The trigger has the feel of a two stage with a little initial take-up followed by a somewhat more spongy break and a relatively short but clean reset.
The top of the slide also has a wide shallow channel milled out to reduce glare.ĭespite its compact size the Ortgies is a pleasant little gun to shoot.
Compared to modern sights these take some getting used to but a good eye could use them to achieve a very precise sight picture. The sights are what would be expected from a pistol of this era with an insignificant V notch rear and a tiny front blade, both milled into the slide and completely fixed. Once again following simplicity, the same spring which pushes the safety out is the one for the striker assembly and this button to re-engage the safety is also used to remove the slide from the frame. The way to make the pistol safe again is to push the single round button at the back left of the frame which will cause the grip safety to snap back out. With the Ortgies you squeeze it in and it will lock forward with an audible click, remaining disengaged even if you set the pistol down. In the back is a grip safety which functions unlike anything I’m used to from handling 1911’s, XD’s, and M&P EZ’s. The part which I really like is that other than a trigger there are only three exterior controls, including the heel magazine release. Simplicity had been another design focus with a grand total of 29 components making up the entire pistol (they count an assembled magazine as one piece.) One way in which they kept the number of parts down is shared with earlier Colt and Browning pistols where the firing pin doubles as an extractor during recoil. Only one dealer example is known to have been engraved from the factory. Occasionally used examples will pop up with chromed finishes but these are all aftermarket. 25 ACP.įactory finishes were most frequently blued with a few rare examples offered in either matte or polished nickel. Later a smaller “vest” style Ortgies came to market chambered in 6.35×16, or. 380 lowered the capacity by a round or not. 32 example only states “Cal 7,65” on the baseplate. The factory magazine could accommodate both calibers with earlier examples having independent stampings on the left and right. The larger model was chambered in 7.65×17, or. Operation is simple blowback with the recoil spring surrounding the barrel. Simply field strip the firearm then rotate the barrel a quarter turn to the left to remove it from the frame. One neat trick of the Ortgies is that the larger framed pistols could be converted between. All of the parts fit together with little to no play with very smooth function all around. Metal parts are either forged or machined and the exterior finish is flawless, good examples of this pistol show beautiful mirrored bluing and perfectly machined lines. Some later models did end up seeing a grip screw in order to overcome one of the weaker points in the design, however. The Ortgies is a striker fired pistol which has been made in a way which uses no screws at all, nothing which could snag or back out over time. I’m not sure what the origin of this cat is but I feel that it adds to the pistol’s curious design. Over time the brass grip medallions also changed with the later versions being a stylized “D” which, if you look closely, is made to look like a cat. These pistols came with several different markings on the slide but as far as I can tell they were never given any specific model names other than simply “Ortgies”. Eventually the design was passed to Deutsche Werke, a ship building company based in Berlin. Heinrich Ortgies had first designed and manufactured the pistol in his own factory in 1919 but died later in the same year. Janich used the Ortgies Pistol.” They were also popular exports throughout the Americas. To quote, “…all principal German Pistol Shooting Competitions during 1921 our Cal 7,65 (32) has won more than 70% of the prizes and at the Champion Shooting Competition at Halensee on September 26th the Champion Mr.
I am fortunate enough to have seen the original manual where they boast about their pistol’s success. Technically the Ortgies is a cost effective design which doesn’t sacrifice quality, something which would later be proven as these pistols had notable success with shooting competitions. Since this is a firearm which I knew absolutely nothing about I will be relying heavily on Wikipedia for its history. Produced in Germany by a man named Heinrich Ortgies, these self-named pistols saw a very limited production for around five years between 19 and have some curious design elements. Here’s a story about a slick little pocket pistol which I had previously never known about.