Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

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Borg Warner
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Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Borg Warner »

I ordered a P-64 from AIM and I paid $10 dollars for special select, and it comes with 2 mags. I'm hoping for one made in either 1966, because that was the year I graduated from High school, or 1969, which was the year I got drafted into the military. Both were monumental years in my life. I've heard younger guys who've bought these pistols wanting to get one made in their birth year but I was born long before these guns came to be.

Last year I was looking for a Walther PP in 32 acp but couldn't find one I could afford because I didn't want to pay more than $450. So I picked up a Hungarian Feg PA63 variant that had a black anodized frame for more than half any walther's price and was very similar to a walther PP except that it was chambered in 9mm Mak which I consider a better round than the .380 or the 32.

But when I took the gun out to shoot it wouldn't eject, so I took it home and took it apart and it was missing the ejector. So the seller refunded my money and then some time went by and AIM surplus emailed me and said that they had Hungarian FEG AP-MBP's in 32 auto available so I got one, and I like it, But I still had 3 boxes of 9mm Mak that I had intended to sell when I returned the Feg PA63 and never got around to selling the ammo and then AIM had these P-64's on sale and the more I learned about these guns the more I wanted one and having that ammo was my excuse for needing to buy one.

So I have one on order and I've also ordered wolf springs for it and I'll have my gunsmith do a trigger job on it. I've never actually liked ANY gun with a DA/SA trigger but I figure I might as well make it as good as it can be. Some of rthese Mil-surp guns were carried a lot but shot very little and some of them will have their triggers lighten up from just running a hundred rounds through them. That's what happend with my Feg .32.

Here's something I found to be interesting just from doing a little research: the P-64 is almost identical in dimensions to a walther PPK EXCEPT that it has the grip length and height of the walther PP but the barrel and slide length of the PPK and also has a width closer to the PP rather than the PPK, the PP being wider. And the p-64 actually needs to be wider because it's designed around the slightly larger diameter .366 Makarov cartridge. The walther PP pre-dated the PPK, so when they made the PPK they slimmed it down a little even though both guns were made to chamber the .380.
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Curly1
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Curly1 »

Welcome to the forum Borg.

Post up some pics when you get it.
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Gary
finloq
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by finloq »

You certainly have done your research
Borg Warner
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Borg Warner »

I picked up the gun from my local FFL holder yesterday. They are two friends of mine who own a company that refinishes firearms and both guys are Xlnt gunsmiths. I ordered springs from Wolff including a new factory weight recoil spring and those were installed and I for the hammer spring I ordered the combo pack with 3 different spring weights and had them put in the lightest one, 18 pounds, and today I'm going to try it out with some silver bear ammo and 95 grain Hornady critical defense to see if those will feed O.K.. And I have some Underwood 115 grains Plus+p's on order.

I paid 10 bucks xtra for hand select and the pistol looks brand spanking new. I have to wonder if it was ever issued or even fired. It has one single scratch on it abnd that is on the right side where the approx., 2" long cocking serrations are and one of the "fins" is showing white metal which I can touch up with cold blue. None of the anodized alumuinum frame has a singles scratch or wear marks. And the muzzle end of the slide shows absolutely no holster wear.

The barrel is hard-chromed and looks new, and appears to only have 3 lands and 3 grooves. Some 1903 springfield rifles only had 2 lands and 2 grooves so this is not necessarily a bad thing, and I only mention it because it's unusual. I've heard that these gusn are accurate as most fixed barrel pistols are, but I'm about to find out about that. Even with the lighter hammer sporing and a trigger job, The trigger pull is still pretty stiff. But I've never liked DA/SA triggers anyway and have found it better just to hammer-cock them just as I would a single action colt or ruger blackhawk.

This pistol was made in 1975, a year I remember well back when I was in my 20's. Coincidentally, I have a number of guns made in the early to mid-seventies that are all in unusually nice condition. Two smith and wessons, a model 58 41 magnum, a model 28 Highway patrolman 357, a Wnchester model 94, and a Belgian Browning take-down 22 Semi-auto that my gunsmiths re-blued for me and I re-finished the wood with tung oil.

