Resurrected Polish P64

About four years ago I bought one of the Polish P64s when they were a dime a dozen. Nifty, but I took off the grips once and managed to pop out the trigger bar on accident. Well I must have tried to put it back in and failed (it’s very tough to do even on a good day) and the gun ended up disassembled in a locked storage bin where I more or less forgot about it.

Not sure why, but this morning I had an urge to go look for it and decided to try and get the gun back together. I hunted on YouTube for some videos and there weren’t many, the ones there were did not show the installation of the trigger bar probably because it would be a nightmare to assemble it on camera.

The problem is you have to depress a spring arm above the trigger mechanism and snap it over the pin on the front of the trigger bar next to the one that fits inside the trigger itself. The issue is there’s only about 2mm of area to work with as the bar effectively seals the machined hole in the frame where all of this is to take place.

It took about 30-45 minutes of finagling, trying multiple tools, until a dental pick finally (barely) worked. I still think it was mostly luck. Anyway, we”ve got it all back together again after all this time:



Now where did I put that magazine?

-J.C.F.

Snowdog said:

The P64 may have a (very) heavy stock DA trigger pull, but that's able the only thing I can say against it... and that is correctable.
I think the P64 is a vastly underrated pistol and can easily place itself in the same league as a .38 special snubnose for CCW.

I ordered an "NRA good" condition P64 from Southern Ohio Gun (SOG) around 2008. I expected a real dog as it was the lower of the 3 condition options. I also asked for one made in 1976, my year of birth just for giggles... not expecting jack. What I received for the $120 or so was a pristine/unissued P64 made in 1976. I was loyal to SOG for all my C&R needs after that. It's a shame their website and flyers are no longer around.

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I have dealt with SOG over the years and every purchase was outstanding. They were the best surplus people around. I was sad when they closed their business.

MedWheeler said:

I have one of these. Been meaning to put it up against my Kel-Tec PF9 and one of its ancestors, the Grendel P10, to compare perceived recoil. Haven't gotten around to it yet, and my supply of 9x18 Makarov is kind of slim these days.

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Ive got about 1K rounds left. A magazine arrived from eBay today so I might go shoot it this evening.

Well I took the Polish P64 to the range this evening before sunset, and about 75 rounds in it broke:



The trigger guards flew off! I immediately stopped shooting once I saw metal flying away from the gun, thinking it had kaboomed. This was not the case, and after 10 minutes of searching found the trigger guard. It is what holds the pistol together and the slide slid off as well. Additionally, I remembered I have a worn decocker on this weapon, and had three failures to feed as well.

Not a good situation. Luckily I bought this for cheap several years back when they were on sale. I suppose know I need to hunt for parts, or simply sell the gun to a parts scavenger like Numrich et. al.

Shucks!

.455_Hunter said:

That sucks!

Did the trigger guard fracture?

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Yes, it broke in two spots while shooting.

Thought it was a kaboom since I saw metal go flying and the slide fell off. Quite scary and I checked myself for blood, but the report sounded normal and there was no excessive smoke or anything,

I have read this can happen with P64s, and replacement guards are largely unobtainable. I will have to say upon further research these guns do not at all seem as robust and durable as a Russian Makarov, of which I have personally 3 thousand rounds through a Bulgarian example with no failures of any kind.

EDIT: Several cases of this failure: www.p64resource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5938

The metallurgy of these little Polish pistols is dubious.

Zygodactyl said:

Sorry to hear that it failed. I bought one years ago that was unissued. I didn't fire it until a few months ago because of the awful DA trigger pull. I bought a new hammer spring to lighten the trigger pull and also a new stiffer recoil spring. The Russian ammo I bought with it was a lot hotter than the package claimed when I chronographed it. I bought some Starline brass and Berry's 95 gr plated bullets. With the handloads and the new springs it was 100% reliable and kept all rounds in the black at 10 yards. If your ammo was as hot as the Russian ammo I had it may have contributed to the failure of the trigger guard/slide stop. Also the previous owner may have pulled the trigger guard down to far and stressed it. It only needed to be pulled enough to clear the frame and moved to the side to hold it in position while the slide is removed.

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I’m not sure? The previous owner would have to have been a Polish soldier, since I bought the gun in cosmoline from Southern Ohio Gun before they closed shop. The ammo I was firing is Russian milspec ammo and didn’t seem overly hot, just standard power 9x18mm.

I can only guess poor heat treat or something to that effect. I’ve got parts on order and once the pistol is repaired, it will be sold. They are fetching quite a bit more than what I paid for mine back in 2017 and I have no more desire to own it.

UPDATE:

The parts arrived (triggerguard and disconnector) and are now installed. The gun looks factory and it now properly decocks. I also noticed the extractor was battering the barrel hood so gently relieved some metal there. I believe this also could have been holding the slide just out of battery enough for the safety mechanism to not engage the disconnector, keeping the gun stuck in full cock when a round was in the chamber.



I’ve got an increased power mainspring pack coming from Wolff Gunsprings. This should help alleviate stress off the trigger block to hopefully prevent this from ever happening again, as well as providing a smoother recoil impulse for the shooter. I will test fire for function and then put the pistol on the open market.

-J.C.F.

Dibbs said:

Love mine, wish I'd picked up two or three. I look forward to eventually finding a P-83 Wanad. Probably get more than one, given the opportunity.

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The P83 is really cool looking. It’s like a modernized, folded steel Makarov. Still used by the Poles too from what I gather.