First time shooting my new P64

[former_usmc]

For as long as I can remember, I've always gone to the range to clear my head and relax, and since my oldest daughter started getting interested in it, few things beat a day at the range with her. My wife miscarried this week so I really needed something to occupy my mind. Although it was really an outing for us to work on her fundamentals, I did take the opportunity to shoot my new P64. My 15 year old daughter was shooting the ruger mark II .22 that I bought for her to learn on last summer.

Having in my mind what I had read on here about the recoil of the p64, it was about what I expected. It reminded me of my j-frame hammerless .38 that I use +p ammo in. Recoil was definitely felt but not so uncomfortable that I wouldn't want to shoot it. It was my first experience with the 9x18, and I definitely like it better than .380.

I had Hornady JHP, S&B green/red box, S&B white box, winchester, monarch and norinco but I only took the winchester and monarch with me since this outing was really for my daughter. I ended up shooting 25 rounds of winchester and 10 rounds of monarch and shot 30 rounds of .45 in my 1911.

Grouping was very tight at 10 yards. I always shoot in 5 round groups and every group was consistent, and I had no feeding or ejecting issues at all. Both the matching numbered mag and extra mag worked flawlessly and for the price point, it has to be the best bang for the buck I've ever had. I never imagined that something so inexpensive could be so high quality. It was fun to shoot but as a personal rule of thumb, I won't conceal carry it until I have 200 flawless rounds under my belt with it. I can already see though that it will be a reliable shooter.

I have had a window open on my laptop to order the wolf springs since last week but I wanted to wait until I shot it to see how I felt about it. Having felt the recoil on it, I'm going to go ahead and order the 20lb recoil spring. I guess while I'm ordering, I'll go ahead and get the 18lb hammer spring too. I'm looking forward to seeing the difference the new recoil spring makes.

I'm already leaning towards the cz-82 and bulgarian makarov as my next few purchases. I think I'm hooked on these 9x18's!

[surfzombie]

I too just shot mine for the first time this week and was going to get a new recoil and main spring but after shooting it I decided to keep the stock recoil spring and maybe get the #19 hammer or main spring. I have a hogue rubber slip on grip that takes up a lot of the vibration from the recoil. I thought that the recoil was not bad at all and in my mind less than my C-82.

[TriggerMortis]

Extremely sorry to hear about your misfortune. Such an event can be very difficult to get past. I'll pray for your family.

On another note, I was super stressed out once and a trip to the range seemed to iron a lot of it out. weird.

[waltham41]

Very sorry for you and your wife. You both have my condolences.

The CZ82 is a great pistol to shoot, no experience in the Makarov pistols, but the FEG PA63 is another nice pistol in the 9x18 family of pistols.

[former_usmc]

Thanks to you both. It's definitely a tough thing to have to deal with. With 2 kids already, I never imagined that it was even a possibility but I guess you just never know.

Thanks again!

[mattwestm]

Definitely get a CZ-82. I mainly use it for a bedside gun, but I carry it sometimes. The only problem is the frame is a little thick because of the double stack magazine. I love the 9x18 round too and I think it's my favorite handgun round. Cheap and fun to shoot!