New-to-me P-64 to the Range
Posted: December 11th, 2014, 3:32 pm
Took my Thanksgiving purchase from Classic to the range yesterday for the first time (arrived on 01 Dec via USPS). It arrived in good condition and no cosmo but a fair amount of gun oil. Two mags, one with the pinkie extension broken off but fully functional, the other in good condition altogether. Knowing I wasn't going to the range for over a week, I ordered a set of Wolff springs and made the changes before yesterday's outing.
No matter how many times I had read that these are prone to slide bite, I forgot all that in first-shot excitement and on the first shot put my left thumb over the back - got it bit! Drew a little blood but nothing badly hurt but my pride. Otherwise, it shot great. I can't see the front sight unless I hold my head well up (look through the bifocals) so accuracy loss was from my own technique. Since I didn't shoot it before making the spring change, I don't know how much effect it had but the DA pull is still pretty stiff and it does have a fair kick. Not enough kick that I can't shoot it one-handed, though. I'll probably experiment with paint dots on the sights to help see them, too (have seen the threads on that).
It cycled all 50 rounds of PPU 95gr round nose I fed it with no problem and flung the brass all over the place. Found one case way down the range about 20 yards. Buddies I was with said they saw them spinning vigorously on the floor after they landed. I collected 48 of the 50 for reloading - I actually found some Titegroup at a LGS this week! - the other 2 cases went who-knows-where.
I'm more of a rifle guy - mostly WW2 wood and steel milsurps - so I've got a bit of learnin' to do with this. I'll probably use this for Carry if/when I get the Illinois CCW, and for making more noise at the indoor range over the winter than I can with my Ruger 22/45 (only other pistol). When the weather's nicer, I'm outdoors on the long ranges.
Here are a couple of views. It's definitely not unfired - wear on the finish from holstering and on the outside of the barrel from the spring dragging - but the bore is chrome-clean and sharp and the whole thing looks good to me. So far it reliably goes bang on command, too, so I'm pretty happy - now that I know where NOT to put my left thumb:
No matter how many times I had read that these are prone to slide bite, I forgot all that in first-shot excitement and on the first shot put my left thumb over the back - got it bit! Drew a little blood but nothing badly hurt but my pride. Otherwise, it shot great. I can't see the front sight unless I hold my head well up (look through the bifocals) so accuracy loss was from my own technique. Since I didn't shoot it before making the spring change, I don't know how much effect it had but the DA pull is still pretty stiff and it does have a fair kick. Not enough kick that I can't shoot it one-handed, though. I'll probably experiment with paint dots on the sights to help see them, too (have seen the threads on that).
It cycled all 50 rounds of PPU 95gr round nose I fed it with no problem and flung the brass all over the place. Found one case way down the range about 20 yards. Buddies I was with said they saw them spinning vigorously on the floor after they landed. I collected 48 of the 50 for reloading - I actually found some Titegroup at a LGS this week! - the other 2 cases went who-knows-where.
I'm more of a rifle guy - mostly WW2 wood and steel milsurps - so I've got a bit of learnin' to do with this. I'll probably use this for Carry if/when I get the Illinois CCW, and for making more noise at the indoor range over the winter than I can with my Ruger 22/45 (only other pistol). When the weather's nicer, I'm outdoors on the long ranges.
Here are a couple of views. It's definitely not unfired - wear on the finish from holstering and on the outside of the barrel from the spring dragging - but the bore is chrome-clean and sharp and the whole thing looks good to me. So far it reliably goes bang on command, too, so I'm pretty happy - now that I know where NOT to put my left thumb: