P64 Slide not holding open

[roblox84]

I had a similar problem (partially) with one of my pistols. It locked back, all right - so tight you had to pry it back to get it to close!!! What was happening (all was stock) was that the lock-lever was sliding off that ridge in the slide that it is supposed to hit to stop the slide. Something somehow had worn it a bit and the lever slipped off, essentially pinching the ridge/slide between the lock-lever. I carefully bent the lever but I could never get it to act right. Finally, I took a Dremel with a pointed tip grinding bit and CAREFULLY ground the ridge flat and even ground back a TINY bit into the body of the slide to give more area to hit.

Swapped levers with another pistol and it has worked flawlessly since. Take a look with a light and see if the edge of that ridge where the lock-back lever hits is worn and silvery looking from the lever slipping off. That may have been your problem and if you can flatten out that ridge along with the new lever, I give you a good chance of having fixed your problem. Good luck! (There's a thread in here somewhere if you care to look.)

I'm having a little trouble finding this ridge that you mentioned but I will search for that thread to try and clarify. You're saying it's the part where the slide stop lever rides into, right?I added some pictures of the part where the slide stop hits and it does look worn out which I thought may be causing the problem. But if you look at the other pic then the slide stop touches a little higher then where that wear. Thank you for your reply.

[roblox84]

I looked closer and I did find the ridge you were talking about. It's so hard to see because it's so shallow. I will take a dremel to this and see if that makes a difference.

[robhic]

Pictures #1 and #3 are the ridge I mention. It is exactly where the lock-back lever hits to stop the slide when you run a magazine dry. I flattened it out and trued it up a bit. Then I got up the courage to indent slightly (stress SLIGHTLY!) the actual body of the slide to make that area a bit bigger. I also notice some bevel and wear at the bottom edge of your slide's ridge. I'm guessing it's because the lever keeps sliding down.

Flatten the ridge face. New lever if you have one and clean and true up as much of that area as you can and I'd predict you'll be good to go! Also, is the lock lever lifting up high enough? I believe mine hits about the middle of that side of the slide. The lever's spring might also be weak and at $6 you might keep that in mind, too.

HERE'S THE THREAD I MENTIONED: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5749&start=30

It's almost at the bottom of the 3rd page to save you some reading of irrelevant stuff!

[gemini1]

Also with regards to the recoil spring. Before you go on cutting it down by a coil, try to check first how much clearance it has between the slide stop and the ridge it sits on.

On my pistol, with the slide held back on an empty mag, I pulled the slide back, there is about 1/4" of clearance between the slide stop lever and the slide ridge it rest on.

Cutting the recoil spring by a coil, might end up having your slide sliding back further than its suppose to, which may ruin or induce premature wear on the areas the slide hits as it recoils back. Perhaps grinding it down slowly is a better option.

[roblox84]

Thanks a lot! I will try out all these suggestions

[roblox84]

Pictures #1 and #3 are the ridge I mention. It is exactly where the lock-back lever hits to stop the slide when you run a magazine dry. I flattened it out and trued it up a bit. Then I got up the courage to indent slightly (stress SLIGHTLY!) the actual body of the slide to make that area a bit bigger. I also notice some bevel and wear at the bottom edge of your slide's ridge. I'm guessing it's because the lever keeps sliding down.

Flatten the ridge face. New lever if you have one and clean and true up as much of that area as you can and I'd predict you'll be good to go! Also, is the lock lever lifting up high enough? I believe mine hits about the middle of that side of the slide. The lever's spring might also be weak and at $6 you might keep that in mind, too.

HERE'S THE THREAD I MENTIONED: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5749&start=30

It's almost at the bottom of the 3rd page to save you some reading of irrelevant stuff!

Well I did as you said, filled down that ridge to make it more square, installed new lever which does go up as high as it can. The gun locked back for the first few mags through just like before. And then I had another one of those jams where the stop lever slid off the slide and got pinched. After that the slide never locked back again. I took it apart and the rubbing motion of the slide against the lever basically undid my dremel work and now shaved even more metal of. Ill Post some picks.

[roblox84]

After these pics I dremelled more of an indent in that ridge, filed away some of the slide where the lever hits to maybe give it more wiggle room so its not being pushed off the ridge

[roblox84]

After the dremel work on the slide ridge

[roblox84]

This is how how the slide level hits the slide.

[robhic]

OK, this is perplexing. I went and looked at my P-64 that I did the work on and here's what I come away with:
1) Your Dremel work looks good and even a bit more than I did on mine. Maybe bevel it inward some, away from the edge? And, if you can, inward on an angle inward from the bottom edge up? (up to you.) My thought is to try to get the lever to be "coaxed" into hitting further upward and inward from where it's landing now.

2) The slide-lock lever is really chewed up! Mine didn't look that bad (even the original which I replaced.)

3) My lock-lever doesn't go up quite as high as I thought I remembered but .... it still is a tiny bit higher up than yours. There is about 1/16th" or less protruding below the lower edge of that ledge. I thought the entire face of the lever contacted the ridge squarely. I was off a bit. But it all contacts squarely.

