These four pictures show some of the unique features of the Ortgies pistol. The top photo shows an old auction page for an excellent specimen of this Ortgies 7.65 mm pistol. The second photo shows the "grip safety activator button on the top right of the frame and the grip safety extended. The last photo shows the grip safety disengaged and the right side of the pistol. Note that the grip emblem displaced in the last three photos, a "D" for the company name, is a cat with a tail folded about it's head.
One of my father's favorite pistols was always his Orgties .32/7.65mm caliber pocket pistol. It's an interesting design, with not one screw in it. He bought one sometime back in the seventies for probably less than $50 and carried and shot it for years as one of his favorite pistols to slip in his jacket pocket for the walk from his downtown Houston office to his car and vice versa. In the 90's, although the finish has always been good on it, he had it completely refurbished as far as parts goes and for all practical purposes it's a brand new gun.
One interesting point about this pistol is that it has a button grip safety, meaning that the button on the left rear side of the frame "pops out" the grip safety, which then once depressed is engaged. The button grip safety does not pop back out like that on an 1911 once pressure is no longer being applied, but one must reengage the button to pop the grip safety back out in this instance.
There are lots of pages on the internets about these guns and what I've recently found out is what a good little shooter this gun is. Accurate, for what it is. At seven yards you can get nice aimed and point and shoot groups. Yeah, the cartridge ain't the best for defense, but El Fisho Jr. has taken a liking to the low recoil of this gun and has become quite adept at shooting it accurately since he's been spending a lot of time with it at the range.
My Father had a long fascination with this pistol because as a younger man, one of his good friends, Big John the hunter and shooter and collector of guns, had one. He liked how it shot, and pretty soon Big John found him a good clean used version for cheap.
But before that, in his childhood, my father in his youth had seen older men who had brought these back from WWI and then later saw fellows just a bit older than himself bringing them home from WWII. In both wars they were used somewhat as officers guns from what I understand, and there were contracts with other governments who bought these over the years.
Here's a great article about the history of these pistols.
http://ortgies.net/ortgies0015.htm
The slide markings and relatively high serial number of our pistol, which is a 2XXXXX means that according to this article, my father's gun was made near the end of the manufacture of this pistol, which ceased in 1924. It's a shooter, with no great collectors value really. I've seen them at collector gun websitesites and online auctions and they are readily available between $300 and $500 dollars.
I myself was always fascinated with the early pocket pistols of the beginning of the 1900's, such as the Browning Pocket Pistol, the Baby Browning and the pocket sized Colts. I've shot several of the above over the years, and was once very close to buying a Browning in .380 for no other reason than I liked the way it shot. My dad wisely convinced me to instead grab a german made Walther PPK/S in .22 long rifle which was the same price in the 70's as the vintage Browning.
HOLSTER FIT TIP FOR THE ORTGIES OWNER AND SHOOTER
Our Ortgies weighs in with empty mag at 22 1/4 oz. It's a well distributed weight, and one of the holsters that I've found fits it best is the Askins Avenger made for the Beretta Model 84. It's just a tad big for the pistol at the top of the holster with a wee bit of wiggle shy of a perfect fit when not on the belt, but when worn it's a snug and safe fit. You're probably not going to find a better fit in open top holsters for this gun in a non-generic cordura nylon type holster than one made for the Beretta Model 84.
I'm not inclined to carry this weapon for self defense, due to the caliber. It outweighs my Cobra, my Bodyguard Airweight and my Glock and weighs in the same as other J frames and variants. It's about the same size as a Walther PPS, for a frame of reference, and I think I'd rather be carrying a PPS in 9mm or .40 caliber than the 7.65mm. Still, it's a fun shooter and since we have it and with it's history, it's a gun we're gonna have around for a time.
It's also a good gun for the ladyfolk in our family, including my mom and sister, neither of whom care for even .38 special shooting all that much. They do it when they have to, for practice, and well could for defense, but like everyone else who shoots the Ortgies, it's just a comfortable pistol to shoot that you can hit your target with at close range shooting without a lot of noise or recoil.
One interesting point about this pistol is that it has a button grip safety, meaning that the button on the left rear side of the frame "pops out" the grip safety, which then once depressed is engaged. The button grip safety does not pop back out like that on an 1911 once pressure is no longer being applied, but one must reengage the button to pop the grip safety back out in this instance.
There are lots of pages on the internets about these guns and what I've recently found out is what a good little shooter this gun is. Accurate, for what it is. At seven yards you can get nice aimed and point and shoot groups. Yeah, the cartridge ain't the best for defense, but El Fisho Jr. has taken a liking to the low recoil of this gun and has become quite adept at shooting it accurately since he's been spending a lot of time with it at the range.
My Father had a long fascination with this pistol because as a younger man, one of his good friends, Big John the hunter and shooter and collector of guns, had one. He liked how it shot, and pretty soon Big John found him a good clean used version for cheap.
But before that, in his childhood, my father in his youth had seen older men who had brought these back from WWI and then later saw fellows just a bit older than himself bringing them home from WWII. In both wars they were used somewhat as officers guns from what I understand, and there were contracts with other governments who bought these over the years.
Here's a great article about the history of these pistols.
http://ortgies.net/ortgies0015.htm
The slide markings and relatively high serial number of our pistol, which is a 2XXXXX means that according to this article, my father's gun was made near the end of the manufacture of this pistol, which ceased in 1924. It's a shooter, with no great collectors value really. I've seen them at collector gun websitesites and online auctions and they are readily available between $300 and $500 dollars.
I myself was always fascinated with the early pocket pistols of the beginning of the 1900's, such as the Browning Pocket Pistol, the Baby Browning and the pocket sized Colts. I've shot several of the above over the years, and was once very close to buying a Browning in .380 for no other reason than I liked the way it shot. My dad wisely convinced me to instead grab a german made Walther PPK/S in .22 long rifle which was the same price in the 70's as the vintage Browning.
HOLSTER FIT TIP FOR THE ORTGIES OWNER AND SHOOTER
Our Ortgies weighs in with empty mag at 22 1/4 oz. It's a well distributed weight, and one of the holsters that I've found fits it best is the Askins Avenger made for the Beretta Model 84. It's just a tad big for the pistol at the top of the holster with a wee bit of wiggle shy of a perfect fit when not on the belt, but when worn it's a snug and safe fit. You're probably not going to find a better fit in open top holsters for this gun in a non-generic cordura nylon type holster than one made for the Beretta Model 84.
I'm not inclined to carry this weapon for self defense, due to the caliber. It outweighs my Cobra, my Bodyguard Airweight and my Glock and weighs in the same as other J frames and variants. It's about the same size as a Walther PPS, for a frame of reference, and I think I'd rather be carrying a PPS in 9mm or .40 caliber than the 7.65mm. Still, it's a fun shooter and since we have it and with it's history, it's a gun we're gonna have around for a time.
It's also a good gun for the ladyfolk in our family, including my mom and sister, neither of whom care for even .38 special shooting all that much. They do it when they have to, for practice, and well could for defense, but like everyone else who shoots the Ortgies, it's just a comfortable pistol to shoot that you can hit your target with at close range shooting without a lot of noise or recoil.
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