Neat cheap gun available

[rm9792]

Just ordered 2 with extra mag each, should be here wednesday. They have a nice looking CZ-82 right below the Feg in the catalog they wanted 159-189 depending on the grade.

[wgoforth]

Yes, those CZ's are good too. wider as they are double stacked. If these are like other cz's they had though, I do not like the finish...it was a thick plastic coat that chips off really badly and nothing you can do. BUT, the gun is excellent. Handles like the FEG.

[RECIT]

I have one I bought a while back, but I have not shot it yet. I even have the wolf spring package already. I have yet to install the new springs or shoot it.

[rm9792]

I went ahead and ordered the springs and ammo. Replace the springs first from everything I have researched so far. Looks like the grips might need replacing too to eliminate the thumb rest. 139 just turned into 200 with shipping and upgrades, still not bad.

[wgoforth]

Then go to ebay and order the leather holster for $7.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/Makarov-Military-Po ... 53de658619" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I mailed one of those to my son for his PA63 and he said it would not fit.

I gave one to a friend yesterday, and when he tried to put the FEG in, it wouldn't go. He pushed and pushed but wouldn't. Then I realized what happened. There is a leather strap inside the holster that was in the way. After moving it over, it went in just fine. Perhaps this was happening with your son?

[rm9792]

got both pistols in last week. First off had to clean an enormous amount of cosmoline off and found a decent looking pistol underneath, they dont look used at all. Trigger was horrendous, felt like a 20# pull in both, seriously. The gun would actually pull off target when dryfiring it was so hard. Swapped in the 9# hammerspring and life was better. Safety auto decocks when activated, nice feature but back to the long hard pull again. No C&L here. The "break" is real rough and feels like its dragging but I am not familiar enough with this model to attempt to stone the sear but it would help.

They take apart a little weird but quick once you know how. Shooting was good, on target at 15yds and a bit snappy, like most .380's. Was hitting about 1" directly below POA. I ordered 1 replacement set of grips and am ordering another because I dont like the thumbrest. Final tally after FFL and parts added was ~$200 each. Since i am used to carrying Govt 1911's this thing will seem to disappear when concealed so should make a good alternative CCW piece. Ammo was easy to find online and at Pasadena Gun Show, not too expensive. Overall to me was worth the price but would look for it locally to avoid the FFL fees.

[wgoforth]

got both pistols in last week. First off had to clean an enormous amount of cosmoline off and found a decent looking pistol underneath, they dont look used at all. Trigger was horrendous, felt like a 20# pull in both, seriously. The gun would actually pull off target when dryfiring it was so hard. Swapped in the 9# hammerspring and life was better. Safety auto decocks when activated, nice feature but back to the long hard pull again. No C&L here. The "break" is real rough and feels like its dragging but I am not familiar enough with this model to attempt to stone the sear but it would help.

They take apart a little weird but quick once you know how. Shooting was good, on target at 15yds and a bit snappy, like most .380's. Was hitting about 1" directly below POA. I ordered 1 replacement set of grips and am ordering another because I dont like the thumbrest. Final tally after FFL and parts added was ~$200 each. Since i am used to carrying Govt 1911's this thing will seem to disappear when concealed so should make a good alternative CCW piece. Ammo was easy to find online and at Pasadena Gun Show, not too expensive. Overall to me was worth the price but would look for it locally to avoid the FFL fees.

Yes, stock is a 19 lb trigger pull. With the new 9lb, cut a ring at a time with wire cutters of the spring. Not ~too~ much or you'll start getting light strikes. BUT, if you also replace the firing pin spring (comes included with the Wolff recoil spring) that will help you to not have the light strikes. As you say, these are virtually new... so break in after a few hundred rounds will help. Some do sear work on these too. Beefing up the recoil spring will help it feel less "snappy" although will make racking the slide stiffer.
About 1/3 - 1/2 down the page, this article tells about improving the trigger pull and polishing the sear.
http://www.makarov.com/tech.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kragluver]

The pistol that the PA-63 replaced (the P64) is also very good and inexpensive (note I didn't say "cheap"). The gun is very well made, accurate and reliable. It is a bit smaller than the 63 (a holster made for the Walther PPK fits perfectly). Some say the P64 recoil is snappy. I found that by changing the recoil spring, the hammer spring (available from Wolf Springs) and adding one of those rubber Hogue slip on grips, the gun is very handy. The stock hammer spring made the DA trigger pull atrocious (to me at least). The 19# Wolf hammer spring brought the DA trigger into acceptable limits and its a very shootable pistol - excellent for concealed carry.

[NcongruNt]

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see this one until now.

This was actually my first pistol and first carry gun. As others have noted, there are some drawbacks, mainly the trigger pull as well as the slide bite that's inherent to the PPK design (the PA-63 is a Walther PPK clone).

A couple of things I learned from mine:

DA pull is heavy. 20# or so is right. It takes a lot of practice to get used to it. More than half the new shooters I take to the range simply can't keep a gun on target and make the pull. We nearly always end up starting out in SA and staying there for the duration with this gun. On the other hand, the SA pull is very nice and crisp.

