P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

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Cyndicalist
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P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Cyndicalist »

Hello!

Proud new owner of a 1974 P-64 from AIM Surplus.

I am planning on fully cleaning my P64 - I just am not sure how far to tear it down. I was thinking of removing the grips, slide, and magazine, and the firing pin. But aside from that - should I break it down further?

I have the Iron Grips V.05 and wolff 18 and 19 hammer springs, firing pin spring, and 22Lb. recoil spring.

My plan is to clean it and lube it and shoot it stock for a while, just to break it in/feel it out - I might change the grip soon, but I wanted to try it with stock springs and see.

What else should I do? Any advice from folks on any of this? Anything that I forgot?

Thanks!
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by xcc_rider »

Does it look like it was soaked in cosmoline during storage or is it pretty clean?
If pretty clean (like mine was) then what you're doing is pretty good with the addition of oiling the wear parts. You don't need to strip it down to do this, just apply oil to any friction areas.
If covered in cosmoline then a thorough cleaning and oiling is in order.

BTW, put the grips on before shooting it and you'll never have that "I hate shooting this thing" feeling to get over.
(Not to mention you'll save on bandaides too)
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Granpooba »

xcc_rider wrote: March 27th, 2018, 10:17 pm Does it look like it was soaked in cosmoline during storage or is it pretty clean?
If pretty clean (like mine was) then what you're doing is pretty good with the addition of oiling the wear parts. You don't need to strip it down to do this, just apply oil to any friction areas.
If covered in cosmoline then a thorough cleaning and oiling is in order.

BTW, put the grips on before shooting it and you'll never have that "I hate shooting this thing" feeling to get over.
(Not to mention you'll save on bandaides too)
I agree with if it is not covered with cosmoline and pretty clean, I would not strip it all the way down.
Of course, I would remove the slide, magazine and grips. Then I would check to see how clean it is. If it is pretty clean, I would just try to clean it up a little more to your specs, then lubricate and reassemble.

The two P64's that I purchased were nice and clean. I disassembled, cleaned a little more, installed the Wolff Springs, lubricated and reassembled.

The only thing that I do not agree with and that is a personal decision. I have personally been told by the maker of Iron Grips to first shoot the firearm without their grips being on the firearm. Then and only then, install the Iron Grips as then you will appreciate the grips even more. :lol:
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Curly1 »

+1 field strip cleaning then shoot with stock grips and springs before changing anything.

Let us know how it turns out.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Cyndicalist »

First of all, thank you everyone for your thoughts and input really appreciate it.

I'm very happy to have found this board and a helpful and active Community around this small interesting pistol.

I did get to take a look at it and it was not cosmoline soaked, it looked like there might be some in the firing pin Channel but it looks like aim really cleans them before sending them out.

I have a few questions on the Wolff spring setup that people choose. I think I'm still deciding whether or not to shoot it without the iron grips or first, I'm going to consider that for a while. :)

I was thinking of setting up the 19 pound Hammer and 22-pound recoil spring as my setup. I am going to use it as a EDC probably and I wanted to lean on the heavier side. It could be that the stock is fine for my purposes, but I hear that's pretty rare . Down the line I may change the springs in, but that's what I'm thinking right now - after trying the stock springs for 200+/- rounds.

A second issue that I'm curious about is if people have a certain set of spare they suggest? Maybe $50 or $100 worth of parts that I should have? Or should I use that extra money on ammo or a holster? I have heard that Century Arms sells busted / training p64s and people will pick those up for parts. That's a little outside of my budget, but a firing pin and some springs isn't.

Thank you comrades. Again I very much appreciate your expertise, and have a great day!

P.S. I'll let people know how my first day at the range goes, and take some pictures.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Granpooba »

Cyndicalist wrote: March 28th, 2018, 6:39 pm First of all, thank you everyone for your thoughts and input really appreciate it.

I'm very happy to have found this board and a helpful and active Community around this small interesting pistol.

I did get to take a look at it and it was not cosmoline soaked, it looked like there might be some in the firing pin Channel but it looks like aim really cleans them before sending them out.

I have a few questions on the Wolff spring setup that people choose. I think I'm still deciding whether or not to shoot it without the iron grips or first, I'm going to consider that for a while. :)

I was thinking of setting up the 19 pound Hammer and 22-pound recoil spring as my setup. I am going to use it as a EDC probably and I wanted to lean on the heavier side. It could be that the stock is fine for my purposes, but I hear that's pretty rare . Down the line I may change the springs in, but that's what I'm thinking right now - after trying the stock springs for 200+/- rounds.