Other than that, I dunno what to tell you. The ridge is flat (or beveled if you want...) and I'd smooth and straighten/true-up the end of the lock lever. If the lever is up as high as it will go and outward as far as it should be I can't think what would stop all from working. Keep trying and good luck - you're past what I had to do to fix mine, sadly.

[roblox84]

OK, this is perplexing. I went and looked at my P-64 that I did the work on and here's what I come away with:
1) Your Dremel work looks good and even a bit more than I did on mine. Maybe bevel it inward some, away from the edge? And, if you can, inward on an angle inward from the bottom edge up? (up to you.) My thought is to try to get the lever to be "coaxed" into hitting further upward and inward from where it's landing now.

2) The slide-lock lever is really chewed up! Mine didn't look that bad (even the original which I replaced.)

3) My lock-lever doesn't go up quite as high as I thought I remembered but .... it still is a tiny bit higher up than yours. There is about 1/16th" or less protruding below the lower edge of that ledge. I thought the entire face of the lever contacted the ridge squarely. I was off a bit. But it all contacts squarely.

Other than that, I dunno what to tell you. The ridge is flat (or beveled if you want...) and I'd smooth and straighten/true-up the end of the lock lever. If the lever is up as high as it will go and outward as far as it should be I can't think what would stop all from working. Keep trying and good luck - you're past what I had to do to fix mine, sadly.

Yep I hear you this is about the end of the road. If this doesn't work I'm just going to deal with it.

I did bevel the ridge inward, there is actually a lip on the outer edge now so hopefully that will keep the lever from sliding off.

Anyways thanks very much for the help.

[robhic]

Yep I hear you this is about the end of the road. If this doesn't work I'm just going to deal with it.
I did bevel the ridge inward, there is actually a lip on the outer edge now so hopefully that will keep the lever from sliding off.
Anyways thanks very much for the help.

I thought about that (with the same suggestion from Snailman, too, if I remember correctly...) bevel the ridge IN and the lever OUT so they mated. But then I was afraid I'd overdo something and that sucker would lock up!!! I'm really puzzled with the problem you're having. After I first started getting the lever pinching the ridge, I raised the lever and covered the assembly with a rag, gripped it lightly with vice-grips (!!!) and grabbed the end of the lever with some channel-lock pliers and BENT the lever outward. Didn't fix it so I bent it again as far as I dared. No luck.

So I then decided to go for it and beveled the ridge and exchanged the lock lever from another pistol. I also put the newly-bent lever in that pistol (which was running fine before I stole its lever...) and both pistols now seem to work fine. Why? Sh** if I know!!! But they do. The bent lever works fine in a non tampered with pistol and the non tampered with lever works fine in my Dremeled (is that a word?) pistol.

And I did a whole lot less grinding inside my slide to flatten and smooth the ridge. THAT'S why I am baffled why your efforts haven't made the pistol work properly.

And you are more than welcome for any help I have provided. I know how frustrating this can be. If I can help in ANY way don't hesitate to ask. Although my suggestions STILL haven't fixed your problem and that's not a good thing.

[roblox84]

Yep I hear you this is about the end of the road. If this doesn't work I'm just going to deal with it.
I did bevel the ridge inward, there is actually a lip on the outer edge now so hopefully that will keep the lever from sliding off.
Anyways thanks very much for the help.

I thought about that (with the same suggestion from Snailman, too, if I remember correctly...) bevel the ridge IN and the lever OUT so they mated. But then I was afraid I'd overdo something and that sucker would lock up!!! I'm really puzzled with the problem you're having. After I first started getting the lever pinching the ridge, I raised the lever and covered the assembly with a rag, gripped it lightly with vice-grips (!!!) and grabbed the end of the lever with some channel-lock pliers and BENT the lever outward. Didn't fix it so I bent it again as far as I dared. No luck.

So I then decided to go for it and beveled the ridge and exchanged the lock lever from another pistol. I also put the newly-bent lever in that pistol (which was running fine before I stole its lever...) and both pistols now seem to work fine. Why? Sh** if I know!!! But they do. The bent lever works fine in a non tampered with pistol and the non tampered with lever works fine in my Dremeled (is that a word?) pistol.

And I did a whole lot less grinding inside my slide to flatten and smooth the ridge. THAT'S why I am baffled why your efforts haven't made the pistol work properly.

And you are more than welcome for any help I have provided. I know how frustrating this can be. If I can help in ANY way don't hesitate to ask. Although my suggestions STILL haven't fixed your problem and that's not a good thing.

I'll go shoot of a few rounds tomorrow and let you know what happens. I did bevel the lever which is why it probably looks chewed up more then usual, but I may take that one out and replace it with the original non modified lever.

[roblox84]

I went to shoot the gun right after I dremelled out the slide and it worked perfectly and held back after last round like it should. Although I'm sort of skeptical because I'm already seeing a new indentation where I did the dremel work from the slide hitting the slide stop. I'm very curious if it will hold out or will it slowly wear out the metal until it doesn't catch anymore. Anyways I really appreciate the help I would have never found the fix myself.

[robhic]

Don't jinx it!!! Keep repeating " It IS fixed, it IS fixed, it IS fixed..." Hopefully you'll not have any more trouble and it will work itself in.