Ortgies Automatic Pistols: Not as Boring as You Think! 

My grandfather carried his father's ortgies as a personal defensive piece when he was an officer in Vietnam. He said people had a bad habit of stealing .45 Colts since they couldn't be worn inside the officer's club and had to be relinquished at the entrance. Said he didn't want to take the risk of his .45 getting swiped by someone looking to make a quick buck or get a souvenir.

A rather famous man around our town, who has passed on now, used to carry one of those little Ortgies .32's. He picked it up when he was stationed in Europe during WWII, and when he returned to our city, he became the State Juvenile Judge. He had also held many other offices, and was well known for being the only man in our State to pull the switch and put a murder to death. His Ortgies now is on display in our museum,

I should have looked at this half asleep. I saw 1027 Orgies and thought Ian was on to something new.

found a flawless 32 one cleaning out my grandma's attic, really fun little gun. crazy accurate

my mother has a 7.65 . my uncle John was in WW ll Germany, actually in the battle of the bulge brought it back with him after the war....I could not figure out how to disassemble it for complete cleaning until I saw this video. My father-in-law was in Burma in World War II.. ambulance driver/truck driver.he brought back his 45 that he carried .. when my father-in-law died in the 1990s, my mother-in-law took that pistol to the local police station. She saw a cop in the parking lot as she pulled in, she just handed the gun out her car window to the 1st cop she saw, and told him, this was my husband’s, he died and I don’t even want it in my house, and drove away... i’ll get over that.......Someday ...

When I was taking my permit to carry course there was an older lady there who’s husband wanted her to get a permit. She had very little experience with firearms and a 25 caliber Ortgies pistol is the gun she showed up with.

I feel like I'm back in high school, Mr. McCollum is trying to teach me about history and I'm just sitting in the back like "hehehehehe, he said orgies".

my great grandpa had brought one of these back with him I have always thought that it was a cool pistol it actually has a circle of Pearl in each side of the grip. I am glad you put this video out because I have ben wanting to know more about this gun thanks

I got one used at a gun shop last year for $250...no one wanted this little .25 beauty amid all the modern handguns..I took took one look and sent it to "jail" for the next 10 days before I took it home..I thought my Russian makarov was small but this one is super concealable!

~ My Great Uncle, who was a Marine Sgt. took one of these in .25acp & a German Luger, belt and holster from a Prussian officer in France in the summer of 1918 . It is marked with the serial number and "Germany" in English on the frame. We believe it was for export, but the German had purchased it as a second gun. He was wearing it in a belt holster, on his trouser belt, under his blouse/tunic as a back up to his holstered Luger. My Great Uncle gave it to my Dad, when he joined the Cleveland Ohio PD in 1927, to carry as a backup to his Dept. issued Colt Official Police revolver in .38Special. I have carried the .25acp Ortgies since 1966.

I have all three caliber Ortgies. I've never seen one with the extra safety button. Thanks for the video I really enjoyed it.

There is another aspect to the grip safety mechanism not mentioned. When the grip is in the safe position, the pressure on the firing pin (striker) is relaxed which prevents the striker from having enough force to fire the gun if the gun is dropped.

German army officers often carried Ortgies as their regular sidearm.

A high school buddy of mine had a 32 at his house. He didn't know what it was, other than German, so he referred to it as his "bizarro pistol" due to the grip safety mechanism. Years later i saw photos of one in Garry James' column in Guns & Ammo, so i told him what it was. It was in about the same condition as the one in tbe video. Nice design, well made. Didn't know about the optional safety; that is a nice extra detail. Great video as always. Thank you

My grandfather has the first gen .32 auto Ortgies. The wood pieces on the grip are thin which would have a chance of breaking which it is more common to find ones that don't have the original factory wood panels.

