The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

I've fired several hundred rounds through my P-64 now; great pistol with great accuracy. Two mags came with it, one with the gun's serial number electro-penciled on it. The other mag often gives trouble with the 6th round, failure to feed properly, but the gun's original mag has behaved itself. However, today at the range after firing about 70 rounds, I had two instances (one with either mag) where the slide only returned about 95% to battery necessitating a light tap on its rear to complete the trip. I was using Silver Bear ammo. I believe I cleaned the gun completely after the previous range session. Is my problem the spring (looks and feels okay, but what do I know?) and, if it is, what kind of replacement spring should I buy?

I'd suggest polishing the feed ramp. They are pretty rough from the factory, and when you smoothen this out it chambers much more nicely. About 1 minute with a dremel (cloth/soft tip) and some polishing compound, it will have a mirror finish.

Thanks, snailman; I'll give it a try with Flitz. Do you think it could be fouling there from the first 70 or so rounds? I didn't have any problem till then. (I also noticed during the cleaning that followed the range trip that the grooves for the slide rails were fairly dirty. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with the problem. As I said, the slide returned almost completely to battery, but just that smidgen of space remaining left the trigger inoperative naturally.)

It won't hurt to get a qtip in all those hard to reach places, and use enough FrogLube.

Sometimes the springs do get worn out over time/use. Wolff make good replacement springs. However if you do decide to go that route you will need to grind the ends to match your factory spring. There is plenty of discussion of this if you search the forum.

Weasel640 wrote:Sometimes the springs do get worn out over time/use. Wolff make good replacement springs. However if you do decide to go that route you will need to grind the ends to match your factory spring. There is plenty of discussion of this if you search the forum.

+1 on grinding the ends of the replacement spring. Look at the original (18 lbs) to see what is meant. Also, I had some with this same issue so replaced using the Wolff 20 lb. spring to give the slide a bit more power to close. But DEFINITELY grind the ends!!!

Gents,

I stripped my P64 and found the recoil spring is not ground. I purchased this gun from the importer (CAI I think) more than 10 years ago so I don't believe the spring would have been replaced. What does grinding the spring do anyway and how much do you grind off?

Regards,
Jeff

Glad you asked this. I was wondering the same thing myself but was reluctant to ask since everyone here seemed to know exactly what was meant. In fact, if someone answers, could he (or she) explain precisely what needs to be done and how? I love guns, but mechanically I'm a dope.

Fair enough. Pictures required b4 and after, from our experts!..por favor.

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The ends of the spring that touches the metal on both ends shroud be ground flat eliminating the roundness.

Procedures and pics here.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3447&p=39176&hilit=dowel#p39176

Thanks, Gary. The explanation is clear and the photos really help. Looks like an easy fix even for a duffer like me. Thanks again.

Just to re-iterate what's been said a hundred times (every time this topic comes up), there are many who never grind the springs and never have a problem. No one has yet to offer an explanation as to why grinding it would be necessary or beneficial, other than the original spring was flat on the ends.

I suspect the few people who have had a problem actually just installed the spring backwards. It is slightly tapered, and the tight end is supposed to go over the barrel, right where it meets the frame. The looser end should be towards the muzzle so that it can easily slide over the barrel as the slide cycles. If you get it backwards, the slide won't move as freely and you will have problems with it cycling reliably.

Spring installed correctly (narrow end at frame) and unground spring ends make removing the slide EXTREMELY difficult if not almost impossible. I've had that problem and needed a younger, more powerful friend to "mule" that slide off! I own a Bersa Thunder 380 pistol that is the same. Spring needs proper orientation AND ends are ground flat like the OEM P64 springs are. It DOES make a difference.

Interesting. As they say, live and learn. I have read at different spots on the site but I had never seen posts about the spring orientation before, wide aperture at the muzzle end. I am wondering now if my occasional problems with the slide not returning fully to battery are because of this. It could be I simply cleaned the gun and returned the spring to the barrel ass end forward without realizing it. Thanks to all of you for teaching me something new about the P-64.

Good point. You have to install the recoil spring correctly!

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