My own PA-63
Have to agree with you about the grips Gloob... I've never liked smoothe wooden grips of odd colors. It makes guns look like toys.
I bought a PA-63 last weekend at a local gunshop in reasonably new condition. I shot it today for the first time, and it has more recoil than my Makarov with the same ammo, and isn't nearly as accurate. Of course, it could be a loose nut behind the hammer, but the grip and line of sight are slightly different from the Mak, so it may just take some time to get used to it. I did better shooting it without engaging my little finger on the grip as well, so there may be a learning curve to shooting this puppy.
There's a gun show in town tomorrow, so I'm going shopping for toys to trick out all my guns. I'll be looking for clips for my FEG and a Beretta .380 Model 70S Garcia, so tomorrow is more of a "parts shopping" trip than anything.
Being an older guy with fading eyes and cataracts, the sight pattern on the PA-63 sucked pond water today. Where I could aim the Makarov easily, the PA sight line was a little hard to pick up against a black background target. It wasn't too hard against the orange stick-ons, but anything that was dark let the front sight fade into oblivion.
I probably need to order spring kits for both the PA and the Mak to keep from damaging the frames. Apparently, the 9X18 ammo wears out the stock springs and starts slamming the slide into the frame on both guns, so like everything else in my life... If I'm satisfied with it, I need to spend money to keep it that way.
I shoot a lot, and like the 9mm ammo, but especially the 9X18. It's a hot round, and costs less than shooting .380's (unless you're reloading), and I haven't found a .380 yet that wasn't too small for the amount of recoil that you get from the shell. I've got a Beretta 70S and a LLama Minimax, and both of them are a handful to shoot if you're doing "consecutive fire" (double taps) and aren't as accurate as the Mak.
I was pretty accurate with the PA-63 today, but like I said, I think it has a "learning curve" attached to it's self defense shooting skills. All medium and small automatics have their own minds, and don't necessarily fall in line with any particular ammo until you find something that works consistently... and buying ammo at Wally World, you might not find anything consistent. I know that their .380 ammo is Remington one week, CCI the next, and something else the next. I don't think I've found them to have the same kind or manufacturer on the shelf two weeks running since I bought either gun.
I tend to lean on my SR-9 and Smith 4006 for self defense, but I like these little "sissie pistols" to fight my way to my bigger guns. PA-63's are selling for $129 on the internet, and I just missed a special for them at $99, so I already know I paid too much for mine, and will probably have to spend more on it... so it's losing ground as a "favorite" quickly. I do like the way it feels in your hand, and I'm sure as I shoot it more, it's going to gain back some favor... but for right now, it's an "across the room" only gun... although it did cycle well and was pretty accurate at 15 yards.
WT
im already planning on the spring kit and the thumb rest will not live long, i see a Hand-all Jr in my future... i should have asked for a dremel tool 4 my b-day.... 
