Slide will not go into battery with a round chembered

[pullthetrigger]

Just bought P-64 from Aimsurpluss.com. Before the ammo arrived in the mail, the gun looked like it would function perfectly.

Now, every time I try chembering a round, the slide will not move all the way forward. It stops about a millimeter behind it's normal position. The only reason I actually noticed that is when I looked at the pistol from the side, and noticed that the barrel protrudes just slightly ahead of the slide.

Any chance that it's how it is supposed to be? I don't know if it will actually fire. (I don't think I want to try since the gun might explode if fired with the slide partially open.

With no ammo, the gun works well in both single and double action. Trigger resets as it supposed when the slide is racked before the trigger is released. The slide, as expected, locks back when empty mag is inserted. The safety appears to work as well, however, sometimes, the slide will get stuck half open if racked with the safety engaged. (This does not bother me at all.) A light push helps the slide move all the way forward in this case.

A couple things I was able to rule out:
Firing chamber appears to be clean. (it did not appear to be covered in cosmoline in the first place, and I have cleaned it with Hoppies 9 and CLP)
Extractor and ejector work - when racking the slide, the extractor does extract the cartridge, and the ejector appears to reliably eject it.
Firing pin is out of the way and it can be moved back and forth, so it it's not stuck.
Loaded chamber indicator is also functioning well, since it can be moved easily even past its loaded position.

Is there anything else I should check? Are there any common issues with this gun I should look into?

Thanks in advance!

[normsutton]

pullthetrigger

did you clean the whole gun, also check and see if the recoil spring is on right . small end on the barrel frist

NORM

[pullthetrigger]

Is the slide supposed to be in the same position with and without a round chambered?

yes ,


take some acetone and a bore brush and scrub the chamber out , might have some lacquer build in it , from shooting steel rounds
NORM

[Sand_Man_56]

I have the same situation going on here. I hope this gets answered.

[pullthetrigger]

Update,

Conducted an experiment, chambered a round (dummy) and then measured the distance between the tip of the bullett and the muzzle. Then I removed the slide off the gun, and put that very same round into the chamber, pushing on the round with a finger to make sure it is in as far as possible, and measured the distance again. The distance turned out to be IDENTICAL.

I also know that there is no gap between the back of the cartridge and the bolt face because loaded chamber indicator works and extractor reliably catches on to the rim of the cartridge.

Based on the above rational, it look like the cause of the problem could be:

1 - obstruction in the barrel that prevents the round from properly sitting in the chamber. (impossible, I can see that there is no obstruction, and I cleaned the barrel multiple times.)

2 - wrong ammo. (impossible, I know ammo is correct)

3. - mismatched dimensions of the slide (bolt) and the frame. (highly unlikely, since the serial numbers match.)

So it looks like the the slide is actually supposed to be very slightly back with a round chambered, as compared to the slide position with an empty chamber.

Could anyone confirm this?

Also, I noticed that the metal piece that disconnects the trigger when the safety is lowered somewhat wobbles, to a point that you can hear it shake when I shake the gun. It appears to be normal. Could anyone confirm that it indeed supposed to shake?

Thanks!

[dfunk]

I can't check my pistol from where I am currently, but the disconnector does wobble and fit loosely. This part is normal.

If the round is seated fully and the breechface is flush against the cartridge, the only thing left to measure would be the amount of bbl sticking out of the slide with and without a round in the chamber. I've not heard of what you're describing, but then again, a millimeter is a pretty small measurement so I suppose it's possible I've never noticed. Do you have any photos of this?

[sixgun]

Just got mine today. It does it with the safety on. Give it a push and it goes forward and lets the hammer down. Safety off it works fine. Decocker and safety work fine with hammer in cocked position. I thought that s the way it was designed to work.

1. Chamber a round safety off.
2. If not ready to fire move selector to safety position.

[pullthetrigger]

Here are couple of pictures. BTW, cleaned the barrel again with a brake cleaner. Did not help. The round seems to sit in the chamber as expected.

[pullthetrigger]

Just got mine today. It does it with the safety on. Give it a push and it goes forward and lets the hammer down. Safety off it works fine. Decocker and safety work fine with hammer in cocked position. I thought that s the way it was designed to work.

1. Chamber a round safety off.
2. If not ready to fire move selector to safety position.

Although mine does that as well, it is not the problem I am trying to solve. The problem is that on mine, the slide will not go fully forward with a round in a chamber. No matter what I do. It's also consistent with different ammo. The pictures in the post above show what I am describing.

[juniustaylor]

I never noticed that before, but I put a round in the chamber on mine and it does the same thing. I'm pretty sure it's normal operation. Mine has never had a problem firing and I trust that it will continue to work well in the future.

I'd say it's just that way due to the nature of semi-auto handgun rounds. They headspace on the case mouth. So, the P-64 puts it about as close as it's going to get so that there is a bit of spring pressure forcing the bolt face to push the round against the fore part of the chamber to keep a good seal during firing. ??

[Sand_Man_56]

Very good pictures. I'm wondering, is it possible that some of these guns have a .380 barrel? The shorter case of the .380 would allow the pistol to go into full battery. Our problem is in the chamber. For some reason, the case of the round is not seating all the way forward. It's not a cleaning or bullet issue. Thanks for your continued input.

[juniustaylor]

.380 barrel is highly unlikely. A .380 uses a 0.355" bullet like a 9mm Luger. A .355" bullet will rattle down the barrel on mine. A .357" bullet is more snug, but still doesn't fill in the rifling. A 9mm Mak bullet about .363" is nice and tight and cannot make it any more in the muzzle than the nose of the bullet.

[juniustaylor]

UNLOADED:


LOADED:


9MM MAK BULLET:


9MM LUGER BULLET:


As you can see, the Luger bullet will go inside the barrel with no hesitation and would slide back and forth if you shook the barrel.

With the pistol unloaded, my muzzle protrudes 0.011" beyond the slide. With the pistol loaded, it sticks out 0.034" from the slide. That's a total of 0.86mm. The difference though of 0.023" (.034-.011) is 0.58mm. So half a mm is not much for the barrel to "protrude" when loaded.

I wouldn't worry about the protrusion. I am sure it is normal. Like I said, semi-auto pistols headspace on the case mouth which is why you NEVER trim your auto brass beyond the minimum limit. You won't get a good gas seal.

[pullthetrigger]

Hm, so I guess, mine is ok. Perhaps not perfect, but within design tolerances. Now I feel more comfortable taking it to the range.

Thanks alot for your help everyone!

[juniustaylor]

Picture isn't the best, but you can sort of see the muzzle extending beyond the slide in this picture. Loaded chamber indicator is sticking out which "should" mean the pistol in the picture is loaded or has a blank round in it.

http://50ae.net/collection/p64/p64-2-c.jpg