Review: Keepshooting P64 Magazines

[snailman153624]

To start off, I'm relatively new to the P64, but other than the craptastic DA pull, it's a fantastic pistol with incredible accuracy, and zero problems. It's got a 1976 born-on date, and only came with 1 magazine...searching for spares turned up keepshooting.com

Strong points:
Brand new
Relatively inexpensive (~$21 each, including shipping)
High quality blued-steel case, metal follower, and spring
Look almost identical to the factory originals, including the plastic base


Weak points:
Lips at the top of the magazine were curled in a little tighter than the factory mag, which resulted in jams when hand-cycling. The lips would hold onto the round too tightly, which kept the round from tilting up into the chamber until too late during the feed cycle. Both magazines had this issue; I had to spread the feed lips slightly with a block of wood to get reliable hand cycling. This also resulted in very slight (not visible to the untrained eye) bulging out of the top of the magazines, as the lips are also slightly longer. This, in turn, causes the magazines to fit a little bit tighter into the pistol frame compared to the factory magazine.

Also, be careful not to over-expand the lips, or the magazine will either not fit, won't lock into place, or will let rounds sit too high, causing a different kind of FTF.


Summary:
Despite initial concerns (i.e. FTF/jams when hand cycling...factory mag cycled by hand with no issues), both magazines cycled perfectly fine when actually firing both FMJ round-nose and JHP SB and other Barnaul factory rounds. Roughly 50 rounds were put through each without any issues.

In conclusion, these are an excellent value, and I would buy again. If you buy these, plan to test them and make minor adjustments to the lips as needed...it's possible these would have cycled without any adjustments, but being able to hand-cycle a pistol is important for a variety of safety and usability reasons.


Other Considerations:
The only alternative I could find was finding used factory originals, for almost double the price. I've also seen slight variations in the exact shape of the original magazines (judging by photos) between earlier production runs and later ones...it's possible these aftermarket ones were based off of an earlier design, or a hybrid. With that said, they may work better (or worse) in a different vintage pistol.

[juniustaylor]

Good review snailman. Very helpful for anyone considering buying any of these.

[Curly1]

NIce job!

[fully machined]

Thanks for the review on the Keepjamming magazines.
I just checked and SOG still has them listed.
When you enter in the search box, do not us a dash--use---p64
The middle one is their number:


Polish Makarov P64 Magazine
SAC-P64MAG
$17.95

[PD2]

Thanks for the review. It narrows it down for my next mag purchase.

[eclipse57]

Thanks for the review on the Keepjamming magazines.
I just checked and SOG still has them listed.
When you enter in the search box, do not us a dash--use---p64
The middle one is their number:


Polish Makarov P64 Magazine
SAC-P64MAG
$17.95

Yep I agree. I bought 4 of these from SOG. I did not have to adjust anything. All 4 magazines have functioned flawlessly!

Why buy aftermarket when surplus is available?

[snailman153624]

Thanks for the review on the Keepjamming magazines.
I just checked and SOG still has them listed.
When you enter in the search box, do not us a dash--use---p64
The middle one is their number:


Polish Makarov P64 Magazine
SAC-P64MAG
$17.95

Are these the same ones as keepshooting, or are they factory originals? I remember coming across these, but with shipping they ended up costing more...plus I was uncertain of the condition they would be in (new/used/abused).

Despite my initial hand cycling issues, these worked out fine. I was happy to see a company actually making new parts for old hardware. It's rare for reproduction parts to be as good or better than the originals.

On the flip side, when you're buying used originals, they can be in rough shape, damaged, worn out, etc. Unless you inspect them and try them in your pistol, it's a shot in the dark. You may get some mint ones, you may get some abused ones.

[fully machined]

I am glad too that someone else is making stuff for the P-64. As for the mags I have not ordered any but they are factory- some reports of getting new, used. You know the deal.
Thanks again for the time and effort to do the write up.

[cwrgb]

http://www.southernohiogun.com/ammo-mag ... azine.html

[Huff]

Bought extra from SOG with gun, factory original with electro pencil ser# for some other gun. works perfect, no mods
huff

[Legally Armed]

FTF's when hand cycling mean nothing. I have some cz-82 mags which will FTF when hand cycling every single round, yet when you actually fire them, work 100%. Go figure.

[norman]

Bought extra from SOG with gun, factory original with electro pencil ser# for some other gun. works perfect, no mods
huff

Unfortunatly "out of stock" right now.

[normsutton]

sorry but these mag's from keepshooting.com, are garbage they came in about 2008 , don't believe there hip , they are the only ones making after market mags,
you are better off getting ordinals they will last a lot longer and work without bending anything
NORM

[surfzombie]

I thought about buying some but always wondered if they were any good. Glad I waited and didn't waste my money. Information here is very helpful. Thanks