The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Hey guys, I am a new p64 owner and new to the forum. I was so happy the day the pistol arrived at my door I couldn't wait to try her out. After examining the pistol and determining that everything looked in good working order that evening I took it to the range and fired 50rds. However, every other round or two the pistol would not return to battery. I haven't had any FTF or failures to eject, just failure of the slide not going into battery. I have since cleaned, re-cleaned and cleaned again. I took it to the range today and tried her out again. I fired 100rds with only about 15-20 times the pistol didn't return to battery. Now that's better than the first time but still bothersome. I have examined the casings and they seem to be gouged a little more than my other pistols at the site where the extractor rides over the rim of the casing. Is this normal? Or do I maybe have an extractor that is a little too stiff. By the way I should mention the pistol is in excellent condition and appears to have been only fired a few times. Also, I am using cheap Russian LVE Green Box Ammo. Ammo problem maybe? Any help would be appreciated as I would like this to be a carry pistol if I can get the kinks worked out.

The P64 can sometimes be somewhat sensitive to case lengths that are even very fractionally long. It will engage the out-of-battery disconnector.

See my thread here in this subforum: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4803

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

I am going to order some more ammo and see how it does with another brand. I will use up the LVE ammo in my CZ-82. Thanks for the response.

Welcome to the forum.

+1 on trying different ammo, Silver bear works great in mine.

I like the Silver Bear too, also the Fiocchi and Sellier and Bellot depending on what is available locally at the time.

I will try silver bear this next time. My XD, Bersa, and CZ-82 have spoiled me they all eat anything I feed em.

Christoff... welcome!

When you say it is not going into battery, what do you mean? Is there a noticeable gap so you know the slide is not in battery? Or does the slide appear to be all the way forward but you have a limp trigger? Knowing which situation it is may help one of us figure out your problem. The marks on the case head seem strange. Extractor spring could just be a bit stiff if it's in mint condition.

juniustaylor wrote:Christoff... welcome!

When you say it is not going into battery, what do you mean? Is there a noticeable gap so you know the slide is not in battery? Or does the slide appear to be all the way forward but you have a limp trigger? Knowing which situation it is may help one of us figure out your problem. The marks on the case head seem strange. Extractor spring could just be a bit stiff if it's in mint condition.

There is a gap maybe a few millmeters and the trigger does reset. pulling the trigger results in no strike to the primer. I manually worked the extractor and it doesn't seem to stiff, I oiled and cleaned the area and spring for the extractor. However, the only marks on the casing are two distinct marks where the extractor rides over the lip of the case. Any ideas?

After reading my last post I didn't make it too clear, there is a gap when the slide doesn't return to battery..

Are you seeing the gap when you look in the ejector port? It is normal for the muzzle of the gun to protrude a bit past the slide when a round is in the chamber. Look at these 2 pictures:
EMPTY CHAMBER:


LOADED CHAMBER:


So the hammer is falling, but not resulting in a good strike on the primer? You said the trigger resets, so I'm assuming you're able to pull it and cause the hammer to fall like normal?

It's a possibility the extractor may have a couple sharp spots on it, so it scratches the brass on the case head as it slips over the head. It will probably smooth out over time, or you can take a Dremel with a cotton wheel and some polish and expedite the process.

Here is a picture representing about how far out of battery it has been. I didn't actually fire or chamber a round I pulled the slide back to approximately where the slide has been stopping. The only I could truly recreate the problem would be to fire some rounds and my range doesn't allow pictures. I also took some more pics of the extractor.

OH MY! That is way excessive!!! Would be good to try another ammo brand and see if it is the same way. If so, the chamber must not be cut in far enough or something.

This is where my case stops when putting it in the chamber:


Extractor doesn't seem to look bad. I think it may just be somewhat rough since the guns looks like it hasn't been shot much. I think it will be fine. Hope you get the problem of not going into battery fixed.

Take a tooth pick or something and make sure your loaded chamber indicator is free. You should be able to push it way in and it will return freely. This is probably ok. What I see interesting is the cartridge feed protrusions. They both have shiny marks. They are either side of the half circle in the middle picture showing in front of the extractor. These strip of a new round from the magazine and carry it into the chamber. I have blown up this middle picture and noticed that the top ear may not be beveled on the end towards the inside like the bottom ear. Also I do mot understand why both tits of these lugs are shiny. This may not be anything to be concerned with, but look at your feed ramp and chamber area and see if these are dragging/hitting anything. Also with your recoil spring off and slide back on, the slide should easily go all the way forward. Thanks for the post and pics.

To: Junius, the cartridge is seating properly from what I can tell. Let me tell you what exactly happens when the gun doesn't return to battery. I fire a cartridge, slide doesn't close fully, I remove the magazine, rack the slide manually, the cartridge in the chamber remains there when I rack it manually as the extractor hasn't engaged it, the manual racking closes the slide as normal with the extractor in it's normal position., I reinsert the magazine and all is well. I'm ordering some new ammo this weekend and I ordered some Wolff recoil springs for the off chance that it's a recoil spring issue cause as I stated it always closes when racked by hand.
To: Fully Machined, I have tested the loaded chamber indicator and it is fully functional and free from any remnants of cosmoline. As far as the cartridge feed protrusions, I see what you mean in the picture but that is an optical illusion caused by the lighting, they are beveled inwards and do not have any worn areas.

Thank you both for the ideas, if anything I think it's ammo or extractor spring related, or maybe it just needs to be broken in a bit. As I said before the gun is in flawless almost unfired condition

I was thinking about it when I was going to sleep. I had wondered if the extractor wasn't going over the rim of the case head. That would make the slide look like the picture you showed, where the barrel was showing the amount that it was. Would be worthwhile to see about getting the extractor out and smoothing it up a bit. Also try changing the recoil spring like you're saying if it happens to be real weak and isn't getting the extractor to slip over the cartridge rim. I think you may be getting somewhere.

I'll see about getting the extractor out of mine and take a couple pictures so you can see what mine looks like.