First Range Report - S-m-o-o-t-h

[MartyW]

Hi to all,

I had the P-64 at the range for the first time today. The P-64 was flawless and fun to shoot.

With the 22 lb recoil spring and 18 lb hammer spring, the pistol was a pleasure. I used a pair of half-finger weight-lifting gloves that have a little padding in the palm and a little between the thumb and fore finger. These gloves are cheap from Walmart.

I put 110 rounds through the P-64 without a single problem. I used four different types of ammo; PPU FMJ, PPU JHP, Brown Bear FMJ and Hornady CD. I filled some mags with the same ammo types and I also mixed different ammo types within mags and no matter what I did the P-64 functioned perfectly.

I had read that the P-64 wouldn't be much fun to shoot beyond about 50 rounds, but with the 22 lb recoil spring and my cheapo gloves, I shot all the ammo I had with me and I still had no hand/wrist aches or problems.

From this point I think the only other thing I'll do to this P-64 is put a drop of hi-viz light paint on the front sight as that was tough to acquire and hold during rapid fire. The shot groups were good but I had several flyers and I think most of these were due to me losing the front sight.

And after using the Lucas assembly lube on the safety and doing some light filing of the safety grooves & safety detent, and then working the safety back and forth by hand a couple hundred times over the past few days, the safety is smooth now and is positive in both safe and fire positions. I had ordered a replacement detent and detent spring thinking that I would cut a loop or two off the detent spring and maybe do some more filing on the detent, but now I'll just keep the new parts as spares.

Many thanks to all who have given me advice, help and suggestions,
Marty

[gemini1]

Glad you had a blast (pun intended) with your P64, Marty. If you're up to it, you can make your own hi-viz sight - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5646
I just switch from Permatex to JBWeld, cant wait to try it again.

[MartyW]

Thanks gemini1 for the front sight idea. It looks like you did a great job, congrats!

When you had the white on your front sight did it help some over the black?

I'll have to do some learning about fiber optics before I could attempt something like that. I see them on new pistols (in ads) but I don't know anything about them. While I'm learning I was thinking of touching a spot of high viz paint on that front blade. From what I saw today I think that would be way better than the black (especially shooting at black targets).

A few years ago I was looking for a front sight for an old rifle that I had gotten from a friend who had removed the front sight because it was in the way of his scope picture. I searched around the internet and found a website of a company that made special front sights with the fiber dot in them, and they had sights of multiple heights, widths and lengths. I'll look around and see if I can find that site again, and if anyone else knows what it is, please let me know. If I could spend just a few $$ and get something already made that would be super cool.... Many thanks again for the idea !!

[snailman153624]

Some of the sights out there actually contain a small amount of radioactive compound (tritium). This is what causes them to actually glow a little bit, even in complete darkness. That's why these have to be replaced after about 5 years, the tritium reaches a radioactive decay level where it no longer produces enough light to be perceptible. These usually cost around $50-$70.

There are also passive fiber optic sights that just pick up ambient light and focus it onto the end of a rod. These tend to be brighter in the day time, but don't perform very well when it gets really dark.

I personally think both are a waste of time/effort on a compact pistol. This thing is intended to be point and shoot, you don't have time to level sights in a real-world confrontation. I would work on grip technique to get a consistent aim without focusing on the sights, but rather what you are aiming at.

[MartyW]

Thanks snailman153624 for the optics info, and I'm in total agreement as to the practical point and shoot use of the P-64. You echo my thoughts for ccw, and ccw is the reason I got this neat little pistol. At the range I'm trying to find out what it (with me behind it) can do. I already know that its way better than I am. My wife is finally going for her permit in a few weeks so I'm going to the range with her and working with the P-64 while she works with her LCP. This evening my P-64 got a drop of hi-viz fingernail polish on the tip of the front sight. My wife picked out the hi-viz and she wants it on the front sight of her LCP also. We found a post where someone else used a drop of fingernail polish and liked it. So that will be my poor man's (and her poor women's) fiber optics for now...