Beretta Bobcat mods

[ruger22]

Making a winter project out of improving my Bobcats. I would like good performance with HV rounds, instead of hyper rounds.

There are what one could call "feed rails" between the mag and feed ramp, and I found the front edge of the mags was a little higher than those. So I angled the edge down out of the way. Toughest sheet metal I've ever filed, obviously heat treated.

Next up, I studied the recoil springs. There is one on each side, working with pivoted arms that fit in the slide. They actually seem a little wimpy. I can work one with a finger tip. The hammer spring obviously does the most resisting.

Looking at that, there is a lot of tension on it, with the hammer at rest. It appears to be 98% compressed with the hammer cocked, and the slide is an easy pull until it contacts the cocked hammer face. I think I can safely shorten it without fear of light strikes, and I've settled on 1 1/2 coils. I count fifteen full coils on it.

Getting it out of a small frame looks like fun......... ..... And, once it's out, it's a permanent assembly of spring/strut/seat. I have some Craftsman mini diagonal cutters that will hopefully angle in for the cuts. Plus, having two Bobcats, I have to do it twice....... .. ..

[blue68f100]

You can always use the cutters for Dremel tools. Those little wheels will gun the hard spring pretty easy.

[ruger22]

Turned out the hammer spring assembly comes apart, very carefully. The end of the strut is peened, so you turn the seat 90 degrees to slip it on and off. The peen is so small, it's like a bomb to handle, tries to fly apart even a slight turn from straight. I had to use the table fork trick for compressing the spring. Regular diagonal cutters did the bare spring easily.

With the spring ends ground flat, the first half coil is thin. So I tried 1 1/2, then 2 1/2 coils. Cocking effort is reduced enough to feel, as is racking the slide. I still get the same firing pin ding on empty cases.

The next range trip will tell, hopefully in the next month's time.

[ruger22]

I went to the PITA local indoor range. I just can't take much time with those mall ninja types. Anyway, I got good results.

I split these round counts between my two Bobcats.

I did 160 rounds of the Federal 525 pack HP, with three FTEs stuck in the chamber, one FTF that fired on second pull. Before, it would have been at least 8 FTEs, probably more, and several stovepipe jams.

100 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag HP fired perfectly, and 50 rounds of Velocitor had one FTF, which fired on second pull. Before, I would have had a few FTEs and stovepipes with 100 Mini-Mags. They were better than the Federals, but not this good. Velocitors have always worked well.

I didn't get feed jams because I loaded 5+1, instead of a full 7+1. On Bobcats, the sixth and seventh rounds into the mag don't completely clear the top of the mag, until they pop up coming out of the mag. This isn't a 100% thing, though.

I tried a few full mags, and the mod got rid of my vertical feed jams, with the cartridge pointing up. Now they jam horizontal, just below the chamber. This is easier to clear, usually slingshotting the slide feeds them on in. Loading the mag with five eliminates these jams.

I'd say if I stick with CCI, my Bobcats do as well as my Mark III now, functionally.