Ortgies Deutsche Werke 7.65mm Review

[Badger Arms]

My 'new' Ortgies arrived today. I detail-stripped it and cleaned her up. Painted the stampings and took some nudie-shots. Interesting design. It has no screws. The grip safety acts by compressing the striker spring and disconnecting the trigger. It snaps shut and need not be held down as in most other grip safety designs.

Disassembly is by the button on the left rear side of the frame behind the grip. You push the button in and retract the slide then pull the slide up out of its rails. You then ease it forward. The striker spring and striker fall out at this point and it's a bit cumbersome to reinstall. The barrel rotates to the left and pulls out of the frame much like a Redfield ring does... in fact exactly that way. Strong and simple. To remove the grips, you have to depress a retainer inside the magazine housing and pull the grips out and to the rear. The grips seem a bit loose on the gun, but that's inherint in the design. Apart from the magazine, all parts are milled and well fitted and finished.

Haven't shot it. The bore is excellent and the barrel lockup is tight enough it should be decent. I'm a bit worried about how low the slide rides on the web of my hand that it will pinch me. I'll use driving gloves to shoot it.

 

[Badger Arms]

 

[BluesBear]

I have always found the Ortgies pleasant to shoot.
They're my 2nd favorite German .32. The Sauer 38H being my first.

Looks like you found a really nice one.

 

[gvass]

hi,
nice gun. I tried the same pistol in 6,35 mm Browning (.25 ACP). Except the frequent misfires (due the weak firing pin spring) the gun was totally reliable with FMJ ammo.
Nice piece of old German craftmanship. The barrel disassembly is "wunderbar".

 

[Correia]

What do these go for now? I know somebody who was selling a few a while back, and I'm curious if he was asking to little.

 

[Badger Arms]

This was an online purchase. $150 plus shipping. Good enough for me. They've been selling for much higher at times.

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=5656935

 

[BluesBear]

WOW the price was certainly right.
Especially since it has one of them fancy "squeeze off safety on back side of grip" thingys.

 

[StephenT]

Badger, nice weapon you've got there. Do you know its approximate year of manufacture? Erfurt was behind the iron curtain in East Germany, so I'm wondering if it's a product of the communist era.

 

[armoredman]

Brother had an Ortgies .32 some years ago - fun accurate little gun!

 

[gvass]

"Badger, nice weapon you've got there. Do you know its approximate year of manufacture? Erfurt was behind the iron curtain in East Germany, so I'm wondering if it's a product of the communist era."

No, this Ortgies pistol was patented in 1916, the production begun in 1919, then from 1921 the manufacturer became the Deutsche Werke AG.

The production ended in 1926-27, but the gun were on the market still the thirties.

 

[Badger Arms]

That's what I had heard. Ortgies had tried to produce it himself, however there was an overwhelming demand and he had to license produce it or sold the license, not sure. Production ended in 1926 or thereabouts, however it was indeed sold for some years after as they cleaned up stock. Stiff competition out there for a gun like this included guns like the FN 1910 and the Colt automatics of the time. In fact, for a while it seemed like everybody was making a gun in that class.

 

[goon]

There is one floating around in my family that is rumored to have been taken from a captured German officer during WWII.
Good little gun.
It's just too bad that it never gets shot anymore.

 

[dogngun]

The Ortgies was produced mainly for export to the US and South America. They are very underpriced for the quality. The one I had was a good, reliable shooter...could have used larger sights, but that's the way they were made in those days. I have seen information that John Dillinger carried an Ortgies .32 as a backup to a Colt Army Special revolver. I understand there is an Ortgies that belonged to him in a museum somewhere.

They are well made, very interesting design, and relatively cheap.
I had to change the recoil spring...got it from Gunpartscorp. I think they also have mags.

Enjoy your Ortgies...They are underrated, high quality.

Mark

 

[BluesBear]

I believe the Dillinger museum you are referring to is the one in Nashville, Indiana.

 

[Badger Arms]

http://www.johndillingermuseum.com/index.php

I've emailed them for info on which guns they have there.

 

[Gordon]

Durn you guys!!! I 'found' a like new .380 Ortgies with safety and it's like new and tight for $225. I'll be thinking about it until.........