ORTGIES 6.35m/m

Ballistic

Question for Mark Christian---I have a Deutsche Werke Ortgies 6.35m/m in Exc. condition SN 1797xx. Will you tell me the date of mfg. and what it's approximate worth? Thank you.

mark christian

I am afraid that at this time I have no means to indentify Ortgies pistols production dates. It is known however that production of the "vest pocket" 6.35mm (.25 ACP) pistols ended in around 1928 and your pistol, with its serial number near the 180,000 range, is a later production gun. Ortgies himself was thought to have produced around 15,000 pistols under his own name using the HO momogram on the grip medallions (all in .32 ACP) and Deutsche Werke made perhaps another 225,000 in 3 calibers. I own several Ortgies pistols and none have a serial number above 141,000. Although these Ortgies pistols are rather common- particularlly the .25- examples in excellent or better condition are quite scare and will command a large premium over those typically encountered. These were top of the line self defese pistols and many people carried them on a daily basis with little concern to maintaining their exterior cndition and most Ortgies which we see today show considerable wear to the finish as well as some pitting. Brand new in 1924 your pistol retailed for $7.

A strong .25 ACP Ortgies with excellent bluing, no rust, no pitting, a bright bore, and fine walnut grips with a monogram that is not dented or damaged (people tend to pound and pry on the monograms when they can't figure out how to remove the grip panels) would retail in the $300 to $350 range in todays market. The .32 ACP pistols are slightly rarer and worth a bit more and the seldom encountered .380's will bring an even higher price. I hope this information helps you but the full story on the Ortgies pistols may never be known.

Interestingly enough I just returned from a local auction where I purchased yet another Ortgies pistol, this one in .32 ACP. Rufe-Snow also pointed out a typo I made in my first post, which I have now corrected. Thank you snowman. I was going out the door to the auction when I wrote that first piece and had no time to proof read it, although there was clearly no valid excuse for such a mistake! He Dog, I have found that most of these pistols (not just Ortgies)function much better using European loaded ammunition rather than than USA production. I am not sure why, but I believe the Euro ammo is loaded hotter and Fiocchi is my ammo of choice for these pistols.

Mark T. Christian

11echo

This is very interesting! When my Grandfather died in 1989, my Dad got a .32 Ortgies. It belonged to my Step-Mother's father. It was wrapped in a 1932 news paper, and in very good condition. I always liked the "squeeze-cock" design. But I've read a description from some "gun collector" that was very so-so about this particular weapon. I'm no expert, but I do know that normally Germany produced very good weapons, so I hung on to this one. Now I'm VERY glad I did!!
THX again Mr. Christian! ...Mark(11echo)

"FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"

He Dog

I have seen several of these pocket pistols in .32 that do not feed .32ACP cartridges very well. It is not clear to me whether this results from using the .32 rather than the original metric cartridges or if it results from wear/pitting to the feed ramp. I have also seen some misfires with these little guys, so also have a care if you do some shooting with it.

My heros have always killed cowboys.

Ballistic

Thank you very much for the info Mark Christian. Overall condition of the pistol is excellent. I'll hang on to this one.

gunut 1

Guess I'll hold on to this one also. I picked up a 6.35 model [747xx] a couple years ago because my wife collects 25s. It looks like new, and now that you mention it most of the others I have looked at were in 75-80% or less condition...