![ortgies pistol herkey ortgies pistol herkey](https://images.guns.com/wordpress/2012/12/ortgies-cover.jpg)
The hammerless action depended on a spring-loaded striker to fire the cartridge. Metal components were forged or machined, and assembly in general made no use of screws, even securing the wooden grips with metal clips, although some examples do incorporate a single screw for that purpose. Although not expensive, at the time it was of advanced design and high quality construction with relatively few parts, well sealed against dirt. The pistol was produced in 6.35 mm, 7.65 mm, and 9 mm variants. Inexpensive, but of good quality, the pistol achieved considerable success at contemporary shooting competitions and, as an export product, was popular in North, Central, and South America. The Ortgies 7.65 mm pistol was a hammerless semi-automatic pistol produced in Germany in the years immediately after World War I, first by its inventor Heinrich Ortgies and then by Deutsche Werke. You can see all the previous gun of the week posts here. With the weather getting better, I should be able to fire it in a week or two. All the ranges at my gun club are still frozen. One of the interesting facts about his gun is that legendary gangster John Dillinger carried one. It is an interesting little gun originally manufactured in Germany between the years 1921-1924. (No background check required) It was only $250. I just bought this gun last weekend at a gun show in New Hampshire using my Curio and Relic FFL license. This week it is a semiautomatic Ortgies hammerless pistol in. Every week I feature a gun from my collection.