what is it about Pa 63s'

[Dennis]

a buddy of mine had a choice between a makerov and a Pa 63 for his wife his wife chose the Pa 63.
I checked it out for her it was "ok"
the wife loved it
she shot it very well.
I shot it and it made me bleed just like every other Pa63 I have ever shot has.
I have big hammy hands (sorry cant help it)
she just loves her two tone pistol.

[dgray64]

Dennis, I have the same problem (bleeding). I figured I wouldn't be selling my PA-63 soon though, so I used some sandpaper to round off the sharp corners of the beaver tail. Talk about a different gun!! It's fun to shoot again...and not bleed!!

Dave

[DrBoomBoom]

I have small hands, don't get bit by my PA 63, Hi Power, 1911, or P 64. Mine's a pretty good one, I'm going to start carrying it. I can hit at fifteen feet with plenty accuracy:

[GoodAim]

Nice work there BoomBoom

[Zen900]

The commercial version of the PA63 was called the ATTILA.

[rondog]

Wow, good shootin'! My PA-63 won't do that, but they'd likely all be within the 10 ring, over on the left side.

[Karlpph]

Folks,

I am glad to find this place. I have owned a PPH, I gather that that is the old name for a PA-63 for 20 years and value it as the good honest pistol it is.
I have shot just about every type of .380 round in it over the years and never had a problem except hard to recover brass and here I have read that new springs will fix that.

take care
Karlpph

[alan c.]

No question about it the makarov is a better pistol by far. The PA 63 is just a nicer looking pistol. Because of the light weight it will sting the hand a bit and the slide will bite you if you grip it to high. I have owned both.

[bigdaddy]

First time poster,I carry a feg pa63 as my CCW.My son also carries one.I outshoot his glock 9m with my painted sites .His feg has a problem to where it won't cycle when pulling the hammer.I pulled the grips and the mechanism is not picking right when you pull the trigger.If you pull up the actuater a little,it will pick that cam and work.It acts as it the trigger should hit the stop and torque the actuater to rise and pick the cam.Anyone ever tore one apart to this point and does anyone knows where to get parts?I have gotten springs from wolf and they work great .I think I need to find new replacement parts and rebuild the gun.He bought it last weekend from a gun show and maybe it is worn out.THANK YOU!MIKE

[rchjr]

Hi everyone. First time poster to this forum. I'm really excited to find this place. I daily carry a PA-63. After I sanded off the rough edges and changed the springs(Wolf), I wouldn't trade this gun for anything. It's accurate and lethal with Hornady 95gr xtp hollow points. About 500 rounds now with the Hornady and no failures of any kind. Had one squibb with wolf bagged stuff I bought at a gun show, but come to find out they were not 95 gr. That was quite an experience. I like it so much I bought one for my son for his carry weapon. I would like to get some wood grips for mine though.

[rondog]

Originally Posted by rchjr

Hi everyone. First time poster to this forum. I'm really excited to find this place. I daily carry a PA-63. After I sanded off the rough edges and changed the springs(Wolf), I wouldn't trade this gun for anything. It's accurate and lethal with Hornady 95gr xtp hollow points. About 500 rounds now with the Hornady and no failures of any kind. Had one squibb with wolf bagged stuff I bought at a gun show, but come to find out they were not 95 gr. That was quite an experience. I like it so much I bought one for my son for his carry weapon. I would like to get some wood grips for mine though.

I have one too. I don't get to play with it much, have too many 1911's to play with ahead of it and the Bersa. Only ammo I've found is the Russian Silver Bear, and it seems like pretty hot stuff. Nasty recoil with it.

I bought the Wolff spring kit, but have only changed out the recoil spring so far. I need to change the hammer spring to fix the stiff trigger pull problem. Just lazy, and hang out on several of these damn forums.

There ARE some nice wood grips available out there on the 'net. Someone on this forum makes 'em too, I think.

[Zen900]

Originally Posted by rchjr

I would like to get some wood grips for mine though.

I really like the right handed thumbrest grips on the PA63. However I wish they were wood not plastic.

[DocV]

I haven't posted in over a year (deployed), so I fgured I'd use this as an opportunity to start the new year off on one of my favorite subjects.

I have a PA-63 and I think it's great. I replaced the hammer and recool spring with Wolff springs and have done some tweaking here and polishing there. I think it was a great deal for a 100 dollar pistol. For me it has been a great platform to tinker with. I am much more likely to do so than I would with, say, an 800 dollar Browning.

I just ordered some grips from Marschalgrips.com If the quality is as good as I have heard I will be very happy. The prices are certainly great.

One question I have, in y'alls opinion, which holsters would fit a PA-63 better. One designed for a Walther PP or one designed for a SIG P230? I'm looking for a leather IWB.

Thanks for your time.

