My very first .44 mag, back in the 1970's, was a Herters. It was a heavy gun, with a 4" barrel and plenty of recoil. Made a very satisfying boom when fired, and tested the shooter's resolve. I loved it! Sold or traded it later, but had fond memories of shooting it. Found this Herters a few weeks ago, 6" barrel, needed some TLC. Traded an old Charter Arms .38/.357 Bulldog for it. Had to tighten the ejector rod housing, give the whole gun a thorough cleaning, scrub the carbon ring out of the chambers caused from evidently shooting way too many .44 Specials in it. Also replaced the grips, which appeared to have been hand carved from a piece of pine plywood with a box cutter.
I guess I had forgotten what I knew about these guns, but they were made in West Germany by Saur & Sons. Front sight is tall enough to have made Elmer happy, rear sight an adjustable gold buckhorn type. Grip is quite a big larger than a Ruger. Cylinder has recesses for the case heads, which I did not remember from the other I had over 30 years ago.
Many won't care for it, but just for me I stripped the finish, rust browned the cylinder frame, and left the rest - at least for now - polished steel. I am taking it easy with this old timer, loading 292 gr cast bullets I got in a trade to about .44 Special velocities (800 fps or so) in .44 mag cases. Shoots good, pretty accurate, makes a good "woods walking" gun, even if it is pretty heavy.
I traded for this gun intending to use it as a test platform for DIY projects I would not try on my Rugers, and I am enjoying "interacting" with it.
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