The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Just got my P-64, have not fired it yet. It is the triangular hammer one, 1976. Looks in good shape, previous owner did fire it, and said it was very accurate. Have taken it apart and totally cleaned and lubed it. Wanted to see if the firing pin was working, so I did the common pencil test where you put in a pencil in the barrel eraser end first. Hold the gun pointing up and pull the trigger (DA and SA), the pencil then jumps out as it should due to the firing pin striking the eraser. I noticed that when pulling the hammer back and letting it slip before it engages, that the hammer strikes the firing pin and moves pencil. This is with magazine in, safety off.

I have noticed some previous posts on this board saying they have had some accidental fires that sound similar to the above scenario.

Is this the norm for this pistol?!?!?!?!?

frym

I have read just about every posted on this forum please supply link to any accidental discharges on this forum, other than a double tap of the trigger because of to light a hammer spring
and try to it with the safety on

NORM

with the safety off the hammer is going to hit the firing pin every time the hammer is moving forward. I think that is the way the gun is built.

If the safety is off, I don't see how it can happen due to the construction of the safety block on the safety itself. Pull the slide off and see if any of the firing pin is exposed when the safety is in the safe polition.

The P-64 does not have a half-cock safety like many modern pistols and the 1911. If the safety is ON, the hammer cannot strike the firing pin. If the safety is off(red dot showing), the hammer can strike the firing pin whether the trigger is pulled or not.

I'm sorry "bzinggg", but you're mistaken. I just checked mine and the hammer will only go all the way forward if the trigger is held almost all the way back. If you can cock yours for a single action shot but the hammer goes fully forward without pulling the trigger the safety notch on the hammer would have to be damaged or for some reason the sear will not engage except at full cock. I'm assuming that you, or someone else, did not convert your P-64 to "double action only", or attempt to.

PshootR is right, the experience of the original poster is indicative of a problem.

See the image below, it shows the relationship between the sear, trigger bar, and hammer:



Bunged up sear or sear spring?

Well, my mistake, mebbe, but I was testing a pistol in good condition, but not full cocking the hammer, just thumbing the hammer part way back, and it was landing flat. So since the safety was off when I thumbed it, I believed that the hammer had to be hitting the firing pin.

Add edit 2: I defer to Norm!

NORM: Here is one recent posting you perhaps missed: See the first post.

http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?bo ... 1183656693

It sounds just like the problem I might have. I also heard through the FFL that I got gun from, that the previous owner complained of the same problem and had an accidental discharge.

blinddog: took the slide off, the firing pin is not exposed with the safety on or off.

bzinggg: you have accurately described my situation.

To clarify: The safety works just fine when it is ON (no red dot showing) and it blocks the hammer. With the safety OFF (red dot showing), finger off the trigger, the hammer recedes slightly to the firing pin. If you pull back on the hammer and let go just before the hammer fully engages to its rearward position it launches the pencil out of the barrel with great gusto, meaning that the firing pin will hit primer. Pencil is launched with almost the same force as with pulling the trigger. DA and SA actions work as they should.

Surely this is not the intentional design?!

Does the P-64 have a half-cock hammer or not??? An authoritative yes or no would be appreciated.

Pshootr: the hammer does stay back when cocked for single action, it is if you let the hammer slip before it fully cocks that it strikes the firing pin (finger off trigger).

The pic. stibnite posted has me concerned. Fix?

Hummm, just tried both of mine and cannot get the pencil to movewith safety on. You have a definite problem. i would look over the exploded views stibnite listed and recheck and maybe take apart the slide to see if something is broken or has been "modified" Just my opinion.

frym
no this gun doesn't have a half cock

if you take the right grip and the slide off dose the trigger bar slide out when you pull the trigger

NORM

with the slide off, look between the hammer and the magazine area. There should be a small spring and plunger assembly next to the disconnecter. The spring applies pressure to the sear so that it automatically engages the "half-cock" notch on the hammer once the hammer has dropped. If the spring is not there (or weak or broken for that matter) then the hammer can move forward and strike the FP. This spring is viewable in the awesome assembly manual that TTH made for us.

Manual is here. http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?bo ... 461&page=1

This spring is viewable on pages 32 - 35.

hope this helps.

blinddog: there seems to be some confusion here. With the safety ON (no RED DOT showing), my P-64 behaves as it should, the pencil will not launch.

The pencil launches when the safety is OFF (red dot showing) under 3 conditons:

1. when trigger pulled in DA mode.
2. when trigger pulled in SA mode.
3. (and here is the problem I am talking about) when the hammer is allowed to slip from your thumb as you are about to fully cock it for single action mode. The hammer does cock/engage just fine for SA.

Norm: If this gun does not have a half cock, how is #3 above prevented? That's the magic answer. I will have to check and see if the trigger bar slides out. Do you mean slides all the way out? Isn't it a little risky to pull the trigger on the gun without the slide on, in that it might harm the hammer, etc. as it slams fully forward with out the slide to stop it? I guess I could ease the hammer down as I pull the trigger?

Blinddog,

My investigation was centered around the conditions with the safety off. This, in my oinion, is where the question of the "half-cock" safety feature comes into play.

I do see the additional notch that holds the hammer off the firing pin in the illustration. But, does that constitute a true half-cock safety?

I will continue to carry with the safety on when I have a round in the chamber.

b.

Let's get "on" and "off" fully defined here. When the safety is on, the red dot does not show and the gun is in the "will not fire" mode.

When the safety is off, the red dot shows plainly, and the gun is in the "will fire mode"

frym

barnett might be right with the sear spring , but there is no half cock in this gun this is not a 1911.

what I am thinking is the trigger return spring may have slip off its post
and I'm not trying to sell you a trigger return spring

NORM