Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Mods and Fixes by P-64 users...
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Mmc
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Joined: September 15th, 2017, 6:45 pm

Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Mmc »

I bought a P64 several years ago from Classic Firearms I never fired it but I did function test it without ammo. So recently I got it out of the safe and replaced the hammer spring, firing pin spring and recoil spring.
Now the problem I’m having is this. The safety works as designed if the chamber is empty, drops the hammer and disengages the trigger, switch to off safe and tigger can be pulled and dry fired. If you chamber a round and engage the safety tigger is deactivated. If you take it off safe trigger is still deactivated.
Works fine with out a round in the chamber. I followed the guide here and watched a couple of videos when replacing springs. But since I never fired it when I got it I have no idea if it had this problem to begin with.
I used the wolff 20 pound hammer spring so I didn’t go super light.
Mmc
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Joined: September 15th, 2017, 6:45 pm

Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Mmc »

So it’s the ammo. Only does it with one brand. The other 2 brands I have works fine. Looking with the grips off the “bad” ammo holds the slide out of battery just enough to push the disconnector down enough to engage the trigger bar.
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Curly1
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Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Curly1 »

What are the brands you are using? And which one is the culprit?
Laugh Hard and Often.

Gary
Mmc
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Joined: September 15th, 2017, 6:45 pm

Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Mmc »

Wolf and Monarch brand from Academy Sporting goods both are Fmj and work fine.
The culprit is silver bear hollow points.
I’m also going to take the safety out and make sure that there is not a burr in it where the disconnector goes up in it when it’s on fire.
GuitarmanNick
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Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by GuitarmanNick »

If you want to use hollow point ammo, try some Hornady Critical Defense. Feeds well in both of my P-64s but is expensive. When at the range, try using Red Army Elite brass cased FMJ. It is fairly inexpensive and runs flawlessly. Training with it should prepare you for the feel of the Critical Defense if you have to defend yourself using it.

Another thing to check on your P-64 would be the trigger bar. Make sure that it is straight and does not rub on the inside of the grip. One of mine came with a slightly bent trigger bar and the trigger worked sporadically until I straightened it. Now, it is 100% reliable.

Taking it's idiosyncrasies into consideration, the P-64 is a fine weapon, IMO. Whenever I let someone shoot it, I tell them it is a "Noisy Cricket". It is fun to see their reaction when they fire it for the first time. My shooter is sporting a set of Polish Iron rubber grips and is actually quite comfortable to shoot.

If you plan to reload for it using your spent brass, inspect them for extractor marks. My brass was getting gouged badly so I removed the sharp edges from the extractor with a stone. It now extracts the brass reliably with only slight marks on the brass. My findings indicate that RAE brass is very good for reloading. PPU will bulge badly and goes to the scrap bucket.

I have no experience using steel cased in the P-64. These days, I only shoot my handloads which perform the same as the Red Army Elite. Unlike some other imported ammo, it has been consistently reliable and has proven to be quite accurate, as well.

Welcome to the forums. You are hereby warned, these little guns are fun and addictive. You may soon find more in your collection now that you have begun to shoot it. You will need one that is pristine for the safe, one for spare parts to keep your shooter running, one for etc....
Ketchman
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Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Ketchman »

Check your chamber for any irregularities causing the Silver Bear to not chamber fully. I have not heard of this happening to anyone else, myself included when using Silver Bear HP. And I bought 1500 rounds of that a few years back and it has chambered fine in all my 9x18 guns.
Close enough for Government work will get you dead, ask any Vet.
Mmc
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Joined: September 15th, 2017, 6:45 pm

Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Mmc »

It was the Ammo. I got my calipers out and the Rim on about half of the box was out of spec. The rounds that were in spec works fine.
Ketchman
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Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Ketchman »

Wow, far enough out of spec to interfere with safety function. Thanks for doing that check. Good to know, thanks.
Close enough for Government work will get you dead, ask any Vet.
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Curly1
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Re: Safety not disengaging with round in chamber

Post by Curly1 »

Nice catch and thanx for the update
Laugh Hard and Often.

Gary
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