If so, please give me a general review, i.e. accuracy, reliability, ammo choices, pocket ability, etc. Thanks.

I've had one since the mid 80's. I find it accurate, that is, 3 inch groups at 7 yards. I had a few failure to fires early on with PMC ammo, but had the same ammo fail in other guns. Mine prefers standard velocity ammo. I used to carry it in situations requiring discretion, using Eley Tenex ammo (Aguila target stuff is primed by Eley now. Completely reliable.) The only real problem I've had is a grip screw worked out and was lost, I haven't found another since.

I have two of them. My mom has one and my step-mom has the other now. Never had a moments issue as long as I used standard velocity ammo, as Freward stated. Love em.

I've had multiple Bobcats Model 21A (.22lr) and the smaller Jetfire Model 950 (.25acp) over the past 30years. I still have 1 of each.

The Bobcat is a slick little .22, my wife likes it simply because of the tip up barrel loading and unloading.

A Bobcat was the first little "real" gun my boys shot when they were kids, and once again that barrel tip up design made training them easy.

It's an accurate little gun, but the sights are a major thing to consider in that accuracy. They are tiny, very tiny, so unless your eyes are good and you have very good lighting those sights are a pain to see.

As far as ammo goes, I never really had any problems with feeding or cycling. I shot Stinger years ago to find out that a diet of Stingers caused the plastic grips to crack. I replaced them with wood grips I sanded down to fit my hand better.

Here's a few pics to compare to a Kahr .380 pocket gun.

I had a couple a few years ago. They loved a steady diet of CCI Stingers.

Sold them to fund purchase of a new a Kahr P380.

My favorite Beretta was the tiny Italian made 950B in .22 short. Wish I had kept it.

quote:

Originally posted by GCE61:
I've had multiple Bobcats Model 21A (.22lr) and the smaller Jetfire Model 950 (.25acp) over the past 30years. I still have 1 of each.

The Bobcat is a slick little .22, my wife likes it simply because of the tip up barrel loading and unloading.

A Bobcat was the first little "real" gun my boys shot when they were kids, and once again that barrel tip up design made training them easy.

It's an accurate little gun, but the sights are a major thing to consider in that accuracy. They are tiny, very tiny, so unless your eyes are good and you have very good lighting those sights are a pain to see.

As far as ammo goes, I never really had any problems with feeding or cycling. I shot Stinger years ago to find out that a diet of Stingers caused the plastic grips to crack. I replaced them with wood grips I sanded down to fit my hand better.

Here's a few pics to compare to a Kahr .380 pocket gun.

Please comment on (perceived) recoil of the Bobcat, as well as the CM380. Thanks.

I have a love hate relationship with my 21a Bobcats. They are the only gun that has proven to be reliably finicky yet I have kept them. My inox one is pretty reliable the blued one is a jammomatic. If you get one that runs reliably cherish it. Never trade it. Never sell it.

It has no real perceived recoil over what you expect from a 22. It’s got a ridiculously stiff DA pull. The sights suck. The lack of an extractor can make a malfunction drill quite a challenge. Find the ammo that works best. MiniMags are the best in mine. Bulk pack is an exercise in frustration. Keep it clean. 50 rounds max on mine before it needs a bore snake. The mags are finicky and you might have to pinch them a bit to avoid nose high feeding. They are tough to shoot accurately. It’s the tiny groove and tiny post. Not impossible but easily the worst sights since old colt peacemakers. Except smaller, less radius, and worse.

All that, I love the little gun. I wouldn’t over pay for one but it will always be there because it’s a fun little gun. Beretta is now producing factory threaded barrel ones. I will get one once pricing normality returns.

I say all that so that you know what you are getting into. If you want a cool ass 22 that shoots every ammo out there and is easy to hit with, get a Beretta 87.

I have always said I wanted Beretta to go back to drawing board on this one. Put in a fucking extractor. Add real sights like the Tomcats have. It would be the best pocket 22 ever.

I have the Taurus version, picked it up for next to nothing. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, though.

My cousin has the Beretta, I've only shot it once & don't recall it having any more recoil as compared to other 22lr semi-autos.
Sure was loud, though.

quote:

Please comment on (perceived) recoil of the Bobcat, as well as the CM380. Thanks.

Well, the bobcat is a 22 and it really doesn’t have that much recoil even though it’s a blow back design. It’s got enough surface area on the grip that you can get a good hand hold on it, and it’s just big enough that you don’t railroad track cuts on your hand.

