The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

So hey guys I'm new here. Nice to meet you all. A guy from work is selling me a p64. I'm picking it up Sunday when I get back from vacation (yeah I'm at the beach throwing down some cold ones). I'm paying a 100 bucks for it. It only has 1 clip. what do I need to look for when buyng this? Any known failures etc? Thanks guys. I'm very excited to owning my first gun and which seems like a very appreciated gun as well.

Any moving parts. The issues with the safety have come up pretty regularly but there's also incidents of issues with the firing pin, extractor, etc.

$100 is a very good price assuming it is in decent working condition.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Thanks Kirk. I will look out for all of the mechanical items. I will clean it well and replace the springs and stuff. I'm sure I will find Valuable information on here on whay to buy to restore it properly.

As Kirk stated, mechanical pieces. The safety itself can become cracked due to brittleness and the sharp corners instead of being rounded. The firing pin can break also. If you nab it for $100, you can buy a firing pin ($15) or safety ($30'ish) from gunbroker.com. Check the disconnector as it can become wore out, make sure the hammer decocks when you move the safety to SAFE. Pull the slide back a little ways and try pulling the trigger, it should just move freely (this is to check the disconnector). Try the double action trigger pull, some folks report light strikes and such because the hammer isn't coming back far enough before the trigger bar lets it go (due to a worn area on the trigger guard). If you have an empty 9x18 case, take it with you and stick it in the chamber to make sure single and double action work, some folks reported that the pistol would function on an empty chamber, but not with it loaded. I don't know if anyone really figured that one out. Basically, just look it over real well and perform some various checks. FWIW.

Thank you much. That was good information. I will let you all know how it is when I get it Sunday. I'm already looking at grips lol. O yeah where to buy ammo? Online?

Yeah, online will give you about the best assortment and price. Local joints want too much for what you could get several boxes + shipping for. www.classicarms.us and wideners.com usually have some good specials on cases. ammunitiontogo.com and cheaperthandirt.com have good deals on single boxes as well. Try www.ammoengine.com to search for some of the best prices.

You don't need to change the springs. Especially without ever handling it first.

michaelap wrote:You don't need to change the springs. Especially without ever handling it first.

if you want DA to be usable, and want to not hate the pistol upon firing it, you do. i tried firing my pa-63 without a spring swap when i first got it, and it made me hate the thing so much, it sat unloved in my safe for months before i bought a spring swap. after the swap, it's a different gun.

not wanting to repeat this with my p64's, i did the spring swap first.

Legally Armed wrote:

michaelap wrote:You don't need to change the springs. Especially without ever handling it first.

if you want DA to be usable, and want to not hate the pistol upon firing it, you do. i tried firing my pa-63 without a spring swap when i first got it, and it made me hate the thing so much, it sat unloved in my safe for months before i bought a spring swap. after the swap, it's a different gun.

not wanting to repeat this with my p64's, i did the spring swap first.

I just got my first P64 about a week ago. The same day I ordered the pistol, I also ordered a new recoil spring and a set of mainsprings.

After I received the pistol, I cleaned it and took it to the range to try un-modified. DA trigger pull was nothing short of dreadful. SA trigger was quite nice, and overall, the pistol is extremely accurate (1/2 dollar sized groupings at 7 yards).

I decided to replace the stock mainspring with an 18# spring, but I'm going to leave the stock recoil spring in place. I'm afraid if I put a heavier recoil spring in, I'll have a heck of a time pulling back the slide!

Dwight

Congragulations on your new pistol. Shoot it a lot, become familiar with it, and enjoy one of the best bangs for the buck in the gun world!

michaelap wrote:You don't need to change the springs. Especially without ever handling it first.

I fully agree. It is fine as is. Try it first before you do anything.

Some us consider the stiff DA trigger pull as a kind of safety. When I go to the range, I never fire it DA, so no problem. A stiffer recoil spring will make little difference.

torpeau wrote:

michaelap wrote:You don't need to change the springs. Especially without ever handling it first.

I fully agree. It is fine as is. Try it first before you do anything.

Some us consider the stiff DA trigger pull as a kind of safety. When I go to the range, I never fire it DA, so no problem. A stiffer recoil spring will make little difference.

Do you ever carry this gun? If so, don't you think that never practicing with how the gun will fire on your first shot (i.e. DA) is a bad idea?

[quote="Legally Armedtle difference.[/quote]

Do you ever carry this gun? If so, don't you think that never practicing with how the gun will fire on your first shot (i.e. DA) is a bad idea?[/quote]

I can fire my P64s DA, but when I ever need to use, it will likely be cocked first.

I fired my P64 for the first time with its new 18# mainspring on Sunday (9/11). What a difference! The DA pull is still plenty heavy enough to be an effective safety feature, yet I was able to pull the trigger without the late-travel hand-shake that I had the prior week with the stock mainspring.

No problem firing the primers on the Brown Bear and Silver Bear rounds I was using. What a great pistol - and very accurate! I got 2 1/2"-3" groupings at 7-8 yards; plenty good enough to keep the zombies at bay. It has definitely earned a spot in my pocket with an Uncle Mike's pocket holster.

Dwight