Check it out before you buy it.

[RON in PA]

Went to the usual place that feeds my addiction and what do I spy but a 4"pencil barrel model 64. First one I've seen in person. The friendly pusher hands it to me and I start checking it out as per the sticky on the top of this page and lo-and-behold it flunks the hammer push-off test. No model 64 for me. The moral of all this is save yourself some grief and check out that gun using the wisdom of the sticky.

Not all was lost as I spied a Smith 3913 which turned out to be police surplus, in box with papers. That gun was unfired and unissued as far as I could tell. Not anymore.

 

[ugaarguy]

Good catch. Though if the price was right I might have bought it anyway. Use that failed test to negotiate the price down and take it to the smith for some lovin. Nice find on the 3913 as well.

 

[Jim March]

I agree with ugaarguy on this one. Failing the hammer push-off means it has a screwed up hammer/sear engagement area, probably by way of amateur gunsmithing.

BUT: the frame and cylinder are likely OK and the gun is still in good enough condition to check for that.

If it passes everything else, the problem noted is fixable. Get a quote from a gunsmith or two on this, bring that back to the dealer if you still want the gun (and it's otherwise OK).

 

[Shear_stress]

Strangely, I had the same experience with another beautiful used pencil barrel M64. In this case, the gun's timing was so poor that the cylinder stop bolt would not engage the cylinder notches in single action. It was just a matter of a new hand, but the store wasn't willing to dicker.

 

[Will5A1]

Pencil barrel 64's are not that common, as the other posters stated above it may well be a good buy anyway, you may want to consider going back and seeing what sort of deal they will offer you.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

excuse my ignorance...what's the hammer push-off test?

 

[tipoc]

Kimber,
Read the first post again, note that it refers to a sticky on this revolver forum for checking out a used revolver for function, than you may want to read the sticky for info on the hammer push off test.

tipoc