Ortgies reassembly

4

4V50 Gary

Staff
Had to fix an Ortgies pistol and a few weeks ago somehow couldn't get the firing pin stop in. Chapped and bleeding fingers didn't help. Anyway, it went airborne and is still orbiting the globe (sorry NASA, cell phone satellite folks & other satellite folks). So, today a replacement was turned on the lathe (turn the larger .230" diameter first and then took .010" off per pass until it was down to .110" across by .560" long. To install it, a popsicle stick was used to push it in, compressing the firing pin spring and holding it in place until the firing pin stop's lip (.230" wide by .070" long) was pushed down into the notch. The stick worked like a charm.

Victory! (yeah, I get cheap thrills from little things. I'm easy to please).
 
Edited to start over.

The trick is that the rear of the firing pin spring guide is cupped, and the notch in the slide is undercut. I have had to use a pointed cutter on a Dremel tool to restore the undercut so the guide would stay in place. I also have made a guide and I dished out the back end so it was cupped like the original.

That way, the guide will stay in place in the notch without the popsicle stick.

I edited this post because the original was confusing.

Jim
 
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Gary, you need a spring box or trap, which looks similar to a small blast cabinet. I made one using plywood and Plexiglas for the lid. Then, make two arm holes, and you're in business. You'll never lose an airborne part again. Make it light, and its easy to sit on and off the bench when needed.
 
(So I don't forget)

Yesterday I was bold. Deciding that the Orgties' grip safety didn't snap back when the safety release was pressed, I took the entire thing apart. There are no screws on this piece and there are only four pins in the Ortgies that need to be removed:

1) holds the extractor in the slide
2) trigger pivot pin
3) pin for the grip safety
4) pivot pin for the grip release and magazine release

There are eight springs:

1) Recoil spring
2) extractor spring
3) Trigger plunger spring
4 & 5) Trigger bar spring & leaf spring
6) grip safety spring
7) firing pin spring
8) safety release spring

To dissassemble (check that it's empty first):

1) Remove the magazine
2) Pull the slide back and lift off the slide from the rear
4) Push in on the firing pin spring guide and allow it to move up and out. Remove it and remove the firing pin spring. Next remove the firing pin.
5) Use a punch to push out the extractor pin. Now remove the extractor and lift out the extractor spring. The slide is now diassembled.
6) remove the recoil spring from the barrel.
7) Turn the barrel 90 degrees and remove barrel from frame.
8) Insert a screwdriver and depress the grip catch. This allows you to lift up one grip. With one grip off, you can pop the other grip off.
9) Drive out the grip safety pin at the bottom of the frame. The grip safety may be moved back and down for removal.
10) Remove the pivot pin for the grip catch and magazine release. The magazine release, its spring and grip catch may now be removed.
11) Drive out the trigger pivot pin.
12) Depress the plunger in the trigger bar and lift out the trigger bar. The spring and plunger may be removed. I left the leaf spring in place.
13) Push the trigger in (toward the back). This should allow the trigger plunger and its spring to be freed from the frame. The trigger may now be rotated down and out. This completes the disassembly

After stripping it down, the parts were placed in an ultrasonic parts washer for thirty minutes. When removed, the rust was scraped off with a nickel and FrogLube (liquid).

When reassembled, it works much better now. It's probably the first thorough cleaning its had in over three decades (or perhaps the first time ever).
 
You forgot the bit about pushing the button to allow the slide to be pulled up. ;)

On the cleaning, I will bet on first time, ever. Many of those guns were brought back by GI's, but they were also sold here in the between-wars years, and seem to have been fairly popular.

They have an odd feature (OK, ANOTHER odd feature) or maybe defect, in that while the firing pin has two lugs, the sear is only on one side; if the firing pin lug on the left side breaks, the gun won't stay cocked or can even fire unexpectedly.

There have been reports of Ortgies pistols that were stored loaded and cocked going of by themselves when the firing pin lug broke under the stress of the firing pin spring! Now that could be a bit disconcerting, to say the least.

Jim

P.S. Another tip on those guns. Once you have the firing pin spring out, crimp the last coil on the rear and spread the first coil on the front. That way, when you disassemble the gun, or slip when reassembling it, the FP spring and guide won't go sailing. The three parts can then be handled as a unit.

Jim
 
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At some point, the OSS was using the Ortgies. When and how they got them, I'm not sure, as I just barely remember reading about that. I would say that some of the guns faults showed up, and was why the CIA didn't continue on with them after the change from OSS to CIA. At some point, later on, the CIA liked Hi-Standard's with threaded barrels, and a handy little attachment that threaded on. Of course, they had larger caliber pistols too.
 
The OSS used a variety of pistols and other weapons. Some were U.S. made but others were procured in the operating areas. Actual spies rarely carried weapons; if they were stopped, false documents or a good story might help them avoid arrest, but if they were found with a gun they would certainly have been imprisoned and probably executed, since unauthorized carrying of a gun in an occupied area was a capital crime, no matter what the reason.

Of course, the OSS had many agents who were armed and had handguns as well as SMG's carbines, and even rifles.

The suppressed High Standard pistols (the USA-HD-MS) were used by both the OSS and the CIA, though not as often as the stories would make it appear. The guns, 2000 selected at random out of a production of some 44,000 of that model (# 109110-153890)*, made from June 1943 through mid-1946. The most famous one was that carried by Francis Gary Powers in his ill-fated sight seeing trip over the Soviet Union in 1960.

Jim

*Most were used as training and competition pistols.

JK
 
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