How good are these little handguns?

scbackpacker · Post by **scbackpacker** » August 2nd, 2006, 8:40 pm

I'm thinking about buying a PA64 and I would like to know how durable are they? How dependable? It won't be my main carry weapon I'll stick with my 3913 but it looks like it may be a fine backup or a quick throw in the pocket gun. Will the metal take a bake on finish? I plan to Norrel coat it which must be cooked on at around 300 deg.

dolang1 · Post by **dolang1** » August 2nd, 2006, 9:32 pm

They are great. I've had mine for a year, without a misfeed or jam. I usually buy the cheap ammo at the gun shows. I can't say that about the other semi autos I have. I don't know what Norrel coat is but my brother and I had ours nickel plated and we are very proud of the finish. Somewhere on this forum there is a link to a comparison between the Walther PPK and the P-64. I used to carry a PPK til I bought the P-64. You won't go wrong with this little pistol. Later Don

p64 · Post by **p64** » August 3rd, 2006, 4:48 am

Say what you will but at self defense ranges (30-40 feet) this little pistol makes a gallon milk jug dance around the range, you can hit the jug while it's still moving and I don't practice with it much, not too shabby. Just imagine what you can do with experience and practice

Post by **papabear** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:04 am

scbackpacker,

First of all, welcome, this is a great site and full of info and suggestions on every aspect of the P-64. I have owned up to [4] of them, however, I gave my future son-in-law one after he got his CCW, by the way, he's a nice guy and a keeper. I have to agree with dolang1 and p64, they make a great little CCW gun and they are very accurate. You will hear about the DA pull on the P-64 as being really heavy and so forth and so on, this site has many suggestions as to how to compensate for that, however, I have found that the better you clean them after you receive them and the more you use them the lighter the DA becomes, I have not altered any of mine in anyway except for changing the grips, and there is info on here for that too. Just my 2 cents worth, but there are those on here that are far more experienced than I am on the P-64, hopefully they will chime in and give their opinion also.

Papabear

gunut · Post by **gunut** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:06 am

I will back up P64 on the accuracy part. I was very impressed with it's ability to hit bowling pins @ 25 yds. Mine does not like Wolf ammo. But I just polished the feed ramp and am hoping that will fix any further problems with feeding.

Mine has a nice blue finish, especially for a milserp gun. Get flat grips from Zee and she is a real looker. Feels better with out thumb rest too.

himmel · Post by **himmel** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:46 am

I don't get to carry my P64 much, but I've been mightly impressed with it--I'm no kind of marksman, but I can make head shots on a police silhouette target at 7-9yards with it--Unless you are a hi-cap aficionado, I don't think you could do much better for a carry gun.

jhm123 · Post by **jhm123** » August 3rd, 2006, 5:18 pm

scbackpacker:

Defintely a quality weapon & an even better value. Proper prep work is key to most any finish, but on most of the 64's I've seen, the bluing looks great (my preference in a handgun finish).

Far as the coatings, I've only worked w/ Gun Kote, but so far so good.

JHM

tunnelrat · Post by **tunnelrat** » August 6th, 2006, 10:07 pm

but on most of the 64's I've seen, the bluing looks great (my preference in a handgun finish).

Yup, me, too! I've had one of my 1911's DiamondKoted. It looks nice, but I prefer bluing as long as it will last. The blue on both my P-64's is every bit as nice as that on my Browning Hi-Power -- and that's saying a lot!

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