Herter's

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Pigslayer posted this 07 May 2014

When I was in my very early twenties (circa 1974) I discovered Herter's of Waseca, Minnesota. I was mesmerized with their product line & would look through their catalog for hours. I had very little money then so it was like Christmas when I was able to purchase something from their catalog. In my mailbox today arrived a set of Herter's Mark II  .30 - 30 Winchester dies that I bought on ebay for $15.00. They are in “like new” condition and I just finished resizing some cases with them. The original price for these dies was $7.39. The Mark II dies were a top of the line (non - carbide) dies back then and finely made.      It was nostalgic just to hold them in my hand.   Pat Reynolds  

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 07 May 2014

about a year ago i ebay'ed a herter's bull cook kanife ... i sharpened it and still sharp today .. use it at least oncea week ...

funny, must have been made from surplus cadillac springs ...they all have a strange groove in them ...

* as fun as their gun stuff was, their fishing accessories were awesum ... i put together a 6 ft. bass rod kit, ... and they had the best selection of fishooks anywhere ...


you can still buy herter's ammo at true value ... might not be ol' george leonard's tho ...

ken

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R. Dupraz posted this 07 May 2014

I wore a Herters catalog to tatters in the mid sixties. Their gunstocks and blanks were top of the line back then.       But of course they were because they were all world class!     Still have two Redfield scopes from Herters, a 2 1/2 and a four power with a cross hair peep. Only because they were on sale for $12.50 ea. Never used them much or could see the point of the Cross hair peep reticle. Thought it was kind of dumb.       But, wouldn't you know it, 50yrs later, discovered that that peep scope is just the nuts for indoor 50' silhouette. Kinda glad it's sill here.

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delmarskid1 posted this 08 May 2014

The fellow wrote just like he “shpoke".

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John Alexander posted this 08 May 2014

A year or so ago I bought a 1965 vintage Herter catalog at a gun show for $5 .  I have had $50 worth of fun in bringing back memories of all the good and not so good stuff I got from Herter. I still use some of it. It was always a good price, usually a bargain, sometimes a super bargain and sometimes about what you paid for it so it was alway interesting opening the package and see if you won or lost that time. John

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LWesthoff posted this 08 May 2014

I bought a Herter “Super Model 3” C press in the very early '60's, along with a Herter's Model 40 powder measure and dies for '06, 30-40, and 7.7 Arisaka.  I still use the C press to load all my rifle ammo.  I still use the powder measure for all my rifle reloads.  I still use the '06 seating die for all my '06 reloads.  (They were good enough to hold a 300 yd. CBA Nat'l record for a couple of years.)  With most rifle powders the powder measure throws very consistent charges (and I weigh every one of them anyway, so I'm not just guessing about that).

Since I'll be 87 in a few months, I'll probably keep using them for the rest of my life.  One thing about the old Herter presses: they were built mighty sturdy.  You can't break 'em, you can't bend 'em, and you damn near can't even lift 'em!

I also have ten or more years worth of the old Herter catalogs - which are lots of fun rereading every so often.  Talk about super salesmanship!!

And they do bring back the good ol' days.

Wes

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gnoahhh posted this 08 May 2014

I pestered my dad into submitting an order for a basic set of reloading stuff from Herters in 1968. For $77 (I still have the duplicate order form from when I priced everything out- I found it recently tucked in the old catalog) we got a press, a couple die sets, measure, scale, etc. Shipping was $6. My God what a glorious day when that big heavy box arrived.

I still have the press, powder measure, and scales but I haven't used any of them in decades. The dies I scrapped long ago- they were the crappiest dies I ever used (.30-40 and .30-30). Should have gotten the Best Grade I guess. Replaced them with RCBS dies bought at the LGS in Hagerstown, and life was good and we were off and running.

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donr308 posted this 08 May 2014

My thing with Herters was fly tying and archery. For a company who made nothing George sure touted his products. Everything was “world class” etc.  The customer service was great. I think back now at the employee filling my order of 10 different color of 1/4 oz. hackle feathers for 20 cents each. The whole order might come to a total of $7.00 for 20 items. 11/32 cedar shafts were $2.50/dz if memory serves correct. The feathers for fletching were in paper bags and obviously hand counted. The arrival of that box made a 13 year old very happy.  The ammo currently being  sold today with the Herters' name is actually made for Cabelas'.  

I still use the neck sizing dies with the floating insert and they are still going strong after nearly 50 years. It's good that were had these experiences with Herters because they were unique and there will never be another.Don Ross    

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R. Dupraz posted this 08 May 2014

Yep, back in the day when a perfect 1903 Springfield could be sent from the NRA to a kid's door for the measly sum of $15.00. And a surplus l911 .45 for $12.50.

That's it! I'm outa here!

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LWesthoff posted this 08 May 2014

Just looked the shipping order for my '03A3. It came from the Red River Arsenal, Texarkana, Texas. I was in Thompson Falls, Montana, working on the construction of Noxon Rapids Dam. Date was 7 June 1957. Cost was $30.00 plus $2.85 “postage and handling".

Sure glad I never got around to sporterizing it. It still qualifies for Issue Military.

Those WERE the good ol' days.

