The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

blueeagle, nice post and photos. Thanks for the information.

wyo-man

First, to the OP: Thanks for sharing. This confirms one of my fears with this gun in particular. It is also one of the reasons that I no longer carry mine. I purchased a PA63 to use when I am in the mood for 9x18 carry due to the firing pin safety incorporated in to that design. I am always on the lookout for an R61 as well for that same reason. Unfortunately the P64 has no such feature and the right set of circumstances can lead to an AD.

I wish the OP a speedy and full recovery.

Great. Now I have to check mine out. Not that I ever relied on the hammer block, before. But I figured the worst that could happen would be an inertial FP strike, which would typically only shoot the floor, if dropped.

*5 minutes later:
Hmmm. My passive hammer block seems to work fine. In fact, the pencil just barely moves when I have the trigger pulled while pushing the hammer forward - way past where the passive block kicks in.

The sear and hammer have notches that stop forward movement of the hammer, unless the trigger is pulled about halfway back. I wonder if the sear and hammer were changed in this area with the switch to the triangular shaped spur. Maybe he has some mismatched parts!? Or maybe an extra long firing pin?

Or perhaps, when the gun fell, the slide retracted a bit, just enough for the hammer to reach the FP? But I can't seem to make that happen on mine.

I don't think there's any way to recreate what happened. Who knows, it may never happen again. It's just one of those things where the conditions were stacked up and the AD happened. I think a thing to be learned is that these pistols are old military guns and never take them for granted or become complacent with them.

juniustaylor wrote:I don't think there's any way to recreate what happened. Who knows, it may never happen again. It's just one of those things where the conditions were stacked up and the AD happened. I think a thing to be learned is that these pistols are old military guns and never take them for granted or become complacent with them.

Great advice for any firearm I'd say!

Hope you're on the mend.

AD's happen with many guns... I have seen reports on just about every make and model. Any time you drop a mechanical device the likelihood of a failure of the safety mechanisms is pretty high as the gun really wasn't designed to be dropped esp on the hammer. Even so called drop safe handguns generally only have a firing pin block and I have seen some of them and they could be overcome in the right situation.

Personally the lesson I take from this is be careful and don't drop your pistols... Note this is not a bash on the OP just what I have learned from his unfortunate incident.

Tinkerer, I hope you are healing well by now, I read forums a lot but rarely respond unless i really feel I can add something worthwhile. I had a couple of P-64's they were fine little pistols, but I always had a "feeling" about dropping incidents as you described.

Just FYI and anyone else interested, last year I finally sold both of them and now carry a FEG R-61 or a an Interarms APK, both cousins to and basically the same build as the PA-63. I feel a little more comfortable with these as the back of the firing pin "drops down" and is not in alignment with the hammer UNTIL the hammer is fully cocked and the sear pushes a pin up that in turn pushes the firing pin up into the firing position. One of the more knowledgeable gunsmith types might do a better job explaining, but to my old eyes thats what it looks like, and that is why I switched carry pistols.
Again wishing you a quick Healing and no future mishaps.

Dover

After seeing the photos, I think I am going to put some Quikclot gauze or Celox-A packs in my range bag! I personally know a young man that accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .40 hydro-shock. It didn't expand and looked pretty much like this wound - clean round hole going in with a slightly elongated hole coming out. Always good to be prepared for an accident.

With the safety off, the hammer should not move unless the trigger is pulled. However, what is to prevent the firing pin from bouncing back into the hammer, then rebounding into the primer?

Another interesting experiment would be to drop a bunch of centerfire rounds from 30 feet onto a concrete surface, and see if any ignite. In other words, can indirect energetic blows set off a primer?

OP, glad that the damage isn't permanent and you're on the mend. Whew.
Hope this isn't too morbid but my curiosity has got me... did you recover the bullet?

thank you to all. i now carry with safety on. i practice drawing with turning safety off and cocking gun so it is aimed with sa ready to go. i used to carry with safety off using da as safety. i am new to this board and have learned a lot. again, thank you all, especialy the op.

I too have had an AD with my P64. Luckily I was at the range and had it pointed in a safe direction. The DA happened while de-cocking the pistol with a round chambered. Below is a picture of the firing pin after disassembly.

With the fragility of the safety, if that's a word, I usually ease the hammer down when decocking mine.

dewdrew01
looks like you also have a burnt firing pin tip too , you been shooting wolf ammo in that that gun

NORM

normsutton wrote:dewdrew01
looks like you also have a burnt firing pin tip too , you been shooting wolf ammo in that that gun

NORM

Just Silver Bear HP. Is Silver Bear as bad as wolf?

-Drew