Now its my turn: Ortgies

[Zorba]

Just purchased this on GB - hope to find some original grips for it that aren't a complete rip-off!

[sheepherder]

Ooh, excellent choice! Tricky grip removal but not a single screw in the entire pistol. Fascinating design.

[Edward Tinker]

I've had a couple of these, no idea why I didn't keep them? I could collect 25 acp's or 32 acps?

Sweet

Ed

[Zorba]

I have (3) .32s, if you don't count the Nambu - I've been avoiding .25s thus far because I don't want another (semi-obsolete) caliber to deal with. I really wanted an Erfurt Ortgies, but they're fairly rare and a bit more money - and I'm saving up for what I hope will be next year's acquisition, a "Liberator FP-45".


I couldn't pass this one up though, the finish is quite good for a 98 year old gun, and the price was right.

[Eugen]

Zorba, I believe I've got a few spare pairs of original 32 acp Ortgies grips. I would sell you one pair. If interested please send me your email address and I'll send pics.

I love Ortgies I have one 32 and two 25s. Fun guys to shoot and so well made.

[wlyon]

Nice looking Ortgies. I have a couple in 25 cal. Very well made . Bill

[Ron Wood]

Good looking gun...well done! I hope Eugen's grips turn out to be what you need, the gun deserves it.
Ron

[Zorba]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

Good looking gun...well done! I hope Eugen's grips turn out to be what you need, the gun deserves it.
Ron

Should be, he kindly threw in a spare mag!

[Saxon]

I have a couple of Ortgies .25 that I really like to shoot.Very accurate the only thing I don't like about them is there's no hold open device.

[Zorba]

Just as an aside, the guys at Wolff are fantastic. I had ordered a tune-up kit last nite, but with the added mag from Eugen, I needed a 2nd mag spring. Called 'em up, the order hadn't shipped yet, no problem adding the additional item.

[Ron Wood]

Originally Posted by Zorba

Just as an aside, the guys at Wolff are fantastic. I had ordered a tune-up kit last nite, but with the added mag from Eugen, I needed a 2nd mag spring. Called 'em up, the order hadn't shipped yet, no problem adding the additional item.

Good guys sometime really do get the breaks. Hope good fortune continues.
Ron

[Zorba]

Eugen's grips and mag have "made the scene"!


They both look great, I'm going to clean the grips with Murphy's, then put a coat of TruOil on them.

[Ron Wood]

Originally Posted by Zorba

Eugen's grips and mag have "made the scene"!


They both look great, I'm going to clean the grips with Murphy's, then put a coat of TruOil on them.

Sounds good, just don't add any mascara. And post some completed photos.
Ron

[Eugen]

Zorba, I am glad you are pleased with the mag and grips. I was glad to share some extra grips and mag in my inventory. I frankly had too many. I've been helped by so many good folks on this forum and i saw an opportunity to help another forum member.

Remember without photos, it didn't happen.

[Zorba]

Originally Posted by Eugen

Remember without photos, it didn't happen.

I'm still waiting for the gun to ship, but I do have one coat of TruOil on the grips now. Had to hide my mascara first though...

[Zorba]

Here's the picture with my other pair of .32s, and Eugen's grips mounted. Turns out the grips that were on it are actually, genuine Franzite! Which means they've been on the gun for some years most likely. Wonder as to the how/why of it all.

Anyway, the gun looks even better in person that it does in pictures, the BBL was dirty but cleaned right up and looks brand new! The piece does have a broken firing pin, which isn't terribly surprising - a re-pop FP is on order.

Now this may not be "news" to anyone here, but my research led me to believe that keeping control of the FP and its spring during reassembly can be a chore. Not true - see this short video for details:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQ8UTRn6P8

Haven't seen that little detail about the FP spring assembly retaining notch anywhere else - makes it easy-peasy.

[Eugen]

Looking good!

Life is short when you are an Ortgies FP...and have to do extra duty as an ejector. I bought my 7,65 Ortgies on impulse at a local gun show. After I got it home I discovered that Fred Flintstone crudely brazed the tip back on a broken FP. I replaced it with a fresh repo.

[Zorba]

Update: The Wolff spring kit and the replacement firing pin are now installed - with rather less than the "usual trouble". This pistol is easy to work on, overall. The trigger plunger and spring was a bit of a challenge to get back in the gun, but it didn't take too many references to "The Sailor's Guide" before it was done. Gun is all numbers matching inside, and was very clean except for the extractor spring hole which had some cruft in it. The new springs are obviously stronger than the old ones, probably 96 year old originals. The piece was a bit dryer inside than I would have liked, but now there's a coat of gun oil on everything.


Just need to replace the two mag springs tomorrow, and she'll be ready for a range trip!

[Zorba]

Took the "new" Ortgies to the range, along with my Walther PP for comparison - and my Ruger Mark III .22 "just because".

Comparing the Ortgies with the Walther was "interesting" - keeping in mind that the Walther is a 10 year newer design in a time when handgun design was rapidly evolving.

Sights: Ortgies very small V-notch, Walther is a smaller version of the modern U notch sights we're all familiar with.

Empty mag hold open: Ortgies no, Walther yes.

Mag release: Ortgies heel, Walther button in usual place.

Firing system: Ortgies striker, Walther hammer.

Safety: Ortgies has a one of a kind odd grip safety, Walther has a decocker.

Accuracy: As can be seen in the following pix, the Walther won out - these two guns in *my* hands, on this particular day. Same ammo used in both, a mixture of PMC hollow point and Magtech FMJ.


Reliability over the 50 rds shot: I had one FTF/FTE "event" with the Ortgies, with a PMC hollow point. Walther had no issues.


The rest of the story: All shots at 8-1/3rd yards, AKA 25 feet. 50 rds through both. Both guns felt fine in the hand, and handling/recoil were very similar as you'd expect. Both guns had replacement springs in them, the Ortgies "just yesterday", and the Walther 250 rds ago when I first got it. Both are fun to shoot.

The oddball Ortgies grip safety just makes zero sense to me. *shrug* I shot a bunch of raw video yesterday of the Ortgies complete take down to replace the springs - I should have it up on YooToob as soon as I can get to editing/combining the footage.

[Zorba]

One last resurrection of this thread, I made a video of the complete tear down for spring replacement. I had completed the assembly and editing of said video in iMovie, when I ran against yet another one of Apple's bugs that they refuse to fix. I had "fought" this bug with the last video I made also - so then and there I made the painful decision that I had been putting off for several years: I'm weaning myself off of Apple's programs - I've been bit too many times over the years!
So to start, I found an open source video editor that is actually quite good, but like anything else, there's a learning curve - so it took far longer to get this video out, but now its here, courtesy of the "shotcut" video editor:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndG-GKgzjpM