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Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 9th, 2010, 10:40 pm
by ray1970
Having a minor issue with my P64.... I will give you the full scoop so you guys don't think my problem is just operator error....

Bought my P64 in absolutely perfect condition... took it home, completely disassembled it (down to every last little piece), gave it a thorough cleaning and a light lubrication and reassembled it... no problems.

Took it to the range in stock form and put 50 rounds through it... once again, no problems.

Took it home, field stripped it and gave it a good cleaning and reassembled... no problems.

Ordered some Wolff springs... decided to go with the 18 lb. mainspring and a 20 lb. recoil spring.

Took the pistol apart once again and replaced the mainspring, recoil spring, and the little spring on the firing pin... reassembled the gun... very slight problem.... with the 20 lb. recoil spring I really had to pull the slide back hard to get it to go back on the frame.... but it went and everything seemed OK.

Took it to the range again and put a few more rounds through it.... no problems... everything functioned fine.

Took it home to field strip it for a good cleaning and here is where I am having problems... no matter how hard I pull the slide back I just can't get it to lift up to come off the frame... seems like it is pulling back far enough that it should lift up but it just doesn't... the gun still seems to function just fine but I can't get the slide off to clean it.

I didn't spend too much time trying to get it off because I had four other handguns to clean that day so I just cleaned it as best I could with the slide still on and put it away.

Any thoughts as to why my slide will not lift off? Anyone else experience this?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 9th, 2010, 11:25 pm
by hardcorekeith
Remembered to pull down the trigger guard?

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 10th, 2010, 12:16 am
by juniustaylor
Did you try ramming the slide back hard and lifted it up and off? I'm sure you're putting the small side of the spring on the barrel first? Try looking at this topic - http://p64resource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3202 The OP said he messed with his probably 50 times and finally got it off. You may have to "finish" your spring ends on your heavier spring.

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 10th, 2010, 1:51 am
by Weasel640
ray1970,

This is the same thing that happened to me with the Wolff 22lb recoil spring. If you look at your original recoil spring you will probably see that both ends are ground flat. The Wolff springs are not, this little bit of material is causing your slide to bind.

The way I got my slide off was simple. I just put on some tight fitting shooting gloves and they gave me the added grip I needed to get it off. Spent hours trying to get the darn thing off, but with the gloves on I got it right away. Good luck to you.

When you do get it off you will need to grind the ends of the recoil spring to match the ends of the spring that came with your gun. After that you will have no more problems.

Here is a pic of my original (L) vs the Wolff (R) recoil spring.
springs.JPG
springs.JPG (53.38 KiB) Viewed 18255 times

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 10th, 2010, 6:17 pm
by WardenWolf
Mine was problematic at first, although now it doesn't do much more than make it a #!%% to reassemble. Once it breaks in properly it will be easier.

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 11th, 2010, 10:57 pm
by ray1970
Thank you all for the replies! I guess it makes since that since it went together difficult it will be difficult to get apart. I guess I will have to pull a little harder and get it off... once it comes off I will take the dremel tool to it and flatten the coils on the ends... who would have thought a half a coil on each end would bind it up like that.

Tanks again for the help! :hi:

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 12th, 2010, 7:29 am
by blackblade
Yep, beat me to it. It is definitely the Wolf recoil spring. Had the same thing happen. Easy fix tho.

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: May 21st, 2010, 4:11 pm
by ray1970
Well, I finally wrestled the beast back apart. I took the dremel tool to the ends of the coils on the springs and reassembled. No problems now. Assembles and disassembles with ease. Thank you all once more for the help!

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: July 15th, 2010, 1:35 pm
by waltham41
Thanks for this thread guys! The wolf recoil spring I put on my P64 did the same thing.... extremely hard to get the slide on and off....... 30 seconds of light dremeling on the highest points of the end of the coils has made it where the slide comes on and off as easy as the factory spring did.

Thanks again!

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: December 20th, 2010, 6:41 am
by JB7748
When I purchased the Wolf recoil spring a few months ago I had also thought the replacement spring could just drop in but I was wrong. No matter how hard I pulled the slide back I could not seat the slide. After a few hours of feeling short changed I decided to do some research and stumbled on this forum. With this great tip and about a hour in the basement I had a newly trimmed and perfect fitting recoil spring.
A cheap and easy solution to shorten the ends of the wolf recoil spring is to make a simple wooden sanding jig. All that is needed is a nail, emery cloth, and a small length of round doweling or square stock that can fit inside the recoil spring. I found out that if the spring protrudes beyond the dowel the tension when compressed does help to trim up the spring quickly and evenly. Here are a few photographs of the recoil spring before and after sanding and of the sanding jig.
Before sanding.
Before sanding.
After sanding.
After sanding.
Sanding jig.
Sanding jig.

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: December 22nd, 2010, 1:18 am
by wyo-man
Very clever device JB7748.

wyo-man

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: August 21st, 2011, 9:37 pm
by The Only Sarge
Glad I found this thread! Was about to chunk one new Wolf Spring in the round file. Works like a champ now. Thank you folks :)

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: September 26th, 2011, 4:16 pm
by BlitzPig
Hello folks, new guy here with the same problem, only my P64 has the stock springs.

I purchased it at a show this weekend, disassembled it, gave it a through cleaning and lube, re-assembled with no issues.

Shot 50 rounds of Brown Bear this morning, and now for the life of me I cannot get the slide off.

Thoughts?

Already tried the glove...

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: September 26th, 2011, 4:41 pm
by BlitzPig
OK, half an hour into this I got it off.

It would indeed appear that I have an aftermarket recoil spring as the ends are not ground flat.

Ah the joys of learning a new platform.

:mrgreen:

Re: Help... My Slide Won't Come Off!

Posted: September 28th, 2011, 5:34 pm
by enbarnes
i just installed an 18-lb mainspring and a 22-lb recoil spring (Wolff).
I bought 2 recoil springs, a 20-lb and a 22-lb. Strangely, the 22-lb is finished, but the 20-lb is not and they are both Wolff springs! I had been having a hard time assembling/disassembling with the stock springs, too. Yes, it is on the right way -- I already learned that the hard way with another gun:-)
I guess I'm just a 270-lb weakling:-) Maybe it is because the gun is so new -- I couldn't tell it from a new one when it arrived. Maybe it just needs another few assembly/disassembly cycles.
I haven't noticed any difference in recoil with a 22-lb recoil spring though, so not sure if it was worth the effort.
BTW, The new mainspring lightens the DA pull until it is usable, but i wish I had ordered the 17-lb. SA pull is very light now, but I like it that way.