The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

gemini1 wrote:Or maybe, instead of cutting the OEM spring, try the ones for the Bersa 380's designed to hold 7 rounds, and cut that one instead? Maybe those currently made springs may have the design/tolerance different from the old P64 springs? At least if it doesn't work, you still have the OEM to fall back on.

I did cut/reduced the length of one of my mag follower, but I didn't want to cut the spring, until I can get one of the Bersa springs to play with.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I've sanded down the followers on some Glock .45 mags that were (and a BUNCH of others would back me up...) truly impossible to fully load. No change to the springs, however, just reduced the height of the plastic follower a bit so you could get 9 rounds into the 9 rd magazine. Cutting a Bersa spring might give you something to work with rather than messing with an old OEM spring which could be hard to replace.

Having disassembled one of my P64 mags and studied the issue my first conclusion was shortening the follower (which is just a square tube) accomplishes nothing because the follower does not reach the bottom of the loaded magazine. What allowed OP to add another round was shortening the spring. I have an alternative idea. Lacking a longer magazine body, build a replacement, deeper, magazine bottom out of aluminum or deltek (which seems to be the most similar material to what the original bottoms are made of), then hollow that out to give the spring more room. I would have done it for my own P64s already but I have not yet figured out how to cut those 2 parallel slits on the inside of the mag bottom yet. My own slit saws are way too big for that. What is needed is a slit saw of 0.44" diameter and I lack one. Of course then adding a 7 round Bersa spring would become more practical.

Seems like more work than it's worth to just add one round to the magazine. Just my opinion. If having more than 6 rounds was that important to me I would have bought a different pistol.

Having more than just one or two OEM magazines for my multiple P64s I examined them and determined there was more than one design of follower. Some are rather short and there simply is nothing to remove. Therefore if you want a 7 shot pistol the best solution is NOT trimming your magazine spring, but rather instead deepening the magazine bottom enough to accommodate an additional round and a 7 shot spring. This, in a best of all worlds scenario, means make a new bottom for the magazine. Deltek or aluminum is the current debate in my world. A P64 with 7+1 is an interesting concept IMO.

LoL to the idea of finding a Golden Sabre or Black Talon in 9x18.

A 102 grain Golden Saber in 9x18 would be awesome.

Maybe, but I can't tell what year(s) mine came from. Except the one from KeepShooting. That one may be post-'72, but I'm not pushing it any harder than I have to. It hasn't malfunctioned yet and I'm not testing my luck.

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Obvious answer to the slit saw problem suddenly occurred to me. 3 D print the new floor plate.

For the longest time (like 2 years) I was stymied about how to deepen the magazine floor plate. Then today while playing with a piece of delrin I was thinking why not make two halves of a floor plate then fuse them together?

Well, if that works please tell us.

Shooting the 8 round mags - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjykwWMr4VA
How to make an 8 round mag - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klJ2PEUIqJM&t=57s

Let me know if you have any questions.

Well done, nicely explained and filming was good.