The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Just got a nice clean P64 from SOG and some wolf springs ( 22 recoil, 19 main.)

The gun has a stiff but reasonable double action, but a very stiff hammer retract in single action.
Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. This doesn't sound typical?

Should I just change the recoil or both as I don't mind the double action, but find the single action too stiff?

Thanks!

garryb, when you say "a very stiff hammer retract in single action" do you mean cocking the hammer? If so then yes, they are reasonably stiff when manually cocking the hammer. It's all about leverage, you have a pretty stubby hammer spur as opposed to say a normal revolver. Hope that answered your question, if not there is a wealth of information to be found here. Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum. Bill

Thanks!

Yes, the hammer cocking is very stiff.

Since the double action seems tolerable, I'll start by changing the recoil spring, as that is a lot easier, and the recoil sounds like its a bit heavy with modern ammo.

Its a 69 and i got it with 3 mags all in good shape. Best I can tell, all old style.

I have a Tokarev and a CZ82, both hand picked, that I have bought from them, but the P64 is in the best shape, looks excellent.

Hope to shoot it next week.

Your pistol should have the round hammer and yes with the factory spring it can be a little stiff to cock. Replacing the hammer spring with the 19lb one will make double action pull AND thumb cocking the hammer much easier

Welcome to the forum.

You may find you have a "hair" trigger in SA when you add a lighter hammer spring.

There as also been reports of the mag dropping on the last round and the slide not holding open with the lighter hammer spring.

Curly1 wrote:Welcome to the forum.

You may find you have a "hair" trigger in SA when you add a lighter hammer spring.

There as also been reports of the mag dropping on the last round and the slide not holding open with the lighter hammer spring.

Most of those reports were for the 17lb hammer spring. The 19lb hammer spring should be just fine.

Welcome to the forum.

garryb wrote:Thanks!

Yes, the hammer cocking is very stiff.

Since the double action seems tolerable, I'll start by changing the recoil spring, as that is a lot easier, and the recoil sounds like its a bit heavy with modern ammo.

Its a 69 and i got it with 3 mags all in good shape. Best I can tell, all old style.

I have a Tokarev and a CZ82, both hand picked, that I have bought from them, but the P64 is in the best shape, looks excellent.

Hope to shoot it next week.

You'll want the recoil spring to be as heavy as you can get. I use the 22lb. and the 18lb. on the trigger spring. The reason for the heavier recoil spring is because today’s ammo is so much more powerful, the original spring, 17lb. if I'm not mistaken, is too light and, should you decide to use +p ammo like I do, the light spring could quite possibly cause damage to your pistol. And, like Curly said, I too have had a couple of my mags drop with the 18lb. spring, most don't but a couple do, and you will get a "hair trigger" as a matter of fact the first couple of times that you shoot it you'll probably fire a second round by accident until you get used to it. I'm always going to mark the ones that drop on me but of course never have anything handy to mark them with when it happens At any rate I've found the 18/22lb. combination to work the best for me. My DA pull has gotten much more manageable just from shooting it. A lot of these pistols were seldom if ever fired and are naturally going to be a little stiff until you get some rounds through them. You'll find what works best for you through trial and error but be very careful about shooting high powered rounds through this pistol with a weak recoil spring. Parts are hard to come by. Good luck and have fun with it.

Curly1 wrote:Welcome to the forum.

You may find you have a "hair" trigger in SA when you add a lighter hammer spring.

...

OP- I also have a '69 pistol.

It's had at least two prior owners and I can tell the hammer and possibly recoil springs (not trigger sping, AFAIK) have been replaced. Guy who sold gun to me said he believed some spring(s) were replaced. That is all the information that I received from him and it's not very specific.

In any event, hammer is round and not bad cocking it back for SA shot.

The DA pull is not too bad at all though it's a bit stiff.

The SA pull I have measured with a manual pull gauge and I have indeed had shots fired in SA mode which I had not exactly planned upon. I would guess this is due to the stout recoil and leaving my finger on the trigger to reset. One needs to practice and learn the trigger, or let it fully go forward after each shot, or consider placing finger off trigger after each shot.

My SA pull averaged only ~3 lbs., or even a bit less.