I'll take pictures of the gun when I take it out to a place down the road today and go shoot it.
Last edited by Borg Warner on November 8th, 2014, 11:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
Borg Warner
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Borg Warner »

Here are the pictures. they were taken outdoors on the hood of my jeep with a cheap camera and don't really do justice to how cherry this gun is. The spare mag in the picture is the one that does not match the serial number of the gun.

I fired Silver bear FMJ ammo, Hornady critical defense Ammo, and mixed one mag with both the hornady and the FMJ's. I even mixed in some .380 ammo and it functioned very well ing the gun and I even fired a mag mixed with .380 and silver bear, both FMJ's and the 380's didn't have half the recoil of the Mak ammo but it still didn't jam. I've seen ballistics figures that show the 9mm Mak to NOT be much more powerful than the 380 but I think the Makarov round is better than what the velocity numbers would indicate.

For that reason I also would like to see the Glock 42 offered in 9mm Mak as well as the 380. I like Glocks and have a compact 40 with a 9mm barrel for it, and a full size 10mm and I was disappointed when the buggers came out with a 380 instead of a single stack 9mm Luger in the same sized gun. I have some of the Underwood 9mm mak 115 grain plus+P ammo on order and that stuff makes the Makarov round even more superior to the .380. I'm also wondering if I can fire 380 ammo in it on a regular basis. I don't like the idea of firint the "wrong" ammo in any gun and have a separate 40 S&W barrel for my Glock 10mm even though the glock can fire both 40 and 10mm interchangeably without any problem.

But I'm pretty sure that the reason a Glock 20 can fire .40 ammo and this P-64 can fire .380 in spite of the fact both shorter rounds have a smaller rims and being a shorter cartridge which is suppose to headspace on the case mouth, is that both the Glock and the P64 have robust extractors with a relatively large gripping surface and are spring loaded with a strong spring so that it has a very good grip on the rim. So basically the two shorter cartridges headspace on the extractor.

But in the case of the Glock with the 10mm and the 40, these are very high pressure cartridges and firing the shorter round continually would likely do damage to the extractor, but likely NOT so with the P-64, at least I think so.... But I will try a box and see, and I'm motivated by the fact that the cost of even the cheap Russian steel case ammo in 9mak has gone up while the price of 380 has gone down in these post-ammo shortage times.

The recoil of this gun with the standard 9mm Mak ammo is not bad at all and with the plus P+ ammo I think that it will be tolerable. I rally like this pistol. I like it more than I thought I would except for one thing. The sights. Typical of a military firearm the sights are made for young recruits with really good eyes, not for 67 year old Geezers like me who is literally blind in one eye and can't hardly see out of the other because of macular degeneration. I think I'm going to have to learn the art of point shooting.

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leadhead2
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by leadhead2 »

I don't think P64's have alloy frames. I know mine doesn't.
Denny
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by normsutton »

Denny
is right there are no alloy framed P-64, they are all steel

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Curly1
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Curly1 »

I dont think you want to be shooting 380's in it.
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Borg Warner
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Borg Warner »

normsutton wrote:Denny
is right there are no alloy framed P-64, they are all steel

NORM"
Yes. I was mistaken on that. As far as firing .380's in it, I don't think it will hurt it, but I doubt that the accuracy will be any good and so far I can't find any 380 ammo that's any cheaper than 9mm Mak but I think Cabela's might have some.

The reason .380 will work, however is because the shorter smaller round headspaces on the extractor. I can fire 40 S&W in my 10 MM Glock for the same reason but it isn't good to do in the Glock because of the higher pressures of the .40 S&W which will put Xtra stress on the extractor and it's spring.
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Curly1
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Re: Ordered a P-64 from AIM Surplus

Post by Curly1 »

Borg Warner wrote:
normsutton wrote:Denny
is right there are no alloy framed P-64, they are all steel

NORM"
Yes. I was mistaken on that. As far as firing .380's in it, I don't think it will hurt it, but I doubt that the accuracy will be any good and so far I can't find any 380 ammo that's any cheaper than 9mm Mak but I think Cabela's might have some.

The reason .380 will work, however is because the shorter smaller round headspaces on the extractor. I can fire 40 S&W in my 10 MM Glock for the same reason but it isn't good to do in the Glock because of the higher pressures of the .40 S&W which will put Xtra stress on the extractor and it's spring.

Here is some discussion on not running 380 in a mak caliber pistol.

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads ... nad.90826/
Laugh Hard and Often.

Gary
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