The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Went to the range today with the new (and recently cleaned of cosmoline) P-64. I put 100 rounds of cheap 92gr Tulammo through it. I'm impressed! This thing is extremely accurate with its minimalist sights. The SA trigger simply cannot be improved on. It's cold here and I wore thin leather gloves, but even without them, I don't think the recoil is as punishing as many believe; it was really no worse than the E Germ Makarov that I used to own. I'll take a little bit more kick for that kind of accuracy the very first time I fire a pistol. I tried only one shot DA. Forget it. This convinces me that the P-64 should be carried with six in the magazine and an empty chamber, and practiced with an automatic slide cycling, Israeli style, every time you draw it from the holster.

There were no failures of any kind except for one strange occurrence for which I'd appreciate an explanation. Late in the session, I was firing rapidly when suddenly I pulled the trigger....only to find that it was dangling in space with the hammer still cocked from the previous round! I manually cycled the slide but the bullet (last of six in the mag) was bouncing around just behind the chamber opening, so I carefully held the slide while turning the gun upside down to let the rambling round drop out. The bullet was fine, no mark on it at all. I reinserted it in the magazine and fired it to be certain. I want to say that while firing fast I may have failed to let the trigger reset, but I'm really not sure. And if that was the problem, why did the trigger remain disengaged with no seeming remedy short of manually racking the slide? With that hammer still cocked, the whole episode was a bit unnerving. I don't believe I've ever experienced anything similar before, certainly not with the E Germ Makarov that never had any failure of any description through thousands of rounds.

Sounds like the round didn't fully chamber...this kept the slide from going into battery. As a result, the disconnector keeps the trigger bar from engaging the sear.

OK, what you say makes sense. I didn't know that the disconnector would keep the trigger bar from engaging the sear, but the trigger acted as if I had engaged the safety (I hadn't). Thanks. Needless to say, I'll be alert to see if the problem repeats itself. (I've noticed that on occasion the slide closes almost but not completely. I wonder if "the cure" might be nothing more complicated than some gun grease on the slide rails.)

Lube it up, and give it time to reset. It has a hair-trigger after DA. Get a Wolfe spring kit and you can carry one in the chamber.
I carry mine as EDC. Practice dry-firing and you get used to the DA. But have be aware of that next shot, to avoid too rapid a trigger squeeze. I use the safety on this gun.

Thanks. The first thing I'm going to do is apply some gun grease to the slide rails, then think about the new springs. (I did notice after returning home yesterday that for whatever reason the DA wasn't as bad while dry firing, almost tolerable. I seem to remember that someone on this list said it might become better with oil and a little use.) Thanks again for your answer.

I put 18# hammer springs in all of my P64s. 18 lbs is still a pretty good pull to prevent accidental discharge while making the trigger easier for a normal human to pull! The SA pull then goes down to around 3-4 lbs. so, as mentioned above - BE AWARE OF THE CHANGE AND BE CAREFUL!!! Not what I'd consider a "hair trigger" but a BIG change and much, much lighter disproportionately so!

Thanks for the warning. I didn't understand that the change would affect the SA that much. It's already extremely light!