PA-63 safe to carry with de-cocker off?

[Dog Confetti]

I've got a Hungarian PA-63 (9x18) that I use for CCW in warm weather (sometimes). Looking at the mechanism I'd guess that the hammer rests directly on the firing pin striker when the de-cocker is off (which is how I'd LIKE to carry the weapon)...and with nothing blocking the travel of the pin this makes it unsafe. But I can't REALLY tell what's going on in there and it may be that the pin is blocked after all. Does anybody know any more about it?

 

[Handy]

Not having a parts diagram handy, I'll simply assume that the PA-63 at least uses a short inertial firing pin and a spring. So the hammer is resting on the firing pin, but the firing pin is 1/4" from the primer - so it can't fire if the hammer is struck once decocked.

This simple system has been used for 100 years to allow hammer down carry and is very safe. But some guns use a firing pin safety on top of that. This looks like a plunger sticking down from the inside bottom of the slide, but is not connected to the safety lever. Take a look.

 

[LotI]

It's relatively easy to disassemble. Go to Makarov and search around for a manual. Or try googling for it. It's an almost exact copy of the Walther PPK if you can't find an FEG PA-63 manual.

I have the same pistol and it has a firing pin safety and a firing pin spring. When I replaced the springs in mine with Wolff springs it was obvious that the pin couldn't contact the primer even if dropped. As mentioned, it's a decades-old design that is proven to be safe. If you're worried about it, buy the different power hammer springs from Wolff. As I recall, all of the Wolff springs are lighter weight for the hammer, and extra weight for the recoil spring. If you buy the recoil spring, you will get a extra-power firing spring thrown in, to boot.

 

[Handy]

Changing to a lighter hammer spring has nothing to do with any safety system. It will increase your slide speed, while lowering your trigger pull.