I got to this video by accident and on the other hand, I was looking for informations to this gun for about 20 years. I live in Germany and about 20 years ago my mother found something strange in our garden while digging out some potatoes. Beside the potatoes she found some rusty piece of metal, that looked like a pistol. We did some further digging and I found some rotten bits of leather, I asume, it used to belong to the holster. On the first glance, it looked like a Walther PP on the front, but the rest of the gun does not fit to any model I had seen in my literature (Back than, I had not much good gun books, that descripted much appart from the usual guns...and the Ortgies was not a kind of mainstream weapon in the 2000s.) The gun was in a real worse condition, but being only a piece of rusted metall it could not being considered as a weapon and therefore it was legal for us to keep it. The wood grips were recogniceable and they still held the logo in them. Finaly with the help of a gun lexicon from the libary I could recognice it as an Ortgies model in 7,65mm. The function of the mentioned grip safety was a mystery until now, as I saw the video. The second and much bigger mystery was the origin of that particular gun in our garden. (X-File soundtrack starts in the background.) My great grandfather built that house in the mid/end 1920's and my grandfather was born 1928. My great grandfather was an army officer in WW I and WW II and in the time between the wars teacher and school principal. I assume, that he bought the Ortgies between the time the gun came out and 1933 because the Nazis didn't want civilists to own guns. He was send to east europe during the war and got inprisoned by the soviet army and came home 1947...and he didn't took the Ortgies as personal weapon, what my first thought was, because in the rang of an officer, he would be allowed, to purchase his own gun. But it stayed at home, otherwise it would had got captured and stayed somewhere in the Soviet union. And as the US Army marched in it was suddently unhealthy to get caught with a gun and under later soviet occation it was illegal to own guns (and sanctioned with death), so personal weapons had to vanish in the best and fastest way possible. So the Ortgies was burried in the garden. The true original ownership of the gun still keeps a mystery, because asking my grandfather, if he had ever seen this gun, he declined it. The way he said, that he knew nothing about it, was a bit strange, but many secrets from that time are still secret. My great grandfather walked home from the caucasus 1947 and was under severe pressure as he arrived home and was not allowed to work, so finaly he hanged himself in the kitchen. My great grandmother died 1979, my grandmother 2000 and finaly my grandfather 2014. So the last people, who may had known more are not anymore and during lifetime, the never talked much about the war. And even the few things my grandfather said, showed the traumatizing events he had to experience. (He was forced to serve as a Flak crew, when he was 16 and although he had not to endure the horror of front combat, it were a lot of things, a teenager should not experience. ) A lot of things in combination with that Ortgies pistol still stay a secret, but some technical mysteries with that gun were solved with this video. The wooden grip panels suddently felt of, as the wood dried out and I wondered, how they ever held in place...now I know it. The rusted in place magazine was empty, as I could see as the grip felt off. So the gun was unloaded, and stored in the holster and the grip safety was pressed in (!)...and also rusted in place. Thank you for the video...it put light on some personal family history and a very interesting gun. Greetings from Germany.

As part of my fathers day relaxation, I am catching up on your videos. I wanted to say that I really enjoy what you do.

Hi, just a little thing to add: I cleaned my .380 Ortgies really thoroughly the other day and oiled everything including the grip safety itself, and now it does indeed work in such a way that it requires a firm grip on the gun (actually even pushing the safety just a little bit further) in order to fire in addition to disengaging the actual safety first. So it would seem to me that the idea is for the safety to work at two different stages. Which makes the gun considerably safer to operate in my eyes. Cheers from Germany!

Love how you could run both .32ACP and .380ACP with the quick change-out of the barrel and (I assume) a recoil spring!! Very nice lines and a beauty!!

I love my 25ACP my great grandfather trade a hobo 2 dollars and a biscuit for it in the early 30's.

Interesting history. My dad also brought one back at the end of the war. I have not only the pistol and holster but also his "bring back" papers. He said he took it off a German Major, a surgeon, who was carrying it when his unit captured a field hospital.

With such a huge amount made, I'm surprised I've never heard of them.

Interesting enough because every last one is getting on to be 100 years old

Another great vid. I definitely learned something new. Until I watched this, I never thought twice to even pick up an Ortgies. The milling of the frame and barrel seems too much work for it to not be considered an interchangeable caliber pistol. It would've been a lot easier and cheaper to simply use a pin through the frame and base of barrel. Thanks for the vid!

I recently inherited and rebuilt a .25 model. Nice little gun. Spare mags are hard to find at a reasonable price.

You should have shown reassembly as that striker spring is a PITA as it supposed to sit in a grove in the slide but if it pops out when putting the slide on you have to start over or take a small screwdriver and pressing in through the back (not the proper way to do it but it works)

From what I can see, these are all milled steel, no stamped parts anywhere and real wood grips. These are great examples of old world craftsmanship. I have 2 in 32 acp, one very low 5 digit serial number and one low 6 digit serial number.

Years ago I had a cartridge fire without the slide fully closed. That was something. I just cleared that jam yesterday and am going to re-blue the pistol and get it working properly. Thanks for excellent operation details - I’ll check them all 👍

I saw one for sale in a gun shop once. Should have picked it up.

These aren't bland. I find most modern handgun styling to be vulgar. These have decent lines - and, fer cryin' out loud - "real wood" grips.

I just bought one of these because I thought it was cool sitting next to some glocks and other new guns. Then saw this video and I like it even more

Oh man, this was one of my first pistols. Now I miss it.

Thanks for the history and information.

Very detailed and interesting. I’ve often thought I would like to pick up a .25!

Love my 6.35 Ortgies. You may call them bland, but I find them fascinating in their simplicity.

just subscribed. Awesome content!