It is picky about some ammo. Particularly steel-cased ammo. Brown/Silver Bear does not feed particularly well with it. In particular, the Silver Bear hollow points are quite unreliable. Also, stay If you go with steel-cased ammo, I've found that Monarch feeds reliably - it's also available at Academy. For brass-cased stuff, I've found that Sellier & Bellot is quite reliable and consistent. It's readily available at Cabela's.

One other item to note about ammo - Do not use ammo heavier than 95 grains. The vast majority of ammo in 9x18 is 95 grains, but Wolf makes some 100 grain ammo. These guns are not made to handle ammunition that heavy, and there are several places I've read about people who ran the heavier ammo through their guns long-term and ended up damaging the frame. Also, if you think standard 95 grain ammo is snappy - the 100 grain ammo is downright painful. I accidentally bought a box once and it was not pleasurable.

Do not succumb to the temptation to change out the recoil spring for a heavier one with the aim to reduce the snap. All these ends up doing is hindering proper operation of the gun, particularly inhibiting the slide from traveling fully rearward, causing a failure to cock the hammer back and causing every shot to be DA. You'll also see stovepipes galore. Really, don't do it.

If you spend any considerable time with the gun at the range, you're likely going to bleed. I still have the calloused scar marks from putting thousands of rounds downrange. This will vary on how beefy your hands are and how you grip the gun. This is an inherent problem with the design, and Walther PPK owners have the same problem. It took me some time to modify my grip with this pistol to minimize this. I've got it now to the point where a hundred rounds will only result in two reddish streaks on the back of my hand behind the thumb webbing where the edges of the slide have rubbed my skin raw.

Now, I know of one thing that will help smooth out operation of the gun markedly: treating with Microlon Gun Juice. I did this for mine and it was so amazing how much smoother the action was, particularly feeding. I also treated the lips of my magazines, which also helped ease feeding.

It's a good carry gun if you're starting out. It's inexpensive and ammo is available and relatively cheap. There's only one option I'm aware of for serious carry ammo: Hornady XTP. Fortunately, I've found that it feeds incredibly well in this gun, and is quite accurate. It can also be found several places, including Cabela's. Since it is a Walther PPK clone, there is a wide variety of holsters available. It's also relatively compact and easy to conceal.

I personally carry this gun with the safety off. Like most slide-mounted safeties, it's awkward for me to disengage during a draw. Also, the 20#+ DA pull is certainly not going to pull itself, and nothing short of serious deliberate force on the trigger is going to overcome that.

[wgoforth]

NcongruNT;
I can't say what your experience has or hasn't been for sure, however I have owned 7 of these PA-63's and changed both the recoil and hammer springs in all and never had a single FTF/FTE. If you do a google on "PA-63 mods" and such like, you will read forums of people doing this all saying they have had good results. The only I have seen that they have not is when they tried trimming the spring too much or trying to make or bend a spring. So, if someone does buy the new springs and it works, great! If they buy them and experience what you have suggested, it's simple enough to put the old springs back in. Just hang on to your old springs. But again, after 7 of these, not a single problem on this end....and that's with using Silver and Brown Bear. Don't know how to explain any difference between yours and mine.
Wayne

[NcongruNt]

Perhaps it was something particular to my gun, but I did find several others in forums who experienced the same problems. I had changed my spring out for the next step up, a 13# spring from Wolff and had lots of problems thereafter. I do hold on to my old springs, but unfortunately the original got crushed somehow where I stowed it, so ended up ordering another 11# stock-strength spring. My problems went away once I swapped back.

As for the ammo, the biggest problem was with the Silver Bear hollow points. They would snag on the feed ramp and turn downwards at least once a magazine, and feed roughly the rest of the rounds. I have 7 magazines for the gun, and it would do it with them all. The FMJ Silver Bear stuff would feed more reliably, but certainly not 100% reliably and there was considerable friction apparent when feeding. The gun has a markedly different feel to it when feeding other brands, and I think this had to do with the front rim of the cases catching on the bottom edge of the feed ramp while moving forward. I'll have to pull some of my old stock and compare it to other brands and see if there is a significant difference in how much the case protrudes from the bullet there.

My only theory as to why this varies from your experience is that perhaps the magazine catch is worn internally, and causing the magazines (and therefore the rounds) to ride lower than is normal spec. I'll have to disassemble it and take a look one of these days.

Otherwise, I did have 2 other parts break on the pistol. First was the ejector spring, and I had no luck finding a replacement part at the time. Fortunately, it is the same spec as the Walther PPK and was able to locate a PPK replacement spring, which got it fixed. Second was the barrel pin collar. This is the stamped piece of metal at the front of the base of the barrel, and it broke into 2 pieces. Once I figured out what it was called, it was easily fixed and I had the part replaced without a problem.

I did consider getting another PA-63 as a spare, but I've since moved on to a Hi-Power as my regular carry, and prefer SA guns these days. Next up on my list is likely a 1911 of some type.