The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

I was at the range today and was shooting various brands of ammo to find out which the P64 prefers. It sure isn't fond of Hornady's ammo.

A few months ago I replaced the springs, I put in the 22 lb recoil spring and the 18 lb hammer spring. This is my first time out with the new springs.

I had problems with the Hornady before, I will just not buy it again for the P64 and stick to the Silver Bear HP's.

Now for the question that I have...The slide doesn't always close on the round completely when in the middle of shooting and sometimes when I release it after feeding a new magazine in it doesn't shut all the way even after pulling the slide back some and not riding it forward with my hand.

Today I took the Dremel and did some polishing on the ramp area, but I hope I won't have to do that on a regular basis.

Any thoughts? Would changing the springs help? If so, what is recommended?

Thanks!

The old not going into battery. Check that new spring for binding. Stick with one type of ball ammo to keep it simple and see if you can get the pistol to work with that before moving on. How do you get the slide to close so the pistol will fire in the above given circumstance. Usually, if a round is not properly chambered the pistol will not fire and have a "limp trigger" With the slide off, how does a round feel when inserted by hand into the barrel? Dirty chamber--sticking extractor?

I had no problems with the Honady in mine. If it worked with the old springs then I would suspect the spring change.

Did you grind down the new recoil spring to be flat on the ends like the original?

The chamber is and was clean, no problems dropping a cartridge into the chamber. I will put on the original spring and take it back to the range next week. I will use one brand of ammo and swap out the sping to see if there are differences in feeding.

I was closing the slide by just gripping it and pushing it forward, or removing the magazine and ejecting the round that wasn't in position and then put the magazine back in.

I need to take notes as the issues pop up next time.

Thanks!

Cooper

I agree with Full M. Did you square off the ends of the new springs?

I did not square off the ends of the new springs. As of now, I put the original spring back in and will fire it this way first.

Why are there problems with the new springs the way they are cut? How much do I need to taper the ends?

Cooper wrote:I did not square off the ends of the new springs. As of now, I put the original spring back in and will fire it this way first.

Why are there problems with the new springs the way they are cut? How much do I need to taper the ends?

Cooper-
You don't need to taper them, just flatten the outsides of the front & rear coils where they bear against the slide(front) & barrel attaching point(rear). This can be done w/a flat file. HTH.
Donzi

Compare the replacement spring ends to the original.

Many on here, myself included, have never flattened the end of the spring with zero problems. It really doesn't matter, I don't see how it would have anything to do with it.

If you watch how the spring seats in the back you will notice that a flat one drops down into a better position.

Agreed, I never flatteed mine either and have no problems but you never know some guns can be picky.

Curly1 wrote:Agreed, I never flatteed mine either and have no problems but you never know some guns can be picky.

Yep, mine wouldn't even re-mount the slide til I flattened both ends.

I had the same problem.

In my case, it was caused by the rear of the chamber having a small lip peened into it (probably by some bonehead being rough when putting the slide back on). It was causing the round to not fully seat in the chamber, and thus preventing the slide from closing all the way. I was able to take a small file and very gently remove the lip and had zero problems after that. I've seen other P64 owners with the same problems on the forum.

Yes there were some posts on that issue, we surmise it maybe when putting the slide back on and it slips forward out of your hand before it is on the frame that it can make a nice ding in that area.