Assembly/Disassembly Sticky?

[DocCasualty]

My first P64 arrived and I'm pretty impressed with it. Made in 1973, I got it from SOG with the holster, extra mag and cleaning rod/tool.



Man was that thing packed with Cosmoline! I was going to detail strip it but got cold feet when I found that Assembly sticky was no longer a valid URL. Is that still available somewhere?

I attacked it yesterday with denatured alcohol, some heat and cleaning into the recesses and got it pretty well cleaned out. I think I would still like to detail it at some point but got the sense from that thread that there were a couple of tricky points to know about ahead of time.

I haven't shot it yet but can tell that simply cleaning it went along way toward a lighter and more consistent dry fire DA trigger pull. I had found some old threads before I found this site and ordered a 17# hammer spring, which I see now is probably too light. I think I'm going to fire a couple of hundred rounds through it first for a break-in period and see how it settles in. Then I'll probably see what the 17# spring feels like and decide if I want an 18-20# or stick with the original. It's in such terrific shape, other than evidence of some holster wear at the muzzle of the slide, it's hard for me to believe it was ever fired. These must have just lived in their holsters and this holster hardly appears used either.

I have a Soviet/Russian Makarov that I got over 15 years ago. Still have a couple of boxes of MKS in the green box that I want to try in the P64, along with the Silver Bear I just got a case of and see how they compare. I got caught up in researching this one and just ordered a P83 (AIM has a deal on these right now). I'll update this when I get to shoot the P64 and later when the P83 arrives.

Ken

[ray1970]

Congratulations! I am sure you will love this little pistol like most everyone else who has one does. Keep us posted if you get the P83 as well.

[juniustaylor]

Doc, here you go...

Parts list: http://p64resource.com/board/P64_Parts_List.pdf
Assembly guide: http://p64resource.com/board/P64_Assembly_Manual.pdf

I use the 17# spring with no problems (ie magazine doesn't fall out). The single action trigger pull is rather light but it is light with the original heavy spring as well. I did try an 18# spring and was not impressed. The double action pull was no where near as nice as it was with the 17#. So..., the 18# spring came out and the 17# went back in.

[DocCasualty]

Thanks for the active links. I think I'll stip it down tonight and make sure the internals are completely free from gunk.

I'll definitely post back about this one after some range time. The P64 was a birthday present. Hey my wife is always looking for ideas so she told me to go ahead and order it. That's when I asked her, "how about that P83 for Father's Day then?" I think it will be here next week, but I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to play with it!

[normsutton]

DOC

I worn you don't to get the 17 # spring, just because it works in one gun out of a thousand , doesn't mean it will work in other's , I recommend the 18 # spring and in some guns with steel ammo the 18 # is too light . I recommend you get a 3 pack if you plan to change you hammer springs

NORM

[juniustaylor]

Guess I have a true rarity since mine fires perfectly with the 17# 1 in a 1000. The three pack only comes with 18, 19, 20. If you want to experiment with a 17#, looks like you'll just have to buy one completely separate. So far I've only used some Norinco and some other Chinese stuff. If you plan on shooting regular commercial stuff, I'm pretty darn sure it will fire just fine and even moreso if you reload and use regular primers. Do as you wish Doc, maybe you'll have a "1 in a 1000" gun too.

If the 18# makes the double action just as crappy as it was with the factory spring, then what's the point of a reduced power spring? You may as well stick with factory and cock the hammer on the first shot or squeeze hard.

[DocCasualty]

Appreciate the advice, Norm and further comment, jt. As I mentioned, I already purchased a 17# spring before I read through this site. Had I come here first, doubt I would have done that. Since I already have it, I'll likely give it a try. If it doesn't work or I don't like it, I think I only spent $7-$8 with shipping, no big loss. I've certainly spent more money foolishly than that in my life! We'll see how it goes and I'll let you know.

