Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles strange bullets !

one of the guys here for our elk hunt brought me a box of bullets.

they are HERTERS 30 caliber jacketed bullets.
they are 180 gr. wasp waist sonic misslie tail !

never seen anything like am before. cool looking to say the least.
wonder how they shoot ?

I remember those. I never had any, but I remember them. From the 1962 (first edition) Handloader's Digest: "New wasp-waist design gives better accuracy, perfect mushrooming, lower breech pressures with less variation and maintain velocities for longer ranges. Accuracy tests by an independent laboratory show 15% reduction in group size at 100 meters; 27% reduction at 200 meters and an incredible 50% reduction at 400 meters over regular bullets." Apparently they were so new at that time that George Leonard had not had time to set a world record by firing (choose your number) of them into a single hole at (choose your distance) on (choose your date) at (choose your site). Even so, your elk should be terribly impressed.

I shot a bunch of those back in the day! I think I still have a partial box in my relic cabinet. The old Herters sure had a lot of interesting products. I can remember spending hours back in my misspent youth flipping through their catalog wishing I could order one of everything.

This is the second thread about those bullets I've seen lately. Why they should suddenly start appearing baffles me.

But the bullets don't. The pinched waist meant that you HAD to seat them very deeply or they'd wobble in the case neck. In cartridges with shorter necks, you couldn't seat them straight no matter what. They probably did lower peak pressure somewhat due to lowered bearing surface, but that's about the only good thing that could be said about them - and even that was never tested in a lab, as far as I know.

I also remember reading the catalogs and carefully budgeting my hard-earned wages for the miraculous items in the Herters catalog. 5sDad and Allen917 must have some similar memories. I passed on the Banana Peel/Wasp Waist bullets, and I SHOULD have on the soft-nosed 150 grain model. I was getting some unexplained flattening of my 30-06 primers with reasonable and published loads. The bullets were put away for future use.

After finishing college I was earning better wages and had bought a caliper for my reloading efforts. At one point I recalled the bullets I had set aside years before and checked them with the caliper. About 45% of the remaining bullets measured .311! Somehow the box contained two sizes of bullets.

I think some of the old days were great for learning, and I don't restrict that to the hallowed halls of universities. Herter, Weatherby, O'Conner, Keith and Ackley taught me to dream big, but fortunately I also learned to procede only with caution. We have to earn our own spurs.

I had to bring this back to the fore as Rick Jamison has a very interesting article on them in the current issue of Handloader. Being the hopelessly reactionary old phart that I am (see second signature line), I enjoy articles about things that are largely forgotten by most more than I do about the latest developments.

Beat me to it. I distinctly remember the Wasp Waist bullets from Gun Digest, etc.

Hah! Coincidentally, a month ago an 88 year old friend gave me a fistful to try out, 180gr. wasp waists. I got a pattern of, like, 4" at 100 yards (and yes, you have to seat fairly deeply) out of my Pre-64 M70 '06, various charges of H-4895 and IMR4350. I didn't see any point in going forward with more testing. (165 Sierra BTHP's do 3/4MOA out of that gun.)

I had ( still have a few ) a box of 150 gr and used them in my 30-40.

They shot very well in that so I kept them for that gun.. Killed the best white tail to date with them.

He was impressed. I would buy more if I could find them.

Some of the bullets and most of the brass for Herters were made by Norma and were excellent quality. Over time they got other suppliers so not sure of the dates for Norma/Herters components. I also like the banana peel add copy too. We kept a catalogue in the out house at the deer lease when I was a kid.

The wasp waist is a sound design but the seating options could make it difficult to find an accurate load.

I used a boat load of the 30cal 220gr RN Banana peels, they were the cat's azz for white tails in the MN north country. I built a little 1917 Enfield into a little carbine that carried easy, came up like lightning, quite accurate and killed like the Hammer of Thor. Just like George L. said, "it killed them deader than dead". I used a lot of Herters components for predator hunting also, just couldn't get myself to try the Wasp Waists. Herters #4 coil spring traps were my favorite foot hold for beaver, I think I still have a dz.