[walrus]

Well, I am stll excited as I just received a very clean p5 for a good price. I went shooting today and had a problem.
After emptying a mag a putting a new one in the decocker/slide release would not always release the slide. I would have to pull the slide by hand. I tried this 10 times. I didn't see any reason why sometimes it would and other times not work.
Also, the decocker only seems to work after you chamber the first round.
Can you guys help me out with the typical operaton?

 

[walrus]

so, does no one shoot their p5's?

 

[lunde]

what ammo were you using, specifically what bullet?

 

[walrus]

winchester white box protection hollow points. But I don't think that was the problem. It seems the decocker was working intermittently to me. I have tried to replicate it at home with snap caps but it isn't working here at all.

 

[lunde]

I asked about the bullet itself because I have found that some bullets, due to their geometry/profile, will touch the slide stop lever while in the magazine, and affect the ability of the decocker/slide stop to release the slide. I found that 115gr and 124gr Gold Dot bullets do this, but the Winchester 115gr Silvertip doesn't. If you look inside of the magazine well, from the top with the slide removed, you'll see a portion of the slide stop lever protruding into it, to catch the magazine follower in the magazine when it is empty. With rounds in the magazine, you can usually see the bullets touch this.

 

[walrus]

I will look into that. I have been playing around with it at home with snap caps and have the same problem.

 

[Red Grant]

Walrus, maybe internal part relating the operating lever might have rusted? I never had any problems like this, and I have shot pretty much most bullets out there with no problem whatsoever.

 

[walrus]

ok, maybe one problem solved. Appears I may not have been pushing decocking lever hard enough. So this works now.
Still I can not get slide release to work. I doubt internal parts are rusty. I removed slide and did a quick inspection. Didn't see much except that most of the internals are not exposed.

 

[walrus]

ok.  Removed grips and found problem  after figuring out how everything works.  These are  the part numbers from the  parts  schematics in the manual or at Earl's walther site.   The decocker#14 is not always  contacting the slide  catch#17.   The  decocker is actually going between  the slide  catch and  the frame.  Haven't taken it further apart yet  but I suppose  there is some slop in something that pivots as the slide release works 4 to  5 times after I have had it apart and reassemble.   Maybe Fritz built  mine on a Friday.

 

[walrus]

Well, called Earl's to order parts. Turns out new slide catch is $45. Finally got to talk to someone that knew something. After I explained the problem he said it may just need some adjustment because it was a newer gun and the parts shouldn't be worn. He said I should mail it minus the barrell and they would adjust it for an estimate of $30 and 1 day service. So I didn't order the piece. I started thinking that if all they were going to do was tweak some parts then I might as well try it myself and either make it worse or fix it and be assured that it was fixed for the long term.
I took the slide catch off and fined tuned it. Works like a dream now but I will monitor it.