New to the P64, my experience.
Posted: July 14th, 2010, 9:48 am
I had learned about the P64 pistol for the first time a few years ago, and it grabbed my interest because I'm always intrigued about "obsolete" military auto pistols. Because I live in MA though, I had been unable to buy one or even see one in person! Until they became C&R eligible that is. 
I received mine from a distributor last Saturday and as always, was excited about opening the heavy little box from the big brown truck. Mine came with pistol, 2 mags (1 numbered to the gun, 1 not, and both of them had the numbers stenciled over some previous numbers.) I did not get a holster with my order but I didn't really care about that. They seem to be a dime a dozen on GB.
My first impression was that these guns are very nicely finished. A deep, rich blue somewhere between high polished, and matte. It doesn't "glare" like a mirror finish, but its not a rough matte like a factory CZ52. I assume it would hold up nicely against years of holstering or pocket carry. thumbs up.
The size of the grip is a bit awkward for me. I have average size hands and I can adjust to most guns to get comfortable with the grip. So far the P64 grip still feels odd in my hand. Of course I'm used to 1911, Makarov, and PPK/s grips so maybe I'm a little spoiled. The grips themselves seem to be of somewhat decent construction, but I feel they lack in quality compared to the rest of the gun. I know there are alternatives that can be had by Marschal, and another member on this board whom I saw makes his own with a polyresin from his own home-made mold I believe? Honestly though I don't plan on carrying this gun so I'll probably leave it as-is. In fact every one of my C&R pistols are in exact original condition (besides upgraded Wolff springs of course).
Upon taking the gun down, (everything but the trigger, it's return spring, and the trigger guard) I realized how simple the design is. Maybe not as simple as a true Makarov, but pretty close. The only tough time I had was getting the loaded chamber indicator lock to seat correctly against the spring. A tiny flat head screwdriver was the solution to push back the spring slightly towards the front to drop the lock in. The lockwork seems very tight and robust, again a simple design as opposed to the many internal parts of, say the CZ82 with it's complicated sear, spring and autosafety configuration. Ever take one of them babies apart? AARRGHH!!! Getting the firing pin and safety back in was a breeze using Normsutton's procedure of pinching and holding the end of the firing pin. (Yes I did my homework on this gun before purchasing one.
)
After cleaning out the minimal amount of cosmoline from the internals, liberally oiling and assembling, I took it to the range with 50 rounds of Wolf 109grain. (or so the box was marked but I read that Wolf put a lot of 100grain rounds in 109-marked boxes.
)
The DA trigger is atrocious. I can barely get the hammer to release past it's halfway back position. After trying to keep on target while squeezing the hell out of the trigger, I decided to just shoot it in SA mode. I found it strange that the trigger does not set back at all when the hammer is manually cocked. Just the nature of the beast I understand. The SA trigger pull is crisp and clean. This gun is very accurate for such a small barrel and not long after sighting it in I was making a soda can dance at 25 yards. About 10 rounds out of the 50 the fresh cartridge would get hung up on the feed ramp at about a 30 degree angle. I attribute this to the ammo, and a virtually unmarked feedramp. I don't think this gun was shot very much at all before I got it. I've since lightly polished the feedramp and I'll try another 50 rounds of different ammo at the range this weekend. Once during firing the safety engaged, dropping the hammer and disconnecting the trigger. I'd checked to make sure the safety detent tip was crisp before assembly, which it was so I think maybe my thumb swiped the safety during firing. Felt recoil was pretty harsh. My trigger finger got battered a little by slap, and using my support hand became painful because the trigger guard bounced on my support hand index finger. I found it more comfortable to shoot it offhand, although accuracy suffered of course.
Overall I'd say this gun would be a beautiful pocket gun, or a main carry gun if weather and clothing determined the need for a smaller auto. Again I don't see myself carrying it because I bought it mainly to add to my C&R pistol collection. I'm betting that my next range visit will produce much better reliability since I've polished the feedramp, and will use better ammo. Although it's not as comfortable to shoot as my East German Makarov or Walther PPK/s, I think it's a great little gun of good quality at a price that can't be beat!
