Double Action. Why?

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pablomoca
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Double Action. Why?

Post by pablomoca »

Hey everyone. I recently picked up a Polish P64 and honestly have yet to fire it. I did read reviews and watched as many YouTube videos as I could on it and the same issue kept coming up. The terrible double action trigger. I was sure this was an exaggeration and there was no way it could be that bad. Well I was unfortunately proven wrong, and I feel the double action trigger is horrible. If I jerk the trigger I can get it to pull back all the way, but if I try to slowly squeeze the trigger, it get's to a point where I cannot continue unless I use both hands. (Why would they purposefully design a trigger like this to be carried in a self defense weapon? I know it might be considered a "safety feature", but at what point did they decide a 20+ pound double action trigger would be the way to go?)

I was aware that this might be the case so I had some Wolff Springs on hand to switch out the factory ones. I installed the 18lb hammer spring and a 20lb recoil spring. This greatly helped the double action trigger, but I still found that the trigger if pulled slowly gets stuck at a point that requires a significant amount of force to pull all the way through.

Is there anything that I can do to get a smooth trigger pull in double action? I cleaned the lubed the gun as best I could which helped with the safety/decocker moving freely (I know that's unrelated to the trigger), but the trigger is the same.

Thanks for any advice you might have.
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Curly1
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by Curly1 »

Welcome to the forum.

Changing the spring is pretty much the main action you can do to improve the trigger action.
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Gary
pablomoca
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by pablomoca »

Hello Curly1. Thanks for the welcome! I actually took the P64 out this morning and took a look at it. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems after about a week of it having been lubed with Ballistol the trigger seems to be getting a little better. I basically cleaned it up with mineral spirits to get all of the cosmoline off and then went over the whole thing with Ballistol to lube it up. When I finished I put in a small plastic Zip Loc bag without wiping off too much of the Ballistol. Like I said once I took it out today and wiped down the outside I tried the trigger and it did feel noticeably better. I can now squeeze the trigger all the way through.

Thanks for the response also. I was a little afraid this might be a dead forum and I wouldn't get any response.

I'll make sure to post something after I take it out to the range for the first time.
Ketchman
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by Ketchman »

Welcome aboard man. Yeah the trigger is very stiff but it will work in. A lot of these weapons got very little trigger time before being sold off as surplus and the cosmoline in the works probably made it even stiffer. Changing out the hammer spring will make it lighter.
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pablomoca
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by pablomoca »

I'm not sure if I should create a new post for this, but for now I'll just add to this one. I finally took my P64 out a couple of weeks ago and put 150 rounds through it. I did have the new Wolfe springs installed for this trip. Actually I never fired it with the original springs installed, so I really have nothing to compare it to.

Let me tell you though this little gun packs a wallop! I mean I can fire my Glock 30SF ( a 45ACP) all day and it feels a million times better than this little guy. After 150 round I couldn't take it any more. In all fairness and this might be because of the light single action trigger due to the new springs, or maybe even because of the fixed barrel compared to the Glock, but initially I was able to shoot much more accurately with the P64. After all was said and done I ended up with a nice bruise on my thumb from shooting it. I was able to go out to the range about 4 days later and since my bruise was still there I was only able to put about 12 rounds down range before the pain became too much.

Great accurate gun, but maybe I need to look into some aftermarket grips for extended range sessions.

One thing that still bothers me though is the rough double action trigger. Now mind you the stout pull is not what bothers me. For me the problem is that the trigger pull is not smooth. Now apparently at some point this thread had the same problem and figured it out viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5584 , but since it was posted the pictures have been removed from the original post. I would love to try this fix, and apparently so would other members, but I'm a little wary without having some proper guidance. If anyone has pictures a video describing what needs to be done to smooth out the trigger pull we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks guys/gals for any help provided. I'll continue to post anything that I might think is helpful here.
Ketchman
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by Ketchman »