[rottenrick]

Doc I use mineral spirits for cosmoline, soaked it for a day. I trimmed a fine brush down to a quarter inch for scubbing small areas. But the alcohol works fine too. Welcome to the group,as you can see everyone has different ideas, and that's good. BTW if the 17# doesn't workout you can always sell it. I bought the three spring pack, used the 18#. The 18# made a big difference, some people don't change anything. To each his own. I gave away the other two springs , one of which was returned because he didn't like it. On my 64 the ramp showed no sign of wear at all.

[DocCasualty]

Thanks for the mineral spirits tip, that really takes it down to the metal and is easy on the nose. I let it soak overnight and pulled it completely apart today, cleaned all the nooks and crannies, then oiled the metal and reassembled it. No lost or broken springs or parts either!

Took me awhile but I'm glad I did it and the tutorial was a great help. There definitely were hidden spots where the cosmoline was caked up that no surface cleaning would ever reach. I feel I know the pistol inside out now too.

I had hoped to shoot it today but ran out of time. I'm planning on taking the kids to the range in a couple of days, so I'll get a chance then.

[DocCasualty]

I finally got to shoot it for the first time at the range today. Pretty pleased, but I see where it needs tweaking. I purposely left the original springs to see what it was like and that DA trigger pull is heavier than it initially appeared! What's weird to me is that the DA pull seems so much heavier when loaded than when dry-firing and it does not seem consistent, e.g. - after de-cocking. Does a break-in period make much of a difference? Makes me wonder if something was binding, as I already had detail cleaned and lubed it, so I'm not sure what else could account for that. I originally was going to fire a few hundred rounds before switching out the hammer spring but think I'll do it before I head out next.

On the plus side, SA is like a target trigger. I fired both older MKS "green box" FMJ, new Silver Bear FMJ, as well as Hornday XTP and all fired flawlessly in DA and SA. No FTF, no FTE, etc. SA was very accurate as everybody seems to note. After about 75 rounds, I could feel it in my thumb-forefinger web but that quickly passed. My trigger finger is still feeling the strain of the DA pull though!

[DocCasualty]

Finally made it to the range today to try out the 17# hammer spring. No problems with primer ignition and no magazines fell out. I guess I lucked out choosing a 17# spring for this pistolet. I only had a chance to shoot the Silver Bear FMJ today. If I run into any problems as the pistol breaks in, I can always go with a heavier Wolf spring.

The DA trigger pull is significantly improved. Still seems a little variable to me in pull weight but now I can work with it while I continue to shoot the first couple of hundred rounds. I don't think it changed the SA pull much, if at all. SA is a light trigger weight and it's still catching me by surprise with the first SA shot. Not that it's a "wild" shot but not quite as accurate as the subsequent SA rounds when my finger seems prepared. I'm guessing more practice with this P-64 will solve that.

I have not changed out the recoil spring and at this point have not plans to do so. I'm only shooting 95gr bullet rounds and don't find the recoil that punishing. I have ordered some Marschall grips and from what everybody says, this should smooth it out even more.

I'm very happy with the P-64 now and glad I got it. I plan to rotate it in to the general EDC plan when its size offers me an advantage over my G26.

[truecrimson]

Doc I use mineral spirits for cosmoline, soaked it for a day. I trimmed a fine brush down to a quarter inch for scubbing small areas. But the alcohol works fine too. Welcome to the group,as you can see everyone has different ideas, and that's good. BTW if the 17# doesn't workout you can always sell it. I bought the three spring pack, used the 18#. The 18# made a big difference, some people don't change anything. To each his own. I gave away the other two springs , one of which was returned because he didn't like it. On my 64 the ramp showed no sign of wear at all.

This may seem like a stupid question (especially considering it comes in a plastic bottle) but will mineral spirits dissolve plastic? Should I use a metal pan for pro longed soaking such as overnight?

[DocCasualty]

This may seem like a stupid question (especially considering it comes in a plastic bottle) but will mineral spirits dissolve plastic? Should I use a metal pan for pro longed soaking such as overnight?

I used a plastic microwaveable-type Betty Crocker instant cake pan (recyleable #5) to soak mine overnight without a problem.