I joined The High Road board solely because I have read the above 2003 post from "Pistolsmith" several times in the past year, standing as the final word on this thread concerning the fine Ortgies pistols. It contains so much misinformation that I felt it would be a disservice to people considering buying one of these, and searching "Ortgies pistols", that I should add some factual comments for the sake of balance and fairness to the design.
I am in my middle years, a former overseas intelligence officer with a good bit of firearms experience, own over 200 guns, and have been building, collecting, and maintaining them for a lifetime. I own four Ortgies pocket pistols, in all of the three calibers in which they were regularly manufactured. When I need some of the specialized parts for these and other firearms, including springs, I generally make them myself. So much for background.
I just finished a total rebuild of the most uncommon Ortgie, my .380, which I purchased as a basket case. There is not a part on these guns with which I am not intimately familiar.
Now, regarding the above post:
"The whole line of Ortgies pistols are DANGEROUS and should be relegated to a collection where they will never be loaded."
There is no truth to this. These pistols were all extremely well made and hand fitted quite closely. However, the basic design of almost any striker fired pocket pistol, including the Ortgies, is such that, in my opinion, they should not be carried cocked with a round in the chamber. It's simply not a good, safe idea, even though the Ortgies has a very good grip safety mechanism. So there is an element of truth in what "Pistolsmith" says.
Other than that, all of the Ortgies are strong and perfectly safe to fire, if they have not been damaged or abused.
And:
"The factory overhardened the strikers during manufacture on all of their pistols, leaving them slightly brittle."
In my considerable research on these pistols, I have not come upon one shred of evidence to suggest that there is any truth to the above sweeping statement. And anyway, if you think about it, it does not make sense that at least two different manufacturers, making many thousands of guns over a period of more than 20 years, would "overharden" all those strikers without discovering and correcting the problem. It didn't happen.
And:
"About two o'clock one morning a good friend of mine heard a loud pop come from his clothes closet. Investigation showed the sear lug on the striker of his .32 Ortgies pistol had sheared off cleanly, allowing the pistol to fire in his jacket pocket. Luckily, the restricted space of the pocket jamed the pistol...otherwise it would have gone full auto."
I flatly disbelieve this anecdote. I am familiar with the metallurgy of the striker and sear contacting surfaces. There cannot be such a "shearing off cleanly". No way. Unless you allow for the black magic factor.
As for the "would have gone full auto" claim, this is not only wrong but utterly absurd. The firing pin also serves as the ejector in all Ortgies pistols. If any breakage or failure causes the spring loaded firing pin to stay forward, extending about 1/4" beyond the face of the slide, even the next round in the magazine cannot POSSIBLY be fed into the chamber. It will be jammed below the extended firing pin and the gun will not function. It cannot go full auto. Can't, won't, don't, never did.
Going even further into Internet nonsense land:
"A famous gun writer was at a polite gathering one evening when the same thing happened to him, ruining his evening and an expensive sports jacket."
This also simply did not happen, I would wager. Can't. Yet my advice is to never ever carry a striker fired, hammerless pocket pistol loaded and chambered, no matter what the design. The Ortgies is no safer or less safe than many others, but all are less ideal than an exposed hammer pistol with multiple safety features, as "Pistolsmith" suggests.
He says:
"And, they should be snapped ONLY with a pencil eraser or nylon rod against the slide face."
This is of course good advice. With the Ortgies pistols, extended dry firing causes burring, an increase in the outer diameter of the striker just behind the firing pin itself, where it contacts the slide in the forward position. This can eventually lead to weak primer strikes or stoppages. The burr can be carefully filed off, but it's better to avoid the carelessness which causes it in the first place.
I hope I've prevented any novice from avoiding these fine little pistols, incorrectly believing them to be dangerous pieces of junk, which they most assuredly are not. They are pure quality, but must be treated with the understanding of what they are and are not. And no pistol is designed to be used by idiots.
Have fun, and don't be afraid to shoot your Ortgies, using any of the commonly available brands of ammo in .25 ACP, .32 ACP, or .380 ACP. It's good and accurate and safe. Just be sure to unload it and clean it when you are done, and snap the firing pin against a pencil eraser or nylon snap cap when you are ready to store it. Don't let the striker spring take a "set". Most of these springs will already be found "bad" and kinked when you buy the gun, because people do not know how to disassemble and reassemble them, or they dry snap them too much. A used Ortgies will almost always require a bit of TLC and checking before it is ready for the new owner to shoot.
Here's a wonderful place to learn about these fine little pistols, from somebody who knows what he is talking about:
http://www.ortgies.net/ortgies0015.htm
And here's a great one, from a serious collector with lots of color pictures:
http://www.ortgies.net/
Have fun. That's what gun collecting is all about; not scaring people away with misinformation.