Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles You ole farts ? Remember 'Herters brass'

As a young teen doing odd jobs and saving every dime, I spent hours looking at the Herter's catalog. My first reloading press was a "C" type Herters. I think that I paid $69.00 for a J9 barreled action and fitted one of their French walnut stock blanks. The rifle shot very well. To feed that rifle, I used to buy bulk 4831 packaged in ice cream cartons by the LGS for .$50 / lb! Yea, I know this dates me!!

I was incorrect.


All my 222's (240 cases) are Finland and my 1200 222 Mags are mostly Finland with some Swedish stuff mixed in.
The lone box of ammo is Finland for bullets and brass.

Yep--but some might have been made by Lapua. Norma and Lapua have made brass for each other on occasion.

"The most perfect mushrooming bullets made."

I have some Herters dies in 243. They seem decent enough

That's an impressive stash, especially if you're not from Minnesota, Wisconsin or the Dakotas, Nebraska or Iowa.

I have a couple of their dies, work fine

Odd, the only truly crappy dies I ever used were Herter's. Out of round, not straight, rough tool marks internally. And they were the top grade ones....

Ran across this today. 25-06 dies, cost $6.29.

my experience BPS Herters brand 22 rimfire and shotgun shells is not been overwhelming at all...

I'm 84 yrs old and well remember Herters. My first attempt at reloading was with a Pacific press and Herters dies. Still have the Pacific press, but can't remember what happened to the Herters dies.

Last night I primed some 222 Rem Mag brass that I bought new at a local gun shop a few years ago. This thread reminded me that I had them. 😁

Their weight was 0.1 grain different from Remington brass with very concentric necks. I didn’t check uniformity of the neck thickness.

Who in the hell are you calling an old fart?

I'd like you to know we refer to that as an Experienced Elderly Flatulency Specialist, ya young punk!

EEFS is an accepted abbreviation approved by Medicare....

your apology is accepted....

I used to buy things from them back in the 60's when the border was open to firearms related items. Shipping was really cheap too. Still use one of the Perfect powder measures. It actually is a real good unit. Bought a lot of dies and die sets, all International Match quality of course. One set of .222 full length dies left the case with a definite belt and set the shoulder back about .020". Shortened it up on a grinder and made a neck sizer for 22 Hornet. .308 neck sizer works for several .30 cal. cartridges. 7mm Mag neck sizer was shortened as well and will work for 7mm08 and many others. The expander plugs are a fairly long cylinder and are far better than the phony button that RCBS uses.

Another good one by SeaFire: "I'd like you to know we refer to that as an Experienced Elderly Flatulency Specialist, ya young punk!

EEFS is an accepted abbreviation approved by Medicare".... Luv it!!

Like BIGEYES, I too read the hell out the Herter's Catalog. When I was still quite young my music teacher, a fisherman and hunter, loaned me his catalog. I literally read it into tatters, mostly under the covers with a flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping. He kept bugging me to return it, but I was afraid to give it back due to it's state of ruin. I finally got the courage and returned it. I'll never forget the look on his face as I handed it to him. He's in his late 80s now and I still chuckle about it when I run into him.

Cool setup. I have a Herters "O" press and Herters case prep stuff (crank handle deburring tools)

I kept 1 thick Herters catalog with color insert for the gunstock wood.

So BIG EYES, is it possible we could have stared at each other thru our big eyes? lol
Does Driftwood ring any bells?

My first powder scale was a Herters and cost less than two bucks. After 60 years I still use it occasionally. At the time it was the worlds best scale LOL. Their archery equipment was really good though.

I think Herter's dies were made in West Germany. George Leonard Herter touted them as being "Best German precision", or some equally inflated hyperbole. There was another outfit (maybe Herter's in disguise?) that sold the same dies under the name "Ruhr-American".

There were three grades. My Old Man was a cheap so-and-so so he bought a set of the el-cheapo grade dies, .30-30. They were awful: rough machine marks internally and crowded with cutting oil and steel grit. They worked surprisingly well after detail cleaning though but the sized brass was awfully scuffed looking. When my equally cheap self needed a set of 7x57 dies I sprung for the top quality ones. Those dies weren't caked with steel chips (I guess that was the definition of "best grade"), but the chamber dimensions were decidedly out of round, and the seater was wonky somehow too. I got better accuracy by thumb seating a bullet in an unsized case than I did when using the dies. I remember dropping them in the garbage can, and went out and bought a set of RCBS.

Some of his books bring stupid money these days. I would blush to tell you how much I got for a copy of his paperback "Minnows of North America" a few years ago, but that could've been a case of eBay auction fever. I still keep a copy of his cookbook handy in the kitchen to this day.