A second issue that I'm curious about is if people have a certain set of spare they suggest? Maybe $50 or $100 worth of parts that I should have? Or should I use that extra money on ammo or a holster? I have heard that Century Arms sells busted / training p64s and people will pick those up for parts. That's a little outside of my budget, but a firing pin and some springs isn't.

Thank you comrades. Again I very much appreciate your expertise, and have a great day!

P.S. I'll let people know how my first day at the range goes, and take some pictures.
Without checking my sheet, I believe that I have opted for the Wolff 18 - pound hammer spring in one P-64 and one 19-pound spring in another.

I have and did install a 16 pound spring, but then I read that folks were having problems with a 16 pound spring installed. Thus, even before I fired it, I opted to remove the 16 and install a 18 pound spring.

A lot of people myself included have had problems reassembling the P-64 after installing the Wolff recoil spring. If you check some of the forums subjects, you will find what people have discovered and their fixes. Supposedly Wolff knew of the problems and remedied them. I contacted Wolff myself and asked them if they sent me an old spring as I did have a problem putting the slide back on. Wolff stated, no they did not send an old spring and that all springs are new. BUT ! I and others still had problems. Knowing what I know now, I may have just stayed with the old original recoil spring. Also, folks have stated that they do not notice differences between the stock recoil spring and a new one. :?

As far as extra parts are concerned. You can just do a web search and you will find various part sources for this firearm. I have purchased a couple of small, inexpensive parts myself. Which I even found on EBAY. :lol:

Personally, I would not rush into purchasing a storage locker full of parts for this firearm. Take it to the range, handle it, shoot it and then decide how much you like it and if you want to spend further monies on it. As if I should give advise though as I have on order a set of Marschal grips at a price of $85.00 :roll:

Again personally, I really like this firearm and do not mind spending $$$$ to keep its condition up and fully operational. But then again, like I tell people ......... " I'm Polish ". And I just had to have this little goody. :D
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by jb1911 »

I've got 6 of these milsurp 9x18s and I totally stripped all of them as soon as I got them home. The extractors and firing pin channels need to be thoroughly cleaned and NOT lubed. It's also a good idea to check all the parts for wear.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Ketchman »

The firing pin channel NEEDS a light bit of lubrication if for nothing more than to prevent corrosion in a confined area that needs smooth unhindered movement of the firing pin to make sure of consistant ignition of possibly hard primers, ie: surplus ammo primers. Most of the steel case Eastern European ammo uses the same primers as the military grade ammo which are notoriously harder than US primers. Not lubing the firing pin channel may create movement robbing friction of the pin and spring that may cause inconsistant ignition.
Just do not go overboard with the lube and you will be fine.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Curly1 »

I shoot some Remoil thru a straw into the firing pin hole till it leaks out the back of the slide then repeat using compressed air til it runs dry out the back. That should be enough to keep things moving smooth.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Granpooba »

Curly1 wrote: March 29th, 2018, 12:20 pm I shoot some Remoil thru a straw into the firing pin hole till it leaks out the back of the slide then repeat using compressed air til it runs dry out the back. That should be enough to keep things moving smooth.
I would take " Curly 1's " advise ! He has always demonstrated a great deal of expert knowledge in regards to the P-64. :wink:
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Cyndicalist »

Thanks folks. I much appreciate it.

I want it to keep it in tip-top shape - I already got the springs and grips waiting by. I'll keep a spare spring or two just in case. I can't pick it up until next week though!
Too busy to stop by the shop.

Can't wait to clean, lube and take it to the range.

Oh! People often talk about polishing up the rougher portions of metal - is 000 steel wool or 600 grit sand paper good enough, if I need/decide to do that? Sorry, I'm going to keep thinking of questions. :)
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Ketchman »

Keep the questions coming, we love answering. What "rougher portions of metal" are you talking about. If it is the feed ramp, I would use nothing but 0000 grade steel wool, not 000 and 800 grit wet/ dry sandpaper. The job is to.polish the ramp NOT seriously change the ramp profile.
If your not talking about the feed ramp what are you talking about?
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Cyndicalist »

I think the ramp is what most people are talking about. That's what I've seen mentioned most here and elsewhere. I recall reading maybe polishing other portions? I don't konw.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Ketchman »

The ramp yes but again only polish do not use anything abrasive enough to remove enough metal to change the ramps geometry. The only other areas that I can think of that would benefit from polishing would be the safety barrel and detent and possibly along the frame rails but those will get polished quickly from shooting.
And the safety barrel / detent should be done if yours works very hard. If your safety works easily then I would leave it alone as the possibility of losing the detent and the spring is serious.
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Re: P64 Newb, assumptions and input requested from the collective p-64 brain.

Post by Cyndicalist »

Do I have to remove those in order to remove the firing pin? Worried about that.
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