Tell Me About the Ortgies Semi-Auto Pistol

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gun Master

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
2,520
Location
Wolf River Bottoms
I have considered buying an Ortgies .32 ACP semi-auto pistol.
First, let me tell you I like German firearms, and consider them superb collectively. Also, I am a shooter collector. If it doesn't shoot right, I don't want it. I say, forget the safe queens, too.
I know most of the Ortgies details. Please give me your experienced advise re: buying a shooter .32 ACP. I know they were produced in .25 and .380, also. If you have helpful info about these, feel free to share.
I have seen some with flawed finish, which doesn't bother me, but I'm concerned that this may indicate a function problem. Also, some have original grip problems, and this is a concern.
I want the best bang for the buck. (Opps! ).
But, I really do.:)
 
There is an excellent online article about the Ortgies here:

http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Ortgies/ortgies.html

It is very comprehensive.

In my opinion, getting an Ortgies shooter would be a good idea if you are interesting in knowing what it is like to shoot an Ortigies. Otherwise, my guess is that it is typical of the 32 automatics of the period: single action only, with tiny sights.

The Ortgies design was clever, but the cleverness made the disconnector and the striker fragile and finicky, the grip attachment flakey, and the takedown puzzling. The safety catch was basically a grip safety, and rather too easy to release accidentally for my taste in carry pistols.

There was a scaled down 25 caliber Ortgies, which I find attractive because it is a better size for shooting than most 25s. But the reduced size may have increased the fragility of the already fragile parts mentioned above. I've never heard one way or the other about that.

Like many pistols of the period, the Ortgies was an effort to make a serviceable weapon that avoided the basic Browning patents, or at least the ones that were still in force. Besides that, its ingenious touches offered little real advantage, and had to be paid for in fragility.
 
I used to have one in 32. It was an OK shooter. An interesting gun. But, for me it had no real purpose so away it went.
Bought it for $100, replaced the striker and recoil spring, had a rough time finding a buyer at $150.
 
The PPK was prone to firing pin breakage when dry-firing.
Has that been resolved by Walther now?
Most modern firearms can be dry-fired safely.
Is this one up- to-date?
 
Gun Master said:
The PPK was prone to firing pin breakage when dry-firing.
Has that been resolved by Walther now?
Most modern firearms can be dry-fired safely.
Is this one up- to-date?
Click to expand...
I'd never heard that before, GunMaster. Boy, you learn something new every day! Do you know what about the Walther firing pin design that made it prone to dry firing breakage?

I had read that the Ortgies striker was prone to breaking; J.B. Wood talked about it in his book "Troubleshooting Your Handgun", about 40 years ago.
 
I collect .32 acp pistols, but the Ortgies has eluded me so far, so I can't contribute much to this thread.
I would love a picture of yours, though.
 
I've only fire one; a .380. A friend of my Dad had it as a 'back pocket' gun, (he was a cop. This was back in the days where a 'back pocket gun' served two pruposes...) It was OK, but I liked my Cz24 much better.

Always wanted to collect European .380's from between the wars, but they are getting spendy.
 
I have one in .32 and the smaller one in .25 The grips are tricky to remove, and you need to mind the striker spring guide during disassembly and reassembly. I launched mine across my garage and was lucky enough to spot it on the floor. Mine are OK shooters, occasional FTEs using factory fresh Fiocchi ammunition. One nice feature of the Ortgies pistols, the fixed barrel can be rotated out of the frame. Removing the barrel allows easy cleaning.

I see them fairly often in gun auctions, they were imported as well as war trophies. For a shooter I prefer a 1914 Mauser in .32, these compact little all steel pistols are a lot of fun to shoot.

Great link from Monac, the Unblinking Eye website, they describe a lot of interesting small pistols and have some excellent links.
 
Ortgies are VERY common in the USA. According to the website I linked to above, the German government clandestinely bought the Ortgies design and tooling, then had it produced by members of the former Imperial Erfurt Arsenal staff, in order to keep a nucleus of the workforce together. Many of the guns were then dumped in the United States, below cost, so as not to compete with other German manufacturers. (Dumping them in the US did not inconvenience other German manufacturers because sales of German guns in the US were small, due to US import tariffs.)

I believe there is a picture of John Dillinger, the famous 1930's bank robber, posing with an Ortgies.
 
Monac said:
I'd never heard that before, GunMaster. Boy, you learn something new every day! Do you know what about the Walther firing pin design that made it prone to dry firing breakage?

I had read that the Ortgies striker was prone to breaking; J.B. Wood talked about it in his book "Troubleshooting Your Handgun", about 40 years ago.
Click to expand...
The early two piece firing pins were prone to breakage simply by shooting the gun.
Walther had that all sorted out by late '32-early '33.
I use snap caps when dry firing any older pistol and if you're breaking pins it is because of carelessness not gun design.
 
My wife owns two of them, one of which doesn't currently work because the firing pin broke and I haven't been able to fit the replacement I got from Numrich.

I had to fix the grips on one - the notches in the wood that engaged the retention springs broke. I removed some wood and added a bit of copper plate (what I had on-hand), and that works fine.

On the other hand, they are fun to shoot, and even the one that has a badly-pitted barrel is quite accurate.

Not to mention that, with their wood grips and bronze grip medallions, they are handsome guns.
 
Not much to add...

I have two as part of my .32 ACP collection. One is early and has the (Heinrich) "Ortgies" grips, the other is later with the "Deutcheswerke" grips. Internally the same pistols.

They shoot pretty well considering the European sights and heavy trigger pull. They're fairly common and therefore not worth a lot of money. Around $250 to $300 here in the heartland. The history is interesting, as are many things.
 
If you disassemble the Ortgies, just remember that to re-assemble you have to put the rear of the firing pin guide into the little notch in the inside top of the slide to hold it in place while you put the slide on the gun. Many of those pistols have been damaged by people using a rod or thin screwdriver to hold the firing pin in while putting the slide on.

(Same trick for those collectors of Japanese "hand cannons" fortunate enough to own a Hamada.)

Jim
 
Played with one that wouldn't feed. Decided it wasn't worth the time to get it to feed.
 
Welp.......I previously stated that one of these had eluded me so far.
I picked one up tonight in a private transaction. Excellent condition in .32, superb wood grips.
Unfortunately, I have to wait ten days to pick it up. The spousal unit and I are looking at properties in Montana right now, so maybe someday I can rid myself of this absurd waiting period nonsense.
 
I had the little .25. It had a period holster and an extra magazine (which are like hens teeth). I bought it for $80 5 years ago and sold it for $350 last year. It was my first purchase on my C&R license.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Flyboy73
  • Locked
Ortgies 25acp problem
Replies
6
Views
1K
Flyboy73
Flyboy73
R
  • Locked
I need a little Ortgies help...
Replies
4
Views
827
twaits
T
T
  • Locked
Ortgies .25acp/6.35mm
2
Replies
36
Views
13K
vavasour
V
S
  • Locked
Semi-auto shopping questions...
Replies
14
Views
480
Skylerbone
Skylerbone
D
  • Locked
Phobia about cast bullets in my Semi Autos?
Replies
21
Views
695
armoredman
armoredman
Back
Top