Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Herters?

I still use a set of Herters 30-06 and 308 dies. Both are really nice sets. Still have a balance beam scale they made, some .224 bullets still in boxes along with some loaded ammo they offered. I once ordered a BSA Majestic stock from them in French (?) Walnut.
Gopher Reloading Supply was another I used to order stuff from. Really liked that company too.

Did Herters have a store in South Dakota? I seem to recall stopping at one in 1979. The place was slow that day, some young woman clerk doing her nails.

I load all my belted magnum cartridges on a Herter's Super Model 81,double ram press.
That is one heavy duty press.

The ammo is Sellier and Bellot, rebranded in the Herter's name. Cabela's uses Herter's as a house brand name...for now.

That's where I bought my first centerfire rifle, a Model U-9 barreled action and a semi inleted stock. That rifle kept my freezers full of deer, elk, moose and other meat for about 30 years. The first 10 years I kept it as a .30-06, then in the late 70s, I had it re-chambered to .30 Gibbs.

I also bought my first pistol from them, a .22 SA revolver, that was a piece of c***.

Like others have posted, in the 60s Herter's was our main source of fishing, shooting, and reloading supplies.

My first bow was a recurve that I bought from Herter's when I was stationed at Ft Sill in Oklahoma when I got back from Vietnam in 1970. A few years later I killed my only archery animal, a 5x5 bull elk, with it.

Does anyone have a Herter's 401 Powermag revolver?

Thanks for this. As a boy i used to dream of thst big buck, wabi. I was just remembering that front cover in my mind before getting to this pic of it.

Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, a lot of sunrises and sunsets seen hunting and a lot of bucks have fallen.

I wish I still have at least one of the old wish books I had, sigh.

These are very familiar stories. I used to think that Jr. was going to take control and auger Herter's right into the ground. Other factors, as mentioned, did the deed.

A classmate and I learned how to reload (and some enlightenment about how NOT to reload) on a Herter's C press way back when. The friend had built a little shed next to his trailer and we shared some expenses, like the scale. 'Tis a shame, but nothing is left of that scene besides memories. The '06 dies are still working great. I don't remember ever ordering, receiving or using anything from Herter's that was of poor quality. That may well have changed later.

I still have several dog-eared editions of the mid-to-late 60's catalogs. As mentioned, they were the stuff of dreams, much like the vintage girlie magazines. Nice to look at, but out of my pay scale. I shot some "banana peel" bullets, although they were not loaded with the recipe in the Herter's manual. The cheap (but high quality Scandinavian) hooks, floss and the cock capes got me into tying flies. The cook book didn't mention a chapter on macaroni and cheese, so us starving students never read or saw it.

The reloading manual had some fascinating cartridges, exclusively designed by GLH. They were "double-shouldered", with some remote resemblance to a Weatherby case, and were touted to be the most efficient way to burn powder and slay yonder beast. About that time I also bought Ackley's 2 volume set, so I passed on the Herter's "244 Turbo Magnum", or whatever it was called. Wonder if any rifles were ever chambered for those cartridges?

Everything was the "World's finest"....even down to the salt and pepper shakers.

Remember one of the books he wrote "How to Live With a Bitch"...or something along those lines. Glad I didn't need that book...I was blessed.

I remember my Grandpappy getting a Herters 22 pistol delivered in the U.S. Mail.

I have a Herters .401 I bought in the last year, from a local fellow who collects them. Haven't killed any critters with it yet, but do enjoy shooting it - with "factory" ammo loads I found. The light trigger pull is amazing, to me, in a factory revolver. I also have A Herters .44 mag I shoot a lot. This one is my second Herters .44 mag, had one in my youth that had a 4" barrel and recoiled quite a bit (with .44 mag "rifle" ammo), so much so that it would loosen all the action screws after a few shots, and the cylinder pin was probe to "jump" out! I like the .401 much better!

Mike Holmes

If you drive on I-90 through Mitchell, SD, on the south side of the highway there's a big Cabelas store. Across the highway on the north side is the former Herters store. I think it opened in the late-1960's. I can't remember the name that's on the building now, but if you look closely you can still see the Herters name where the paint faded around the letters. It was a huge store with wide, well lit aisles I consider Herters to be the Cabelas of the 1950's and 1960's. My father sold fishing tackle to Herters until they went out of business in the early-80. I probably learned to read with their catalog.

Been a real pleasure following this thread. Brought back lots of good memories. Thanks for starting it.

I still have a copy of that Professional Guides Manual. It's a very entertaining read.

IIRC, Herter's son killed a jaguar in southern Arizona with a Herter's revolver. Probably the last jaguar killed in the US.

After killing that one jaguar near Pena Blanca Lake on Arizona's border with Mexico south of Tucson, he wrote a booklet on how to hunt jaguars. I forget the title, but he tried to establish himself as the greatest-ever hunter of big spotted cats.

Turns out, his outfitter was cited for conducting canned jaguar, mountain lion and black bear hunts and was fined and stripped of his guide's license a year or so later. His lawbreaking continued in New Mexico and Idaho, and he wound up outfitting jaguar hunts in central America.

Among the jaguars released in front of his hounds in Arizona was the cat that Herter killed.

Bill Quimby

They show up on ebay occasionally if you really want one.

I have been to that store numerous times in the mid to late 60's. Always stopped there on our annual trek for SD deer near Hill City. Still drive by when I travel on Hwy 80. Lots of memories cruising thru the aisles at the World's Finest store, or so we thought then.......