “match-grade” level of inherent accuracy in this unit.
For bull’s-eye practice, I would load each magazine with six and would have two targets up. I would take my time and put one slow-fire practice shot into the first target prior to each string, then set the timer and fire the next five in whatever Slow-, Timed-, or Rapid-Fire sequence I had chosen. The conversion unit tested was reasonably consistent, putting the first hand chambered shot high, and usually left, of point-of-aim in roughly the same spot.
I loaded six Blazers and gave that a try. Sure enough, the first bullet flew to 12 o’clock, landing about 3 inches away from where the rest of the group followed. But those next five automatically cycled shots landed in a group that measured 1.44 inches, with the best three in 1 inch even.
Verdict
I like the Beretta 92 conversion unit. I like it a lot. It is more reliable and less maintenance-intensive than any other .22 caliber handgun conversion unit I’ve ever worked with. The fact that it duplicates the manual safety and decocker function of the service-caliber F-series guns is, to my way of thinking, a big plus. Even if you chose to carry your Beretta off-safe, if your gun is the F-series you need drawing, firing, and malfunction-clearing techniques, which verify that it’s off-safe. Working with a slick-slide practice gun that can’t accidentally be put on safe, it’s easy to get sloppy about those important subtleties of technique. This conversion unit’s design will keep us sharp with those things.
I’m not sure how much of that errant first shot problem will clear up with scrupulous cleaning. We couldn’t find out because the gun was earmarked to go to a military firearms training unit after we were done with it, and the one thing being studied was how many rounds it could handle before it choked on the dirt.
The accuracy for all but that hand-chambered first shot was a pleasant surprise. We took this gun out to the NRA Hunter Pistol range, where we tried it on steel silhouettes cut for small-bore shooting. They happened to be set up only at 40 meters (chickens) and 50 meters (pigs). However, they proved to be easy work for the Beretta conversion unit, even from the standing position. Given that NRA Hunter Silhouette uses half-size animals in comparison to the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association, this was good accuracy indeed. The “chickens” are about as big as pigeons, and I’ve owned housecats bigger than the “pigs.”
Final Notes
How good is the conversion unit? I bought the test sample. What’s more, I’m gonna have to buy another. My chief has dibs on the first one. Is Beretta gonna make a million bucks on this neat little setup? Well, there are over seven figures worth of guns out there to which they can be fitted. If every gunowner purchases a unit for it, and if Beretta makes a profit of a dollar per unit …
For more information contact: Beretta, 17601 Beretta Dr., Dept CH, Accokeek, MD 20607;
301-283-2191; www.berettausa.com
Endnotes
(1)“Beretta’s Model 87 Target Is A Rimfire Masterpiece,” by David M. Fortier, 2005 Shooting Times Handgun Buyers’ Guide, Peoria, IL: Primedia.
(2)Ibid., P. 49.
The Beretta Tomcat .32
Colt named many of their revolvers after dangerous snakes: The Cobra, the Python, the Diamondback, the Viper, the Anaconda. Few arms companies have named their guns for dangerous cats, though a copy of the Winchester 1892 carbine that was long popular south of the border, usually in caliber .44-40, was given the name “El Tigre.” Beretta, however, has an affinity for feline nomenclature.
I am not sure why, after calling their little .22 LR pocket pistol the Bobcat, they would choose to name the distinctly more powerful .32 ACP the Tomcat. Not that I don’t think the name is appropriate. You see, the .32 caliber is a pussycat in every respect, but, comparatively, naming a .32 after felis domesticus and the .22 after a wildcat seems a bit over-reaching insofar as the latter. It’s a little like naming your goldfish “Moby Dick.”
Beretta’s Tomcat has earned itself a lot of friends. Some owe it their lives. A fellow identified only as GB wrote the following first-person account of such an instance in the “It Happened to Me” section of Combat Handguns magazine: (1)
Even the short-barreled Centurion 9mm dwarfs the Tomcat .32, below.
“That day had started like any other for the last 15 years. I’ve had a jewelry store and pawn shop in West Palm Beach, Florida, but this day would change my life forever. I set up the showcases for the day. It’s a beautiful South Florida day, hot and humid. (Two young males dressed in black) were hanging around looking at rings and things. The first guy was in the shop in the morning and was looking to sell his 14-karat gold chain. I thought he was going to make a trade for a ring or some cash. The pair just kept looking at more and more stuff. After about 35 minutes I asked, ‘Do you have any cash?’ The first guy just showed me a pocket with nothing in it. He still had the 14-karat gold chain to work with, so I went on waiting on them.
“Not one person came in all of the time they were in the store. The first guy said he was going to buy his girl a ring and I went to show him diamond rings. I pulled a tray of diamond rings out of the showcase and when I raised my head up, the other guy was pointing a gun right between my eyes. It was about two inches from my head. I looked down the gun barrel, a .25 caliber. In a split second I swung my hand and hit the gun. At that point I ducked behind the counter and crawled on my hands toward the back room, hoping the pair would just run off. The next thing I knew I had one of them on my back and he’s calling for his friend to help him get me down. I told his accomplice that he’d better run. I managed to pull my Tomcat from my side pocket. I got it in my hand and hit him with it so hard that I broke the trigger guard, and he went down. He was still calling for the other guy. With no time to waste I had to even up the odds.
