Broken trigger guard......

[GUIDO704U]

Hello everyone...I'm a new member and have a question...I went to the range with my P-64 and on the 18th round a piece of the trigger guard flew off after shooting. Well that ended shooting the Makarov for the day..Has anyone experienced this with theirs? I don't imagine it happens much, but doe's anyone know what would cause this? Hairline fracture? Doesn't look like a hard repair. Feedback Please!!! Thanks

[juniustaylor]

Which piece broke off of the trigger guard? There was a feller on here some time back that had something go wrong and a piece of his was gone. His looked like someone had cut the piece off intentionally. Yours possibly could have had a hairline crack.

Here is the full post on the other feller's.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4335&p=42407

EDIT:
Now that I took another look at the picture he posted, his looks to have broken off. I must have not paid as close attention to it before as I did tonight when I glanced at it again. I thought his looked like someone cut off the top part where it goes into the frame, but it really broke off right where that part starts.

Is this where yours broke?

[juniustaylor]

I don't know if I'd try to fix it or just buy a new trigger guard. They're $32 after shipping.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =278526021

In the case of the other feller, his broke where the red line is.


Looking at the picture below, it looks like this pawl would take quite a beating with the slide coming back and pounding it on every shot. If the metal was weak or had a hairline crack, it certainly could cause it to snap off. Even looking at the photo above, you can see where the metal on the front of the pawl has been mushroomed from repeated blows of the slide during ejection.

[Curly1]

Welcome to the forum Guido, you came to the right place for help.

If you could post pics that would be most helpful.

[p64-1973]

Good reference pictures guys! That got me to thinking so I went and checked mine out, but as far as I can tell all looks OK. Do you think a weak recoil spring could make this part on the trigger guard take an abnormal amount of abuse?

[Curly1]

Sure it gets battered more with a weak spring.

[fully machined]

Thanks for the pic with the red circle. You can see the gap between the trigger guard and frame. This is the final recoil "spring" area, relying on trigger guard flex, to absorb and release recoil. After this it's all metal to metal and then metal to hand. You can look at the back of the trigger guard and the frame with guard dropped and see wear here.
I thought about putting a piece of inner tube here, just for the fun of it, to see what the pistol would feel like-- recoil buff. But then I thought I woild not keep it there any way so what is the point. I wonder, using a piece of tape here so you could see a fresh strike, what pound recoil spring would stop contact and still function. I believe this would not be possible because of the double cocking action force and short stroke of cycling.

[Curly1]

Or modify a 1911 recoil buffer and then modify the recoil spring but that is gonna be a lot of expermentation.

[juniustaylor]

I don't think it would be that complicated. Take notice at the picture below. The trigger guard in the picture has a built up spot on the rear side. This would take care of that gap. As the slide came back and whacked the trigger guard, it would be butted up to the frame right below the barrel. I think if you could take the trigger guard off and have someone with a good welding, soldering, or brazing skill build this spot up, you may be in business.

[juniustaylor]

If you check out the trigger guards that "laukart" is selling on Gunbroker, they have this lightly built up area on the rear side of them. I do not know if it extends out enough to make much difference though.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =278526021

I suppose a fat piece of rubber sandwiched in there somehow may work slightly, or a good piece of that polyurethane buffer material. You'd have to probably glue it in place and it may work loose after a couple hard strikes. Hard to say.

[juniustaylor]

I did some looking at mine. The part of the frame that supports the barrel has some evidence of this pawl striking it. I then proceeded to do some fiddling. I took the slide off to check for this wear. I then took my thumb and pushed the trigger guard rearward and the pawl will indeed butt up against the frame. The plunger in the trigger guard hinge will allow it to do so. I wish I could post pictures but I don't know how I'm going to show this one.

EDIT: I re-read fullymachined's post and he too mentioned seeing wear behind the trigger guard and the frame before I mentioned it. Good observation.

If you read the description of part #24 it says. wystep ograniczajacy ruch zamka do tylu. It's somewhat complicated to really render what it means since I know no Polish. Using Google Translator I kind of pieced it together. Wystep means performance of or possibly Act of. Ograniczajacy means to limit. The two together mean abutment (wystep ograniczajacy). So, It basically means that this part "acts (as an abutment) to limit/restrict the rearward/backwards movement of the slide". Whew!!! Why didn't they just say that in English!!! Haha.

I feel like I just ramble on in a lot of my posts... I hope that's not the case.

[Curly1]

I would then think all the blow back style pistols with the same arrangement would be subject to this wear.

[juniustaylor]

The trigger guard on my CZ82 butts up against the frame when it is in the up position, retaining the slide. The Czechs got it right. Wear on the trigger guard is minimal, and transfer wear from the trigger guard striking the frame is minimal.

[p64-1973]

I have been doing some checking on this type of falure, and it does not seem to be a common occurance. I will keep an eye on mine though.

[juniustaylor]

I would agree with p64-1973, definitely not common from my searching. This is the second instance that I have read of.