My brother found me some 6.5 bullets that I can not identify.
They are 130 grain round nose soft point with no cannelure. They came in a Herters box marked 6.5 130 grain semi-pointed but that is not what they are. They look very much like the 150 grain 6.5 RN bullets in some of my old Herters catalogs but I find no 130 gr. Hornady at one time made 129 gr. RN but all of them I have seen have a cannelure grove.I would like to figure out what they are because they shoot well in my 6.5x54 mauser. I hope someone here can help me with this mystery.
Thanks Bob

Could you possibly post a picture of one or more of them? That might jog some memory cells somewhere...

Second, are you by any chance in the midwest, particularly the upper midwest? High Precision, the company that used to make the Herter's bullets, made some bullets like that. They were in Frank de Haas' hometown in Iowa.

They also used to make a lot of 130 gr. RN .25 caliber bullets with no cannelure as well. I shot several thousand of them. They were the bet cup-'n-core bullets I ever used in my various 25-06s.

Albert, Thanks for your reply.
I am in the midwest. I'm from IOWA City, Iowa but quite a ways from Orange City where Frank de Haas lived and have never heard of High Precision Bullets. Years ago I talked to Mr de Haas on the phone several times and he was a great guy and willing to answer any questions I had. I will try to get my son to help me post photos as I am not very good with a computer.
Thanks again Bob

You may have a good reason, but I'm not sure why you believe that they are not the Herter's 6.5/130 semi-pointed bullets. The bullets that Herter's sold as "spitzer" or "spire point" were somewhat rounded, and their semi-pointed bullets had a profile that I would classify as round nose.

I could be mistaken but I recall the High Precision bullets made for Herter were based in California. At least all the 7mm Herters bullets I have were made there.

Larry Gibson

I believe you are mistaken. I recall talking with Frank de Haas about the company, and I bought many bags of 130 grain .257 RN bullets directly from them. They were available direct, in what looked like saw chain bags, containing 500 and/or 1,000 bullets per bag. At that time anyway they were in Orange City, Iowa.

If you go to the Cast Boolits forum site and search their archives for information on the company, you will find a post by "Trifocals" who visited the company and watched its operations making Herter's bullets. (IIRC, he had a relative who worked the third shift there, making bullets.) It is, of course, possible they didn't make ALL of the Herter's bullets (though I believe they did make the great majority of them), or that they moved to California at some time.

Ultimately it would not make any difference. The bullets are either Hi-Precision manufacture, or they are not. And if they are, they are about 50 years past being available anymore.

sounds like the old Hornady 129 round nose 6.5 Bullet.

They actually came in 0.263" and 0.264" diameter.

I'll try to get off my duff and snap a pic of one.

They were contemporary with Herter's heyday

Here are some photos to help, I hope

#1 is Herters catalog showing 6.5mm 130 gr. semi-pointed bullet

#2 left to right is 130gr RN bullet in question, 130 gr. semi-pointed bullet that came in box shown in photo 3 and a Remington 120 gr.bullet for comparison.

#3 Herters box


Both of the 130 gr bullets came in Herters boxes with the same bullet description. The round nose bullets are in what appears to be an older box and the font where Herters is printed is different also instead of ammunition division it has the Waseca, Minn. address.

Maybe they are both what Herters called semi-pointed and just from a different time.

Thanks Bob

quote:

Maybe they are both what Herters called semi-pointed and just from a different time.

A plausible hypothesis.

I've seen bullets listed under the same part number from major bullet manufacturers change in ogive shape and length over time. It would be even more likley for bullets from a marketer like Herters, which bought its products from third-party manufacturers, to exhibit differences from lot to lot (and perhaps even from one contractor to another.)