I consider it more or less a 'hair' trigger so one wants to be careful. [emphasis added]

I just got my P-64. It's a 1972 that I bought from the good folks at Classic Firearms, my second purchase there. It is an exceptionally good piece. They advertised it as G to VG when in reality it was VG to EXC.

I have a few very rookie-like questions. I see all of the discussion over lightening up the DA. Why not just pull the hammer back on the first round? I know the hammer is kind of stubby, but it's not too hard to pull back. The SA is already so light, why mess with the DA at the risk of making the SA so light as to be unsafe? Also, why risk a bad shot on the first round by going DA when it takes a fraction of a second to pull the hammer back? I have another C&R handgun, a Nagant M1895, made in 1917. It is an SA/DA. The DA is so heavy, I always pull the hammer back. My wife's revolver, a knockoff of an old S&W .32, is the same way.

What if you don't have a fraction of a second to pull the hammer back.

Or you have multiple carry guns like I do, now I would have to remember which one to pull the hammer back on and which ones I don't.

This is somewhat unrelated, but I love your tagline about being able to get the job done with six rounds. I'm somewhat of a C&R evangelist because I think it is the way to go for anyone that wants quality firearms at a reasonable price and wants to avoid the oppressive licensing laws such as we having in Maryland. I had a couple of guys installing a new boiler in my house. I was talking to one of them about my C & R weapons. it was close to the October deadline for our new, even more oppressive gun laws. The other guy mentioned that he needed to get his application before the deadline. I asked him what he was going to buy. He told me that he was going to get a Sig-Sauer 9mm. I asked him what he wanted the gun for. He said he wanted for home defense. I told him about C & R and the P-64. have for $30 application fee and less than $250 that he could get a 9 mm with 6+1 capability. He mentioned the size of the magazine that the Sig could hold. I said to him something very similar to what your tagline says. I said, do you really think that if you can't get the job done with six rounds, that you stand any chance of defending your home with any handgun. He got that message, and when he left he asked for the information on how to get C & R.

That's a valid question. I've never had to carry multiple guns. As heavy as the double action is, I just wonder if it's possible to tune it to the point where it's reasonable and doesn't make you miss with the first round without jeopardizing the safety of the already light single action pull.

I like to carry lighter weapons in the summer,380 and Mak calibers.

Then the heavies like 45acp and 9mm in the winter.

I just took my pistol to the range yesterday. I ran four or five mags through it without a single FTF or FTE. At 7 meters, everything was in the center if mass of the target at a pretty crisp rate of fire. The only problem I have is after field stripping, sometimes the safety gets stuck. I found out that by rotating a part that is either the back of the firing or is attached to the firing pin, the problem goes away. It has a cylindrical end that slides into a channel. When I assign it with the channel, the problem goes away. Any tips on this?

knastera wrote:I just took my pistol to the range yesterday. I ran four or five mags through it without a single FTF or FTE. At 7 meters, everything was in the center if mass of the target at a pretty crisp rate of fire. The only problem I have is after field stripping, sometimes the safety gets stuck. I found out that by rotating a part that is either the back of the firing or is attached to the firing pin, the problem goes away. It has a cylindrical end that slides into a channel. When I assign it with the channel, the problem goes away. Any tips on this?

I don't know, I've never really had that problem. When I bought mine it was just plastered with Cosmoline. I had to soak it over night in kerosene and then take the carb cleaner to it to get all of the gunk out. I trolled the forum for awhile before I started changing springs and so on. I took some good advise and used a small amount of Lucas Assembly Lube, available at Autozone, and most other parts suppliers I suppose, on all of the pivot points on my safety and after firing a hundred or so rounds through it and thoroughly cleaning and re-lubing it after each time, my safety became very manageable. Easy to actuate with the side of the thumb joint by pressing in and up at the same time. It's nice and crisp now and smooth as butter. I actually prefer the stiffer safety to some of the other auto-loaders I have used. I like that there is a little "trick" to placing it into firing mode, should the occasion ever arise where my weapon were to be wrestled from my grasp, the extra time it would take someone unfamiliar with the weapon to get it into firing mode might just make the difference between my being able to deploy my backup weapon or not. Seconds always count in a life or death situation and I'll take as many as I can get. Stay safe.
Bill