Bland?!? I love my little Ortgies .32. It is in much nicer shape than the one you displayed. I think the oertgies history is interesting and the fact that it is very likely a souvenir brought back by an American soldier only adds to my enjoyment. Not all came from occupation forces. The famous Richard Winters (Band of Brothers fame) brought one back. It recently sold at auction too.

I was doing the Remora Holster/Alpine Survival booth at the Fredericksburg, Virginia gun show this past weekend, and a guy came by looking for a holster for I think the .25. It was a neat little pistol, interesting piece of history.

Ortgies looks like a cleverly designed, effective pistol. Thanks

I have a .32 ortgies and it's a great little shooter. Been looking for another one.

My dad gave me my .32 ortgies when i was 10, wonder where it came from or its history and how it made its way to california

Great stuff as always. :)

The elegant Ortgies always appealed to me. Very nice pistols.

Could you do a behind the scenes vid of how ya choose the guns and your process of shooting your vids?

Nice! One great masterpiece from my Hometown :-P

these videos are fantastic!

I own a .25 and a .32 , both amazing little guns . Very accurate and easy to shoot.

Interesting design ideas on these little pistols

I have one of these, the 7.65 version.

These are a very good quality gun .. Well made and accurate.

I have a couple (two) of these pistols in 7.65mm. One has an "HO" monogram inset in the grips, the other the stylized cat (I read somewhere it's a Jaguar, but that was just one opinion) being the "D" for Deutsche Werke; the slides are appropriately marked for the two versions. They work well and fire on command. However, both of them show a rather low velocity (665 and 701 fps, the 'official' velocity for 7.65mm Ammo is 900 fps). The bores do not seem to be corroded, but perhaps it doesn't show up as I expect. I will comment on the grip released safety. It always worked as shown. The only criticism I have is once the grip is depressed, the pistol is in fire mode all the time. The safety button could be depressed again, but in the heat of searching through the house for a potential burglar, one might not think of doing so AND the hand's grip on the pistol would simply release the function again. Both pistols are marked for export.

Aesthetically, I love these guns. Especially the grips.

We had a .25 version come through the FFL where I worked. Interesting little pistol.

Excellent video thank you

A friend of mine had one. Interesting pistol.

have one with the button safety....I hear it was an extra 10 dollars to order it with it.....makes it just a little safer if you place it in your pocket.... I fingers the pistol to be very accurate and of extreme craftsmanship picket mine up from a guy at a gun show that had three....all prices the same.....he didn't even know the rarity of the button safety....his loss my gain....excellent pistol will never get rid of it......

I lost it at the Turnip winter. great video.

I love my .32 Ortgies!

I have one in possibly the best condition ive ever seen one and i know nothing about it but it is litteraly brand new

Do you think you could do a video on the Stetchkin pistol?

I have a FN 1910 , a early model that came with horn grips but with a set of these grips on it. they do have a home drilled in them for a screw. Is it possible this as a early conversation since the horn grips curled back up?

Thanks for the vid sir.👍🏼👍🏼

Got the 25 acp and I really like this gun

FN 1910 inspired. So clean & sleek - not boring, and not ugly either - unlike so many modern guns. I find some of the 'constant squeeze' grip-safeties on my old FNs and other pistols tiresome and distracting, so I much prefer the Ortgies version. I have four of the .32s and one in .25. The machine work on these is incredible. The rotating-barrel anchor-slot, and almost-invisible machine-lines at the rear of the slide are amazing for what was a relatively inexpensive piece in it's day. I wonder what else the company might have gone on to build, had the Allied Commission not shut them down.

lol i have that weapon, it was from my great grandfather, the weapon is not boring at all, i use it when i go to shooting fields with my uncle, its a very effective weapon, very light and stable, nice review man cheers from argentina :) PD: mine one is a 6.35 mm

My dad gave me my grandfather's 32 auto ortgies. It has the free mason symbol in the handle custom. It looks so cool. I love my pistol. Only i need a clip.

interchangeable calibers seems as though im guessing it wasn't completely planned but integrating features that are selling points today.

I just restored an ortgies 7.65 and just took it shooting. Fun little gun to shot.

If there are any Sauer 38H's there for auction I'd love to see a video about it, i know they're not too uncommon but I'd like to hear you share your thoughts on the .32 auto pistol. Thanks!

In their day they were pocket pistols, just as the 1903/08 colt 32/380 pistols. Pockets and clothing cuts were different in those days, the smaller "baby browning" and fn and colt and others along those lines were considered "vest pocket" pistols, again in the day men wore 3 piece suits or often wore a vest and shirt with dress pants.

Something I've wondered about guns that use the firing pin as the ejector is if you rack the slide really hard with a live round in it can it set of the primer?(probably harder than anyone should) like after a misfire could racking the slide hit the primer hard enough to set it off? or dose the extractor hold on lose enough for that to not happen?