DocV

[toolman]

Good to hear from ya Doc! Hope the deployment went well, I'm sure you're glad to be home. FWIW, I'm carrying my '63 in a Bianchi left-hand IWB holster made for a Sig 230\232. With this holster, I can carry the gun in the small of my back on the right side and it works great. Here's a link to another guy that builds holsters specifically for the '63 but he's down right now due to a car wreck:
Home

[DocV]

Hey Toolman! Good to know. I was looking at a Bianchi "pistol pocket" (I think that's the model) R handed IWB and I wasn't sure which model would work the best.

I think that the 63 ,IMO, would be a great midrange CCW IF your particular gun proves reliable. I think it conceals very well. I'm a big guy I have 2 Hi-Powers one in 9mm and one in .40 S&W that I can conceal well with a Milt Sparks IWB, but that is a lot of weight to tote around. The 63 seems to be an easy "slip into your waistband going out the door" size pistol.

By the way, sorry about dropping off the grid like that. I know we were discussing a set of custom grips, iirc for an Astra .25. When my orders came through all of the sudden a lot of things fell by the wayside real fast. I did not mean to be rude. Once my family and I get reaquainted we can discuss it anew.

DocV

[toolman]

Not a problem, bud. Welcome back!

[Tuck]

HI Doc just to let you know I have been carring a Pa63 for over a year and it is Great !
We sell them in our shop and jsut about the time I get one the way I want it somebody buys the one I am carring .

[DocV]

Mr. Tuck,

If you don't mind my asking, what brand/type holster do you use?

Mr. Dennis, et al

In my opinion the FEG has "racier" lines than does the MAK. The MAK is more utilitarian looking. It's kind of like comparing a Jeep to a Porsche. Both have their appeal. Some folks even think the '63 is a bit more "James Bond-ish".

Just my .02

DocV

[Cyrano]

Welcome home, Doc. Glad to see you came through your deployment in one piece.

This may qualify as a stupid question, but Bosun Ripley in the old USTS Bay State always said that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. He was one of the Academy's pistol instructors for those of us who wanted to shoot, so I'm asking.

You say you changed out the recoil and hammer springs in you PA-63. Just how difficult is that to do? I don't have a proper shop, not even a workbench, and I'm widely known as Mister Fumble-Fingers the Mechanical Klutz. (One of life's great ironies is that while I wasn't afraid of stripping down a World War II-vintage Sperry Mark XIV gyrocompass and putting it back together with confidence aboard ship when I had to, I'm taxed to field-strip and reassemble a 1911A1!) How long does it take, assuming your springs don't go flying around the room on you? and are there any other minor mods that can be made to the PA-63 mechanically to improve its ease of operation? And how much does the Wolff spring set cost?

I don't have mine yet, but I'm saving up my pennies and watching for deals. I'm also going to contact a FFL holder that lives about 45 minutes away to receive it when I find one (no one local stocks them) who charges a lot less for the transfer fee than my local gun store, who wants $50 for the privilege. Everyone says it's a sweet pistol to shoot, and it looks like its ancestor the 9mm Walther PP at about a quarter the price. We Yankees like a good bargain.

[DocV]

Mr. Cyrano,

I am not home Home yet so I don't have my manual or pistol in front of me I'm only going by what might be a faulty memory. I want to say around 25 or 30 dollars for the spring kit. I got the one that has 3 different weight recoil springs and three different weight hammer springs. Hopefully, one of the pros on here will chime in with their guidance.

Tools: screwdriver, pin punch/drift, needle nose pliers, Wolff recoil spring and hammer spring.

Take off the slide and grip panels like you were going to field strip it. For the recoil spring simply slide the old one off and replace it with the new one, tighter end first. I used the 18 pound spring.

For the hammer spring, push the butt end down to compress it and drift the pin out. Swap the old for the new. push the butt back down on the table and slip the straightened paper clip in the hole to keep it lined up and push th pin in from the opposite side. Sometimes having someone to hold the frame to give you two free hands helps.

A 9 pound spring will give the better feeling trigger pull at the expense of enough power to detonate some hard primers, at least that is what I have been told. I put an 11 pound spring on to split the difference and to be on the safe side. It feels fine to me.

Reassemble everything and check for function. If you feel that the slide is too difficult to cycle manually because of the heavier spring you may need to go to the next lower weight.

I read somewhere about using a big clear plastic bag and disassembling pistols in side it to catch runaway springs. Get a big one like a 5 gallon bag.

Other things I did:

Polish the feed ramp with a Dremel and felt bob with Simichrome (a polish. Flitz works too.) I wasn't trying to remove any metal, just to slick things up.

I degreased the the rails and put a little tiny amount of Simichrome on them and put 50 rounds through it, cleaned off the rails and used a little moly grease on them. It really slicks up the slide action. You could also manually cycle the slide.

Those are my best Wile E Coyote School of Gunsmithing tricks. Of course, your mileage may vary. Please be careful with any advice I or anyone else gives you. If it don't sound right, don't do it!

Also check out Makarov.com. There is a lot of good information over there.

R/
DocV