LDBennett
06-16-2006, 08:00 AM
Picked up a FEG PA-63 recently. It is an aluminum framed two tone (anodised bright aluminum frame and blued slide) clone of the Walthers PPK. The differences are only in the details (like the design of the firing pin safety) and it is pretty much a copy. The first range session was tough as the gun kept biting my hand with each shot, the single action trigger pull was designed for a weight lifter, and the double action pull was un-doable by a mere mortal. But it seemed accurate and fed ammo perfectly.
My last trip to the range was done after a few changes to the gun and the results were great. The gun recoils less (still, due to the lightness of the gun compared to an all steel gun, it moves around in the hand), and both the single and double action trigger pulls are acceptable. The single action is about 4 1/2 lbs while you can actulally shoot the gun double action now. The gun still feeds and function perfectly. It is now fun to shoot.
What did I do? I replaced the original main recoil spring with the Wolf heavier replacement. I replaced the hammer spring with the 9# spring. Both are available from Makarov.com. I did try my own home made hammer spring but the hits were too light for consistent reliability. For that reason, as guns vary, I bought both the 9# and 11# hammer springs but the 9#'er worked just fine. I stoned the sear and hammer surfaces with a stone for a couple of passes to get the burrs off them. A big change to the trigger pull can be made by reducing the pre-load on the firing pin saftey spring located in the frame just above the trigger. It returns the pin to full extension but is too long and effects the trigger pull badly. Smashing it together with pliers until it has just enough preload to get full extension of the pin is the answer. Fail to do this and I think the trigger pull will not reach the sub 5# level.
For the low price of this "new" surplus gun and with a little work and some springs you end up with a PPK copy made of aluminum and steel that shoots great and looks great. It's hard to go wrong on the Surplus market with jewels like the FEG PA-63 available. But it often is hard to determine the jewels from coal without a little help from others who took the leap and bought with only the hope that all would be OK.
LDBennett
My last trip to the range was done after a few changes to the gun and the results were great. The gun recoils less (still, due to the lightness of the gun compared to an all steel gun, it moves around in the hand), and both the single and double action trigger pulls are acceptable. The single action is about 4 1/2 lbs while you can actulally shoot the gun double action now. The gun still feeds and function perfectly. It is now fun to shoot.
What did I do? I replaced the original main recoil spring with the Wolf heavier replacement. I replaced the hammer spring with the 9# spring. Both are available from Makarov.com. I did try my own home made hammer spring but the hits were too light for consistent reliability. For that reason, as guns vary, I bought both the 9# and 11# hammer springs but the 9#'er worked just fine. I stoned the sear and hammer surfaces with a stone for a couple of passes to get the burrs off them. A big change to the trigger pull can be made by reducing the pre-load on the firing pin saftey spring located in the frame just above the trigger. It returns the pin to full extension but is too long and effects the trigger pull badly. Smashing it together with pliers until it has just enough preload to get full extension of the pin is the answer. Fail to do this and I think the trigger pull will not reach the sub 5# level.
For the low price of this "new" surplus gun and with a little work and some springs you end up with a PPK copy made of aluminum and steel that shoots great and looks great. It's hard to go wrong on the Surplus market with jewels like the FEG PA-63 available. But it often is hard to determine the jewels from coal without a little help from others who took the leap and bought with only the hope that all would be OK.
LDBennett