150 rounds is pushing my limit with stock grips too. We have a brother on this site, goes by "polishiron68" and he makes grips for this little beastie that are devine, both in feel and in helping with the recoil. Go here for where to order them. I was in the production testing group and I can tell you they are the bomb.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6031&p=55206&hilit= ... ips#p55206

As far as the unsmooth double action, again, these guns did not get shot a lot while in service and the sears and drawbar surfaces need to mate with each other and shooting the guns makes the action smoother. Get some snap caps and dry fire but only use snap caps, Do NOT dry fire without a snap cap or AZoom device as the firing pins are prone to breaking under excessive dry firing. But just work the trigger group and it will get smoother. And get the cosmoline cleaned out. Biggest thing you can do at first to help all functioning of the pistol.
Now go forth and enjoy my son. :D
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OG17
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by OG17 »

Welcome to the "Brotherhood" Pablo. When I got it, I installed the Wolff 18# hammer and 22# recoil springs and took it to the range. The DA was nice but the SA was a hair trigger. I would say 2 lbs-2.5 lbs. I have now installed the 20# hammer spring and I'm going to try to shoot it today and see how it goes.

I put on the Polishirons grips and extended magazine release on it and it does make a difference in absorbing the recoil. I checked his eBay store and he didn't have any in stock. His seller ID is czakp-64. Keep checking regularly to see if he has any stock or shoot him an email through eBay.
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Curly1
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by Curly1 »

Welcome to the forum Pablo
Laugh Hard and Often.

Gary
pablomoca
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by pablomoca »

Thanks OG17 I'll check out that grip I have seen some posts about it here. Thanks for giving me the sellers ID. Thanks for the welcome Curly1.
BeoBill
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by BeoBill »

Welcome Pablo. You'll enjoy the Polish Iron grip. Well worth getting.
superc
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by superc »

I think the trigger pull issue is directly related to the past experience of the shooter. If you grew up on DA revolvers and learned young how to cope with Colt 1878/1902s or RG revolvers the long and stacking DA pull of the P64 is virtually a non-issue. If however all you know is SA semi-autos like the 1911 or striker fired stuff like a Glock, then the P64 is a rude surprise. If you can rapid fire a Rohm .32 then the P64 is nothing. Do the old dime trick. Put a dime on the slide and practice the DA pull while holding the sight on a target. Eventually you will learn how to pull the trigger without jerking it. Should you Wolff spring it? Sure, why not? Do you have to to hit a target? No..
superc
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by superc »

Noting also some of the last month of production WW2 products from Walther and Mauser had equally horrid trigger pulls.
snailman153624
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by snailman153624 »

superc wrote:I think the trigger pull issue is directly related to the past experience of the shooter. If you grew up on DA revolvers and learned young how to cope with Colt 1878/1902s or RG revolvers the long and stacking DA pull of the P64 is virtually a non-issue. If however all you know is SA semi-autos like the 1911 or striker fired stuff like a Glock, then the P64 is a rude surprise. If you can rapid fire a Rohm .32 then the P64 is nothing. Do the old dime trick. Put a dime on the slide and practice the DA pull while holding the sight on a target. Eventually you will learn how to pull the trigger without jerking it. Should you Wolff spring it? Sure, why not? Do you have to to hit a target? No..
Actually it is an issue, because the loads get so high trigger pins can snap, and on one I tried, no amount of force would reliably fire it. The problem was the spring was so stiff, the effective friction coefficient was > 1, meaning the more force you put on it, the more it would take to get the trigger to move.
jlag19
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by jlag19 »

BeoBill wrote:Welcome Pablo. You'll enjoy the Polish Iron grip. Well worth getting.
Will the original mag release still work with a Polishirons grip installed? Or is it necessary to switch out the original mag release for the extended one that is sold by the same seller? Thanks.
Ketchman
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Re: Double Action. Why?

Post by Ketchman »

the original mag release works pretty well.with the Polish Iron grips. My setup is that way.
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