Thanks for reading.
I received mine from a distributor last Saturday and as always, was excited about opening the heavy little box from the big brown truck. Mine came with pistol, 2 mags (1 numbered to the gun, 1 not, and both of them had the numbers stenciled over some previous numbers.) I did not get a holster with my order but I didn't really care about that. They seem to be a dime a dozen on GB.
My first impression was that these guns are very nicely finished. A deep, rich blue somewhere between high polished, and matte. It doesn't "glare" like a mirror finish, but its not a rough matte like a factory CZ52. I assume it would hold up nicely against years of holstering or pocket carry. thumbs up.
The size of the grip is a bit awkward for me. I have average size hands and I can adjust to most guns to get comfortable with the grip. So far the P64 grip still feels odd in my hand. Of course I'm used to 1911, Makarov, and PPK/s grips so maybe I'm a little spoiled. The grips themselves seem to be of somewhat decent construction, but I feel they lack in quality compared to the rest of the gun. I know there are alternatives that can be had by Marschal, and another member on this board whom I saw makes his own with a polyresin from his own home-made mold I believe? Honestly though I don't plan on carrying this gun so I'll probably leave it as-is. In fact every one of my C&R pistols are in exact original condition (besides upgraded Wolff springs of course).
Upon taking the gun down, (everything but the trigger, it's return spring, and the trigger guard) I realized how simple the design is. Maybe not as simple as a true Makarov, but pretty close. The only tough time I had was getting the loaded chamber indicator lock to seat correctly against the spring. A tiny flat head screwdriver was the solution to push back the spring slightly towards the front to drop the lock in. The lockwork seems very tight and robust, again a simple design as opposed to the many internal parts of, say the CZ82 with it's complicated sear, spring and autosafety configuration. Ever take one of them babies apart? AARRGHH!!! Getting the firing pin and safety back in was a breeze using Normsutton's procedure of pinching and holding the end of the firing pin. (Yes I did my homework on this gun before purchasing one.
)After cleaning out the minimal amount of cosmoline from the internals, liberally oiling and assembling, I took it to the range with 50 rounds of Wolf 109grain. (or so the box was marked but I read that Wolf put a lot of 100grain rounds in 109-marked boxes.
)The DA trigger is atrocious. I can barely get the hammer to release past it's halfway back position. After trying to keep on target while squeezing the hell out of the trigger, I decided to just shoot it in SA mode. I found it strange that the trigger does not set back at all when the hammer is manually cocked. Just the nature of the beast I understand. The SA trigger pull is crisp and clean. This gun is very accurate for such a small barrel and not long after sighting it in I was making a soda can dance at 25 yards. About 10 rounds out of the 50 the fresh cartridge would get hung up on the feed ramp at about a 30 degree angle. I attribute this to the ammo, and a virtually unmarked feedramp. I don't think this gun was shot very much at all before I got it. I've since lightly polished the feedramp and I'll try another 50 rounds of different ammo at the range this weekend. Once during firing the safety engaged, dropping the hammer and disconnecting the trigger. I'd checked to make sure the safety detent tip was crisp before assembly, which it was so I think maybe my thumb swiped the safety during firing. Felt recoil was pretty harsh. My trigger finger got battered a little by slap, and using my support hand became painful because the trigger guard bounced on my support hand index finger. I found it more comfortable to shoot it offhand, although accuracy suffered of course.
Overall I'd say this gun would be a beautiful pocket gun, or a main carry gun if weather and clothing determined the need for a smaller auto. Again I don't see myself carrying it because I bought it mainly to add to my C&R pistol collection. I'm betting that my next range visit will produce much better reliability since I've polished the feedramp, and will use better ammo. Although it's not as comfortable to shoot as my East German Makarov or Walther PPK/s, I think it's a great little gun of good quality at a price that can't be beat!
Thanks for reading.