Wes

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RicinYakima posted this 09 May 2014

Wes, I was making $.25 an hour planting tobacco sprouts in Ohio. $30 was a LOT of money. Ric

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 09 May 2014

i think they call it ” free will “..i bot from herters a derringer chambered for 357 mag . ...good thing it wouldn't fire y i sent it back ...still wonder how much pain it would have created . oh, about 1962 ... it came post office ...

ken

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LWesthoff posted this 10 May 2014

Re Ric's post above:
I was making $0.25 an hour for a ten hour day working on baling and threshing crews during summer vacation when I was 13. By the time I was 15, kid's wages had gone up to $o.35, still for a ten hour day, but that was in Southern California. Maybe wages were higher there.

Oat hay and pasture land on the hills, citrus (mostly oranges but some lemons) and English walnuts down on the flat lands. Went back there a few years ago. Houses everywhere, and the hill our house was on isn't even there anymore.

Haven't gone back since.

Wes

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tlkeizer posted this 14 May 2014

My father used to go by Herter's in South Dakota every two weeks while on the road, and stopped in regularly. Their goose decoys worked better than any others for us. My wife and I stopped in there shortly after we were married, and used the fishing gear until it was stolen years later. Their .22 shells would not all fire single action in one of my revolvers, but all fired double action. I was sorry to see them go. Sorry to see Helt's go from Sioux falls too, R. Dupraz probably remembers them. I still have some of the gear from Herters.

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Pigslayer posted this 14 May 2014

I'm bidding on a set of Herter's .308 dies on ebay as I speak.

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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R. Dupraz posted this 15 May 2014

tlkeizer:

Yes sir, I sure do remember Herter's in Mitchell and Heldt's in Sioux Falls. Used to make regular trips, especially to Heldt's back in the “60's"and early “70"s". The first time I walked in and remarked that I didn't know he was even there, his reply was, “hasn't any body ever told you to go to “Heldt's"?

As a matter of fact, as strange as it may seem, I am still using the remnants of two kegs of powder that I bought at Heldt's. It still is as good as ever. Herco and SR 4756.

By the way, we enjoyed the visit a while back very much.

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45ACPete posted this 16 May 2014

I was in the Navy in the 60's when I first heard of Herters. A couple of guys in my division aboard ship (about 15-20 men) were outdoorsmen and were constantly perusing the Herters catalog (we used to kid that in port they would get a hotel room and bed down with the Herters catalog). I was intrigued enough to order one of Herters' fishing rod kits. It was a 9' surf rod and I had visions of using it on the northern California coast to land a striped bass. I carefully built the rod in one of my division's work spaces while we were in the western Pacific but before we reached California some scumbag stole my rod. I still caught a few fish (though never a striper) with store bought rods--even a couple of albacore on trips out of Morro Bay. The Herters catalog provided cheap entertainment to us sailors with its grandiose claims (Jacques Herter pictured with a record kudu killed at 450 yds with a rifle built on a Herters J9 action and using a Herters wasp-waisted .30 cal. bullet).

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LWesthoff posted this 16 May 2014

I actually bought some of those wasp-waist bullets, and loaded them in my Herter's U9 '06. I liked a lot of the stuff Herter's sold, but in my experience, ol' Jacques was probably aiming at something else when he made that shot. I could never get any kind of accuracy out of them. NOT a good idea!

However, nobody can have a winning hand on every deal.

Wes

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John Alexander posted this 16 May 2014

Wes, As I mentioned in FS#209 I too tried the Herter Wasp Waist Sonic wonders.

The first five shots out of my Springfield went into less than a half inch.  Don't think I ever saw anything as small as a two inch group for the rest of the box.  A good lesson to shoot enough groups if you want to know the truth.

The wasp waist bullet has also been tried for cast bullets. They were on the cover of the Fouling Shot a ways back.  I think NEI made the mold.  Don't know whose idea it was.  I believe the claim was that it would reduce friction -- obviously from someone who didn't pay attention in high school physics. John 

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David Reiss posted this 14 January 2017

About 9 months ago I bought a Herter's mold from a guy on eBay, but it got lost in the mail and never showed up. However this man had a duplicate mold in his collection, actually he said the only duplicate mold he had left. He sent that one to me and it arrived just fine. We had spoke on the phone a couple times during that first time period of about 2 weeks. But then we started to email about once a week and talk on the phone about once a month. It was then that I learned this man I knew by the name of Ed Sager, also went by “Mr. Herter". It turns out Ed is probably the foremost authority on Herter's reloading equipment and has written his first book titled, “Herter's Reloading Equipment, Presses & Dies Volume 1". He is working on volume 2 and will be out soon. When he found out I collected the line of Herter's Powermag revolvers in all calibers, well we hit it off. We continue to correspond on a regular basis and he is in the process of hooking me up with a guy that may have the only stainless Powermag revolver made, a very early prototype. I just hope I don't have to sell of any of my other guns to acquire it. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
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lotech posted this 14 January 2017

Don't forget R.F. Wells. They sold handloading equipment during the Herter's era. Much of it appeared to be identical to Herter's products. Perhaps it was produced by the same manufacturer(s). I've used equipment from both sources; still regularly use my original clear plastic powder funnel from Wells that was purchased in 1964.    

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