Thumb safety issue

[sadrake13]

Took delivery of my 1969 P-64 today. Boiled it to remove the cosomoline and it worked like a charm, however, now that I'm attempting to put it back together the thumb safety is stuck and I can't take it off safety. Does it need to be lubed? Any ideas?

[juniustaylor]

Maybe you got something put in wrong or something is bound up. Otherwise, I don't see the boiling affecting anything to cause the safety to not work. Some are just real stiff. The concaved spots on the safety barrel are quite deep and the detent (plunger) sits in them deep. The spring for the detent is usually stiff as well, so it may feel difficult for it to unseat and rotate to the next position, and back. Some folks cut a little off that spring, I used a file to make a better slope on the convexed indents so that it would be a bit easier for the detent (plunger) to slide out of them. You can try to apply oil, I find that gun grease works better IMO. Try to disassemble and reassemble the slide.

[sadrake13]

I did not disassemble the slide components. Only the slide, grips, and mainspring. The wierd part was that it worked o.k. before I boiled off the cosmoline and now it is very stiff. I did manage to get it to move but I had to tap it with a rubber mallet. I'm thinking that if I work it enough it will lossen up. I don't want to disassembly the slide components as I am not that knowledgeable about that part of the weapon.

[juniustaylor]

You may have to disassemble it, use the directions on the main P-64 Resource website or, watch one of the several YouTube videos on disassembly. They should cover the slide component removal. You should really clean the cosmoline out of those tiny crevices. I'd think that boiling would only do so much. The disassembly is real easy. Use a large gallon sized Zip-Loc to put the slide in when removing the safety barrel to keep from losing the 2 springs inside there.

[sadrake13]

Thanks juniustaylor. I'll give it a shot and let you know how I make out.

[juniustaylor]

I just checked YouTube, pretty much worthless on how to disassemble the slide, they only showed how to break it down for field strip...

This is the link to the PDF for the whole gun. The instructions seem to be for "re-assembly" but you can figure out how to disassemble by going in reverse order.
http://p64resource.com/board/P64_%20Assembly.pdf

I'll look forward to hearing back from you.

[sadrake13]

Thanks again for the heads up. I found a solution! I busted out some Break Free from my gun cleaning kit and doused the safety mechanism. After 10 minutes of soaking the slide worked like a charm! After my Army ROTC days in college I should have known that Break Free would have solved the issue. We used Break Free to clean every weapon we used. The stuff is "magic in a can"!

[juniustaylor]

That's good to hear that you got it working good.

[jobot]

Thanks again for the heads up. I found a solution! I busted out some Break Free from my gun cleaning kit and doused the safety mechanism. After 10 minutes of soaking the slide worked like a charm! After my Army ROTC days in college I should have known that Break Free would have solved the issue. We used Break Free to clean every weapon we used. The stuff is "magic in a can"!

is this the right stuff?
http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... 8wIwADgA#p
I am having the same problem with my new p64

[gwbiker]

I used Break Free on a stiff thumb safety assembly, but found is continually leaked out soiling a holster.

Solution was to completely disassemble the safety, clean with a good solvent, then LIGHTLY lube with Slide Glide.

[manicmechanic]

You can always hit it with the air compressor after getting it lubed and freed up, that should get rid of the excess oils.