I just took a herters in on trade. It is a 300win and is the made in England u9 as near as I can tell. The trigger/bolt release is haywire right now, but that aside...it looks like a really high quality rifle with some fine touches. The barrel is a very light taper deeply blued beauty. I had intended to fix it and trip it, but I might finally try my hand at wood work on this one.

I believe Herters used a couple of different actions for their
rifles, I may be wrong though. The last Herters U9 I handled
was chambered in 6MM Rem. They also sold actions seperately,
I may be wrong there also. Some of the other guys should add
to this soon.

I had a Herters of unknown Model, but it was a commercial 98 action...a little touch here-n-there and it served me very well for very many years...

It was a .300 as well...

IIRC, most of the England jobs were BSA actioned guns.

I had an old U9 in high school...a 6mm Rem. Nice rifle, but even then I didn't much care for the Weatherby/California stock touches. it shot very well, though, and I probably shouldn't have traded it off for whatever I traded it for.

IIRC, I believe Herter�s used BSA and FN actions for long cartridges and Sako actions for short cartridges. After all, everything offered by George Herter was the "world's greatest", according to his advertisements.

not just greatest...Model Perfect. Perfect, mind you.

But they work great an his bows were top knochso were the rest of his line

What you have is a BSA Monarch action with a Douglas barrel and a Herters stock. The guns are shooters.

Push the trigger forward pretty hard and you will release the bolt.

If you shoot it you will keep it.

Oh, you can get wood from Richards and from Hoosier for them.

I was thinking of a nice claro slab since of the stack of rifles I own few are wood and none are nice.

I would bet on the rifle being accurate enough to warrant the use of good wood. I have three of them. My 300 shoots everything I have put in it well. I didn't put nice wood on it, but I did put a German made Zeiss on it.

The finish on the barrel is very good, I will likely remove the few remaining tool marks on the action and rust blue it.

The bolt lock is broken on this gun too, but I think I am just going to eliminate it.

This thread would be much better with some pictures.

Just saying.

Herters now there are some memories...the store in Mitchell, SD was paradise to me as a kid. IIRC they had a U9 and a J9 action. Model Perfect! The son Jacques actually became a psychiatrist and had an office in Casper, WY back in the 80's.

The bolts release either by pulling back on the trigger pretty hard or pushing forward pretty hard. I have both versions. You might have to close the bolt and then pull/push the trigger, holding it while you unlock and remove the bolt.

I'll see what I can arrange tomorrow.

I have a J9 in 6mm Rem in my safe that my dad bought new in the 60's; nice rifle. I've since dropped it in a Boyd's laminate (Yugo 48); factory stock was too gaudy with the lighting bolt spacers. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

The bolt release is a good trick to play on someone! This one locks the bolt down with the safety, but the tang is broken that engages the bolt. I will post some pics....its no beauty queen.

The Herter's rifles I have seen have been the U9 action. BSA as I recall. At least they look like they are BSA. And, as mentioned there was the J9 too.
But back then BSA denied that they made the actions, so who knows what the true story is?
They seemed to work okay.

for some reason, you see a lot of them in 6mm.

I bought a .30-06 U9 barreled action from Herter's back in the mid 60's. Also one of their semi-inleted stocks. It was my first centerfire rifle.

In the late 70's I had it rechambered to .30 Gibbs. It was an elk killing machine, getting me an elk almost every year for over 30 years, also a couple of moose, a caribou, a mountain goat, and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, a case fireforming mishap about 5 years ago swelled the chamber and damaged the bolt. I had a gunsmith re-cut the chamber and he worked on the bolt, but it wasn't the same, so I retired it.

That was my favorite rifle for many years...

One of the three I have is opposite the other two ans it took me a while to figure it out. I don't know why they are that way, I just know they are.

My .243 U9 is Rosie O'Donnel ugly. But... it puts 80 grain TTSXs into 1/2 inch and 95 grain XLCs into one ragged hole. How's that song go? "yeah, she's ugly but she sure can cook".

The .243 is in a Herters western style (gaudy) stock with lightning bolt white line spacers. The 30-06 is in a more classic style Herters stock with no spacers and a little figure. The 300 WM is in a BSA stock.

If your trigger is the problem with the bolt release I have a spare and there's a guy selling one in ebay. The trigger is adjustable on them, but only in the barest sense of the word.

I used to drool over the catalog of laminated, recurve bows.
They sold ( and I copied ) the draw rest.
A steel rod with a grip one could hold a bow at full draw ( as long as your hand cold grip )

I ended up with forearms like Popeye!
When did Herters fold?
Early '70s?

