Ortgies semi-automatic pistol

The Ortgies pistol was a hammerless blowback semi-automatic pistol produced in Germany in the years just after the First World War. Heinrich Ortgies designed it in Liege during the war, and in 1919 began production in his own factory at Erfurt; production passed to the shipbuilding company Deutsche Werke in 1921 and ceased in 1924. It was made in 6.35 mm, 7.65 mm and 9 mm Kurz variants, with a spring-loaded striker, a grip safety lever set into the back of the grip, and very few parts, none of them needing screws for assembly. Inexpensive but well made, it did well at shooting competitions, where in 1921 prize winners at some 70 percent of principal events had chosen it, and it was a popular export product throughout the Americas. The source also records that several hundred examples in .25 and .32 ACP served with Finnish prison authorities during the Second World War.