mckenney99
Member
Well I've hit the ground in 2025 running. I made it all the way to January 4th before buying my first firearm for the year. While it is handy living within about 30 minutes driving time from AIM Surplus sometimes that can be a curse also.
I've been watching AIM's inventory listings for a shooter grade full sized 38 Special revolver for a while and I've been watching the various M64's they have had for awhile. I fought the urge as long as I could and Saturday the 4th, I finally gave in.
What I found was a M64-6 (non IL) that was rust free, the action was still quite tight but smooth and it didn't appear to have been shot a great deal. The carryup and lockup on all 6 cylinders is perfect. There appears to be a little bit of peening on the cylinder notches from what I suspect was quite a bit of double action dry firing. The side plate screws didn't show any signs of buggering or having been molested. There was some firing residue on the cylinder face, cylinder chambers, inside the frame around the barrel shank, forcing cone, recoil shield and top strap. Strangely the barrel was actually pretty clean as was the outside of the gun like it had been wiped clean after it's last firing but whoever this was issued to didn't bother to clean the action. The M64-6 utilizes the MIM hammer and trigger assemblies and they have numerous crevices and recesses that the old forged hammers/triggers didn't. All of those crevices and recesses were filled with a reddish dirt. The Hogue grips on the gun were completely worn smooth and just plain trashed but that was really a non issue for me. This poor revolver did not appear to have been abused but it sure looked to have been neglected. I'm really curious where this thing came from.
When I got home, I gave the frame, barrel and cylinder a good thorough cleaning and it cleaned up pretty quickly. I was unable to completely remove the usual etching to the right side plate from the Hogue rubber grips having been left on too long.
I opened the M64-6 today (1-7), while I waited for new grips and found a very dry action that also contained a little bit of fouling and even more of the reddish dust(?). After stripping out the action I went to work with some Hoppes #9 and Q-Tips and had the innards looking like new in no time. My standard procedure is to spray everything down with G96 and let it set for a few minutes before removing the excess and then putting it all back together. I didn't bother putting a trigger pull gauge on the gun but it turned out to have very nice smooth action that should get even better with more firing.
This M64-6 was exactly what I was looking for, a good solid, tight basic revolver that with a bit of cleaning should be an excellent shooter. Overall I am very pleased with this M64-6 and consider it a pretty good value at AIM's price of $499.95.
I've been watching AIM's inventory listings for a shooter grade full sized 38 Special revolver for a while and I've been watching the various M64's they have had for awhile. I fought the urge as long as I could and Saturday the 4th, I finally gave in.
What I found was a M64-6 (non IL) that was rust free, the action was still quite tight but smooth and it didn't appear to have been shot a great deal. The carryup and lockup on all 6 cylinders is perfect. There appears to be a little bit of peening on the cylinder notches from what I suspect was quite a bit of double action dry firing. The side plate screws didn't show any signs of buggering or having been molested. There was some firing residue on the cylinder face, cylinder chambers, inside the frame around the barrel shank, forcing cone, recoil shield and top strap. Strangely the barrel was actually pretty clean as was the outside of the gun like it had been wiped clean after it's last firing but whoever this was issued to didn't bother to clean the action. The M64-6 utilizes the MIM hammer and trigger assemblies and they have numerous crevices and recesses that the old forged hammers/triggers didn't. All of those crevices and recesses were filled with a reddish dirt. The Hogue grips on the gun were completely worn smooth and just plain trashed but that was really a non issue for me. This poor revolver did not appear to have been abused but it sure looked to have been neglected. I'm really curious where this thing came from.
When I got home, I gave the frame, barrel and cylinder a good thorough cleaning and it cleaned up pretty quickly. I was unable to completely remove the usual etching to the right side plate from the Hogue rubber grips having been left on too long.
I opened the M64-6 today (1-7), while I waited for new grips and found a very dry action that also contained a little bit of fouling and even more of the reddish dust(?). After stripping out the action I went to work with some Hoppes #9 and Q-Tips and had the innards looking like new in no time. My standard procedure is to spray everything down with G96 and let it set for a few minutes before removing the excess and then putting it all back together. I didn't bother putting a trigger pull gauge on the gun but it turned out to have very nice smooth action that should get even better with more firing.
This M64-6 was exactly what I was looking for, a good solid, tight basic revolver that with a bit of cleaning should be an excellent shooter. Overall I am very pleased with this M64-6 and consider it a pretty good value at AIM's price of $499.95.
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