Great video. The grip safety seems a superior, stress friendly, concept to a traditional safety for a light pull SAO pistol, wonder why it didn't take off?

Does anyone know of any good sources for .32 ACP pistols? I'm working on a project about the "32 Revolution" in pistols in the late 1800s to interwar period.

I actually like that safety. I wouldn't mind seeing that on a new production gun.

I have two of them, a .25 and .32. Mine are early enough the .380 isn't mentioned in the manual and the .32 has the same cal mark on both sides. My fat fingers aren't an issue. The manual says you should use the cleaning rod to push on the grip release.

I'm not sure but it seems like to take the grips off you can just push grip towards the rear to disengage the clip without having to enter the magazine well?

Reminds me of the browning blowbacks. For its time it seems like a perfectly good self defense pistol. Hell its not ideal but it doesnt seem like it would be a bad gun today even

I have a 25 caliber pistol but I am wanting to have an extra clip for it and I don’t know where I can find one. Can you help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Neat gun!

I have the .32 - sweet shooting gun. New springs available from Wolff

One of the historic day in the life of our small town was the fact that the only prisoner ever electrocuted in our State Prison, a cop killer who had killed police officers in 3 States, including our fine Sheriff, this back in the 1940's was indeed captured here in our small town. The County Magistrate, who also operated the only dry cleaner in the city was given the privilage of throwing the switch on the electric chair, which had been borrowed from a nearby state, and was shipped by train to the pen for this execution. I had the honor of working for this gentleman when I was in High School, and he told me of that day. He was in on the arrest of the murder, since the Sheriff had been killed by him earlier and he was selected to fill in. When he did make the arrest, he was armed with an Ortgies .32, and used it during the arrest to cover the killer as he was handcuffed by a local police officer. That pistol is on display in our local museum, and many of the local population know the story of this killing. The reason South Dakota was allowed to keep the prisoner, even though he had killed in both Minnesota, and North Dakota was because South Dakota had the death penalty and neither of the other States had it at that time. In fact South Dakota still has the death penalty, and has used it most recently, having transitioned to lethal injection.

I have one in 32 acp. Shoots well. Wish I could fine the .380 barrel.

My Ortgies is indeed fullauto. I loaded a full 8 round magazine of .32 ACP and racked the slide only for 4 shots to go off within a blink of an eye. I hadnt even touched the trigger yet. Gonna keep this as a showpiece for now...

I bought one after seeing this video and it is an absolute beauty to shoot!

Last time I was this early the Infinite Warfare trailer had more likes than dislikes.

Eva Braun had one that sold for $30,000

Anyone know where I can buy a 38 barrel? Have a 32 and would love to be able to play with it

interesting bit of history.

The firing mechanism originally had a defect in it. A certain part could break off and turn the gun into a fully auto that wouldn't stop till it was empty. If the magazine was full the gun would keep firing till it was empty. That was a significant failure

so you've been covering Battlefield 1 because of its setting. Have you ever heard/played/seen gameplay of Verdun? If so, What do you think of it, Ian?

sooch00 does a great review on these guns! If you want to see them fired id recommend checking it out. The first time i watched his review i developed an interest for these guns. My local gun store has a 25acp model for 325$ right now and its mint so im debating on picking it up..

Where can I purchase a clip an ammo clip for an echasa 32 caliber from espana mab

I have a 6.35mm. It was my Great-grandfathers gun. After a cleaning and inspection, I need a firing pin and spring. Is there anyway you or anyone can help?

I wonder if Hamada got some of his ideas from this pistol? **edit** I see now you asked the same question.

I wonder, was this the design that spawned the Erma Werke EP-25?

So going from .38 to .32 is just a matter of swapping the barrel and magazine, and not changing the actual firing mechanism, correct? Ignoring the barrel length restrictions, how would the legality of this gun work in Canada, since .32 handguns are illegal here? Would it be prohibited altogether? Or legal with a .38 barrel, but not a .32 barrel? If so, would it only be when attached to the gun that the .32 barrel becomes illegal, or would the part itself be completely banned? I have no experience with guns beyond RU-vid channels like this, so I may be wrong, but my intuition would be the part that legally constitutes the firearm would primarily be the actual firing mechanism, from the trigger to the firing pin, and not the barrel. But wouldn't that make it simultaneously a .38 and .32 handgun, regardless of which was being used? Perhaps my mistake is trying to understand firearms law in any way that can be described as "intuition".

A good history of this gun grandpa’s was 32 act

this is a semiauto pistol video that's not in the semiauto pistol playlist.

Finally a gun I actually have

Found one I'm really curious about it's set up for a suppressor