I need some help identifying my grandpa's old gun. We've had it for a long time. I can't remember where we found it. Maybe I can restore it as the grips fell off a few years ago.
Sorry for taking these with Mr. Burrycam, aka my iPhone, but my digital camera finally kicked the bucket.
It appears to be an Erfurt made Ortgies pistol as the fancy scroll "D" (it is normally in a circle)is their trademark.
As it's in 6.35 cal. my resource book says serial number production ran from 27,000 to 183,000, as it appears to have a Fifth-style address.
You should be able to find the Nitro proofmark somewhere, maybe on the lower corner of the slide. It should be a crown over N proofmark indicating it is pre-Nazi era production. I can't pin down a production date. sowwy.
This is kinda what it looks like all cleaned up with grips:
Gosh TCD, I haven't the foggiest idea how much it's worth, by looking at the pics. It could be a rare piece, or fairly common piece of production. I just don't know. It'd take a lot of digging to see just what variation you have.
The Fifth-slide variation, and the high ser.# means it was nearly at the end of the production run.....an UNEDUCATED guess would be late 20's production.
The Germans of that era were always experimenting around with different variations. That's one of the things that make vintage German semi-auto pistols such a desirable collector's item. EG: In this model some had grip safety's.....some didn't. The one's that don't have a grip safety are a more desirable collector's item than the one's that do, because it initially didn't have one, and so many customers complained that they started putting them in as an added safety measure. Not very many were produced without one.
To be honest with you, if it is pitted, without original grips, it's not worth a whole lot. But it IS worth a lot to you and your grandad, as it's been in your family so long.
I have a Marlin Mod.88 .22 LR that has a broken charging handle, that I couldn't sell for $30 at a gun show in '86. But it's priceless to me today, as my dad gave it to me for my 15th birthday. I'm going to get it up and running and pass it to my grandson when he gets old enough.
Diplomacy is the Art of Letting Someone Have Your Way
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Colt Gov't Model .380
well thanks for the help, you've provided more than enough information to help me with my search.
yea, it will never be sold (unless someone offered a million dollars, cause grandpa would understand a million dollars)
I'm debating cleaning it up, its a prime example of what happens when you leave a gun in a leather holster for idk, 50-60 years in the elements. It was found in a small quartito in new mexico.
Thanks again for your help, I'll prob. find out how to reattach the original grips and leave it on a shelf at my house as a conversation piece.
I used to have one of these pistols until I traded it off about 10 years ago. Mine was in operating condition and would shoot fairly well. However, in the early days of CHL, you couldn't use a .32 auto for the shooting test and I didn't trust it very much. The safety is on the rear handgrip as you said and should have to be pushed into the grip for it to fire. The button on the left side would release the safety and it would pop back out.
To disasemble the slide, hold the safety release button in and pull the slide all the way back and up at the same time. It reasembles in reverse order except the need to push a spring on the slide behind the tang on the grip safety.
well I learned another new thing today lol, thanks a lot for the dis-assembly tip, I really hope I can fire a few rounds through it. I bet with the weight there is almost no recoil whatsoever.