My wife still likes to shoot it, and my kids were like seven years old when I started them out shooting it. So if those little guys could handle it 18years ago I’m sure we can.

The Kahr .380 has a mild kick but the grip is so short and thin it was moving in my big hand. So I put on a set of rubber Talon Grips and that solved that issue. Everyone who shoots that Kahr loves it.

I picked one up this year and am planning to introduce my daughter to shooting with it. I have fed it Stingers, Mini Mags and bulk Remington ammo. I have only had one Stinger fail to ignite, but it went off when I pulled the trigger again. The bulk ammo is not bad actually. I finished a 500 pack over a few weeks of shooting and I may have had 10-15 failures.

Clearing malfunctions is a bit weird because of a lack of an extractor. Its pretty accurate for what it is, but the sights are more of an 'Old School" style (tiny). This is more of a point and shoot at contact distances type of a pistol. The SA trigger is OK, but the DA is atrocious. The build quality is superior to any of the Zinc slides offered by other companies. Its a decent BUG (If you're ok with carrying a .22lr). A very handy size for pocket carry.

I had one in .25 acp years ago that I foolishly sold. This little .22 will not get sold.

The half dozen or so Beretta tip ups I have shot have all been jam-o-matics. Every. Single. One.

YMMV

I had a Model 20 Bobcat in .25acp. the grip panels were brittle and cracked. I was able to score a new set, which resolved that problem. The gun never gave me the warm fuzzies...when you popped the barrel up, the slide would try to fall off, the sights sucked, ammo was expensive, and I have no confidence in the effectiveness of .25acp in a defensive situation (or .22lr for that matter).

I ended up selling it to my BIL, who actually carries it. It works for him since he rarely shoots, and just wanted a gun to have a gun...so the ammo cost isn't really a factor. I don't regret the sale one bit. I have yet to encounter a scenario where I could have carried that thing that I can't carry a J-frame in a much more effective caliber (and with much more confidence in its reliability).

If it had been chambered in .22lr I'd probably have kept it, if just for a range plinker, but being .25 it didn't even make sense for that.

It's pretty wide for a .22lr and some might not like the DA/SA. DA is kinda heavy with stacking but smooth. Slide can be hard to grasp but barrel tips up.

Accuracy on mine is good, but the sights make it difficult to get good groups past 3 yards or so.

Reliability isn't really the guns fault as much as it is the nature of .22lr. Since there is no extractor, you'll have to poke or pry out dud rounds and cases that don't eject.

Almost no recoil. The best thing about it may just be that the magazine release is protected so no worries about mags coming out while carrying.

Okay, I looked at it closely. It does have sights! I never shoot with glasses on, so I guess I didn’t notice or forgot.

I have a Bobcat in .25acp and everyone who shoots it loves it.

No recoil, comfortable in the hand, accurate even at 25 feet. Mine has wooden grips, no cracking.

Never had a problem with the slide coming off or the sights being loose or misadjusted. Ever.

Oh, and mine’s never jammed. Not once.

I have a Bobcat .22 and unfortunately have one of the less-than-reliable ones. Doesn’t matter which ammo I shoot, it will eventually fail to extract (can we call it that with no extractor?). The only things that keeps this from being an excellent little auto are the heavy DA trigger pull and the lack of an extractor. I never understood why they designed it without one.

I have one that I gave to my mom when she told me that her hands couldn’t handle the recoil from a S&W Mod60.

It works like hot knife thru butter with CCI Stingers. Had a few hiccups with Remington Thunderbolt ammo.

I had the Beretta 21A in .22. Jammomatic. I liked the tip up barrel but the grips were thick. And the double action trigger sucked. It is now a dated design. I couldn’t depend on it.

My INOX Bobcat has been reliable with CCI Velocitors and hotter. With anything less potent reliability becomes a crap shoot. As for recoil, there just ain't a lot with .22LR, regardless of how small the gun is or how spicy the ammo is.

It's kinda cute...I suppose. But it's also been one of those purchases that never really made any sense for me. I guess that I've kept it around for the heck of it. Picked up another brick of Velocitors just for feeding this gun.

I've had a Bobcat 21a in 22lr for 6 yrs. After trying different ammo I found CCI MiniMags work best. The only other ammo it runs well with is Eley, but that was more expensive at the time and probably still is. All of the other ammo I tried would jam. I have stuck with CCI. The gun has very little recoil and is probably more accurate than I am.