The trigger is the issue. Can you toss a link to eBay...I did not see it. Thanks.

I had two U-9s (.22-250 & .25-06) that I bought new in the mid-70s, not long before Herter's either went under or stopped selling guns. I don't recall either rifle being incredibly accurate, but they were well made. Nice wood and the inletting / stock work was very good.

Not a good close up...but heres a Herters .300 Win on a 98 action...

And yeah...theres no scope on it..



Who IS that errant child running around the bush, circa 1987...?

I added a pic to the first page.

Tell the truth....you uglied that zebra too death didn't you!

It is a Herters model U9, I had Herters build me a rifle back in the early 70's BSA Monarch action ,Douglas barrel, and their own wood looked just like the one in the picture, except mine was in 458 Win. and was $160 , I loved that rifle, but a buddy of mine, actually ,a son of R.J. Reynolds had a brand new Rokon RT 340 motorcycle, around $2700 then and he just had to have that gun, traded even for it !!!!!!

I had the j9 (mauser action) in 25-06. It was a tack driver.Stolen out of my car. I still have a u9 (BSA) in 223 REM.. It to is a Prarie dog killing machine. I have put about 15000 rounds thru it and I bought it used. Still shoots 3/4 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yards. I also had a U9 in 22-250. Not so much a shooter. It did not stay at my place very long. Oh yes the bolt release on the 223 has issues but I just slide a thin strip of metal between the bolt and the action tang and slide the bolt out.

Dewd cool rifle. Looks like a fantastic candidate for simple refinishing; check out the MidwayUSA/Miles Gilbert kit w/ instructional DVD if you're interested.

If you decide to do an altogether new stock, you might consider contacting our own Karnis who does some great work... I just sent him a Boyd's JRS Classic in AA French Walnut for some refinement.

I love these cool old rifles, even the ones with the kinda gaudy "California style" stocks...

....or Model Perfect

Okay, Here's a couple with my U-9 after I rechambered it to .30 Gibbs. I shot this elk in 1977 and the moose a few years later. Both DIY hunts in Montana.

Uglied???

I was a sexy beast back in the day!!

And only slightly delusional....

Dood...I even had hair back then!!!!

Ask and ye shall receive.

Top to bottom:

Herters U9 300 WM in a BSA stock. Zeiss 1.5-6x42

Herters U9 .243 Win in a Herters stock. Bushnell that I am afraid to touch the gun shoots so well.

Herters U9 30-06 in a plainer (nicer figuring on the other side) stock. Swarovski 1.5-6x42.

Mine is like the middle one....hollow bolt knob. It wears kesslrings rings.

I had a U9 in 270 years ago. It was accurate by any sporting rifle standard.

When I was a kid in Texas in the 50s, I was an avid reader of the Herter's catalogues. I had this romantic picture of a store somewhat along the lines of what Bass Pro Shop does today, on a lake somewhere in Minnesota with loons bobbing in the distance. Finally got to Minnesota on a collecting trip about 1977 and detoured by the main Herter's facility. There I found a barn-like metal building adjacent to a corn field! Talk about shattering childhood dreams.

I did , however, buy a nice rough blank of American walnut that eventually (years later) got shaped and put on a good barreled action...

The 300 is in a short action stock I bought to get rid of that ugly ass piece of wood on the .243. The 300 cracked it's stock and started stringing shots vertically, so I hogged out the short action inletting and rough fitted the 300 into it before I ran out of time. A local gunsmith finished it and bedded it so it maybe won't crack the new one. I am not quite sure what I will replace the .243's stock with, but it will likely have to go. It's just too ugly even for a gun that shoots that well.

I think the stock on the 300 came from Hoosier.

Here's my Herters J9 6mm Rem in a Boyds' Laminate

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300125

I believe Herters closed down due to the 1968 gun control act.
Before that, you could order guns on-line. I had ordered a 357 and one of my brothers ordered a 44 Mag from them. They were much like a Hawes single action revolvers, I think.
When Herters in Mitchell, SD was closing, my dad and a couple of my brothers went there and bought every Weaver scope they in stock. I think I was in Camp Pendleton guarding prisoners at the time so I missed it. (I was in USMC - not positive where I was though.)

Old guy on my first deer lease had one. He killed a lot of deer with it.

You guys DO realize this is an ancient thread that dates back to 2011, don't you?