The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

I'm hot & cold on this. My last purchase of a "Good to very good" resulted in one pistol stained with rust so that the finish looked like camoflage. Polished it out but now it's silver/bluish/black. Hate to admit I am kinda starting to like it. But I just saw an ad they're pushing "some of the best we've seen in a long time" but I wonder what THAT means. Anyway, Classic Firearms has P64s w/2 mags for $199 - supposedly in great condition so be aware....

This kinda irks me. As a favor to my friend the gunsmith with the FFL, I was gonna buy 3 P64s and refurbish them for him to sell. Let him keep the profits (he's got a business, I don't...) and just pay me whatever I spent on the refurbishing (springs, etc. no labor). I'd do it as a hobby project but didn't want to risk getting another rust-BROWN camoflauge-looking rusty pistol. So I contacted Classic and told them about my concern for their description of quality. Told them last one(s) I bought one looked like it sat in water for a few weeks and I didn't want that. Normal, expected holster wear on a 40+ yr old pistol no problem. BROWN instead of dark blued/black finish was what I wanted. They told me the $20 best of 10 pistols was the only/best way.

I figured OK, might be worth it but it was $20 PER PISTOL!!! Not pick the best 3 outta 10 but $60 friggin' dollars! No way. I'm out. AIM Supply for me from here on out.

Yea $20 hand pick is a Classic bone job.

Curly1 wrote:Yea $20 hand pick is a Classic bone job.

You ain't kidding! Twenty bucks is a bit steep to start with for them to look at a few guns and tell you how they look. Twenty bucks EACH when I was gonna "liberate" 3 of their guns just irked the hell outta me.

All I wanted was 3 guns that weren't rusted. Sixty bucks for that? Take a hike....

I just paid Classic's $20 hand select fee for a Yugo SKS and got a beater. They still have not posted my 3 star review, which I left about 9 days ago. A few months ago, I bought a P64 from AIM and Classic at the same time and got a pristine P64 from AIM and one with a horribly ground slide where the import stamp is from Classic. Only $20difference between the AIM and Classic prices at the time. Classic was cheaper. Later Classic sold these with bad grinds on the slides for $50 less as grade B or however they explained it. I just ordered another P64 from Classic for $199 and sent them a note to ask them to make up for boning me on the SKS by giving me a nice P64 without paying for hand select. I'll post an update when it arrives. It has been really hit and miss with Classic and this will be my 12th purchase from them. They did sell me a really nice Romanian and Polish Tok recently.

kwqd wrote: It has been really hit and miss with Classic and this will be my 12th purchase from them. They did sell me a really nice Romanian and Polish Tok recently.

Me too. A while back I requested a 1975 vintage P-64 to match another that I had. They complied no problem. I thanked them and thought that was good service. So I bought 2 more (the ones advertised as "good to very good") and that's when I got one good and the other brown-splotched camoflauged looking! I don't trust anyone these days.

Probably just depends on who picks your order at Classic. Wideners has always gone the extra mile for me. They picked through all of the Yugo 24/47s they had in stock for me to find one with all matching numbers. They even pulled one that was all matching except for the stock because the stock was exceptionally beautiful. I haven't had to ask AIM for any special treatment, they have consistently treated me well. J&G has been spotty, but made an effort. Buds has been spotty, too, but their web site is such crap that I rarely bother going there any more. SOG, Samco have been OK, though I haven't had the occasion to ask for anything special from them.

Classic P64 came today. Two day delivery via Post Office. Pistol is a 1968, but looks unissued. Matching numbers including magazine that was in the pistol. Came with extra (non-matching) magazine and cleaning rod. Maybe the squeaky wheel got the grease. My Yugo review has never been added to Classic's site, though. Eleven days and counting.

Just got one in from Classic. $199 , no hand select fee. Yup, it turned out to be a 'brown slide rust camo' job as described above. I'm contacting them to see what they will do about it. I'll keep ya posted.....

Noob here. Just bought one of the $199 and it was in pretty good shape except the safety looks parkerized instead of blued. For a 40+ year old surplus gun, I'm not fussed.

Aimsurplus now has 'category 1' and '2' P-64s. I have always liked doing business with them, so may think about picking up another.

Paid Classic for hand select for 2 "Very Good" Mosin Nagants awhile back. One was badly pitted and the other looked fair, but wouldn't eject without considerable work. They pretty much blew me off saying "It is a surplus rifle." I never saw the negative review I gave them. You might get lucky now and then, but I have never had a problem anywhere else. Please go elsewhere (anywhere).

I feel I should say something nice since I did say some bad stuff about Classic, myself. I just saw the 3 P-64s I recently ordered at the FFL dealer/gunsmith/friend who received them. They were nice, clean pistols. Good finish. Typical holster wear you'd expect in a 40+ yr old pistol(s).

When I placed the order - which I said I'd never do - I said in the comments section of the order form that I'd like decent finish on the pistols. I could handle mechanical stuff and expected normal wear but a brown, rusty finish was a major problem because I had no re-bluing capabilities. Well, they didn't disappoint.

I got a 1972, 76 and a 71 pistols all with decent (NON-RUSTY!!!) finish. Mechanicals were pretty good, too. I refurbished 2 of 'em yesterday and am gonna go do the 3rd tomorrow. I guess is you ask real nice and kiss up enough it works!