"Lord help us All" Herters is back! I most of done some kind of bad JUJU on my thread about New Line Bullets because I said they were going to be sold by Herter's. I went out to the mail box last night and puller out the new Cabela fall catalog and there was ammo being sold with the name and old logo of Herters. Please don"t look as it might make you go blind.

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Herters is Back

The Herters (as I knew it) was skewered and barbecued.......sacrificed on an alter of Jungle Cock feathers, lies, corruption and other dishonesty.

It'll never be back!!....further, those that pay to use the name for their gains will never sell me a thing....

May Herters take their place in History as the biggest joke ever played on the American sportsmen!....and may we laugh forever at the fools some of us were!

Cabelas ownes the trademark name.

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Originally posted by ted thorn:
Cabelas ownes the trademark name.

I think this is right Ted.....They have been using it for some time. Previous to that a Company named Northern Hydraulics used it to sell decoys and a few smaller company s used it for their personal sporting goods store....One in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin for example...

There is a nostalgia and history associated with it, for a few of us, one just has to smile and carry on!

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There is a nostalgia and history associated with it, for a few of us, one just has to smile and carry on!

Hey I used to take the Herters catelog with me to the john when I was a kid. Bought a lot of "crap" from them in the 60s. I for sure like reading their catelog far better than the stuff I bought from them.

i still have an old catalog. On a really nasty winter evening it's great fun to look through. Such memories.

Jerry Liles

I was not old enough, I have some herters dies and some bullets. what ever did happen with them?

Just curious about it.

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Originally posted by midminnesota:
I was not old enough, I have some herters dies and some bullets. what ever did happen with them?

Give me a few minutes.....maybe I'll write you a book....

Vapodog the "store" whare house was in Beaver Dam WI use to go to there annual fall sale, back in the day.

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Originally posted by Big Bird:
Vapodog the "store" whare house was in Beaver Dam WI use to go to there annual fall sale, back in the day.

Do you remember what year that was?...or close to what year?
The original Herters died somewhere around 1980 after several years of disasters....

All Herter's facilities after that were using the name (I assume) via license from the Herter family.

The year is 1962 and I was 16 and had just bought my first rifle.....a .270 Pump and was in second heaven....except the darn ammo was a bit over $5.00 a box and I couldn't afford to shoot much.

My uncle showed me how to reload and introduced me to Herters. I can imagine Herters had been around for many years then so they were well known to the shooters in that part of the country. I grew up about 50 miles east of Waseca, MN (Home of Herters) and once every few months made a pilgrimage to Waseca to buy bullets and primers and other stuff....It was an exciting time for me as a kid in a candy store.

They had a back room with great bargains...lead shot in broken bags....mixed with #2 to #8 shot all in the same bag....I didn't care as it was cheap and made my shotgun go "Bang". Many other bargains to be had.

A neighbor also liked to go to Herters and he had a Cessna single engine plane and the airport in Waseca was right across the road from Herters.....I actually got to fly to Herter's occasionally....what a thrill....

I had been warned about some of their stuff so when I bought my first press it was a Pacific...(Hornady)...I didn't buy any of the Herters reloading equipment but a lot of bullets and powder and primers.

Bear in mind that in those days a FFL license was required to sell reloading components....and Herters was the place to get the reloading stuff!

So lets fast forward to about 1970 when I took a job at a machine shop in Minneapolis.....and loe and behold....they made stuff for Herters....almost 25% of their business was with Herters and my little understanding of Herter's products was instrumental to getting the shipping and receiving inspection job.

We made Herter's poly chokes, wood burning stoves for ice houses, push pole blades, powder measures, case trimmers, primer pocker reamers, deburring tools, and other stuff....I'll add them when I remember them....and a bunch of fishing items too.

Here's the rub.....there were absolutely no drawings....all the parts were made from samples and I was asked to make drawings.....which I gladly did as it was fun and I understood metalworking and tolerancing...

One day a buyer from Herters was touring and saw the drawings and asked if I could do other drawings for them.....So I was given a Texan shotshell loader to make all the drawings to manufacture that for Herters.....This was at a time when MEC was already suing them for patent infringement as they copied their shotshell reloaded to a "T"...

On another day I was bought a few reloading dies and asked to make drawings and I did...Herter's was buying the dies from a company in western Minnesota and someone found the buyer in bed with the company (kickbacks) and since there were no drawings we first had to reverse engineer them to make them in Minneapolis.....and we did. So we were now making all the reloading dies as well!

One day I happened to look at the Herter's catalog to see what they said about their case trimmer.....they claimed the cutter rode in a hardened and honed and ground precision bearing....in fact it was made from 12L14 screwstock and reamed on an acme gridley screw maching and black oxided (blued)...not hardened....not honed...not ground.....and certainly not precision! They claimed their cutter to be made from tool steel.....and it was again 12L14 and case hardened and often the case was ground off in sharpening the teeth after heat treating.....

I actuallt cringed at the advertizing claimed and I knew what we were making for them.....and Herters actually had no specs at all....We had drawings.....and they didn't.

Make no mistake....if the stuff dodn't work we got it back,,,,,but it was rare!

Later they decided to get into boats.....some folks actually liked them...but were so heavy I don't know who wanted them....but they sold some.

They also got into snowmobiles.....and know for a fact they had serious warranty issues and we made only a few parts for them but never had trouble with our parts.

Then they decided to make trailbikes....and do their own drawings.....we made them per print but the drawings were bad and parts didn't fit...we remade them again and again....and threw them away as the drawings were fatally flawed...

About this time the infamous Jungle cock feathers from India was discovered. The Jungle Cock was on the environmental endangered list and Herters was importing their feathers under cover for fly tying.....and they got busted and bad....Uncle sam kicked their ass bad and revoked their FFL license.....they could no longer sell gun and (as I understood) reloading components and ammo.....their bread and butter.

They also lost a major insurance carrier when it was discovered they sold a .44 Magnum revolver with a .357 Magnum barrel installed....hard to run those .430 bullets through a .357 bore!!!!!

Herter's then moved from Minnesota claiming excess taxation and moved to Mitchell South Dakota.....In the building immediately across the interstate from the present Cabelas...one can still read the name Herters on the building but the sun has faded it badly now.

It proved to be too little and too late. They were beaten by law suits for patent infringement...environmental imports, loss of business....losses from disasters in snowmobiles and motor bikes and several other failed ventures. Our company quit making stuff for them when the checks backlogged past 90 days!.....they eventually declared bankrupsy and closed the doors.

I'll add to this as I remember details....but make no mistake about it....they earned their end!

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About this time the infamous Jungle cock feathers from India was discovered. The Jungle Cock was on the environmental endangered list and Herters was importing their feathers under cover for fly tying.....and they got busted and bad....

I'd forgot that. I had bought a lot of that stuff to do fly tying.

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Originally posted by ramrod340:

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About this time the infamous Jungle cock feathers from India was discovered. The Jungle Cock was on the environmental endangered list and Herters was importing their feathers under cover for fly tying.....and they got busted and bad....

I'd forgot that. I had bought a lot of that stuff to do fly tying.

Those flies might be worth something if you still have them ...I'm not sure if the Jungle cock was ever restored to health and taken off the list!

Why.. I don't know. 1974

Very interesting, vapo.

Regards,
hm

I saw a ton of herter's ammo last weekend.

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Originally posted by ramrod340:

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There is a nostalgia and history associated with it, for a few of us, one just has to smile and carry on!

Hey I used to take the Herters catelog with me to the john when I was a kid. Bought a lot of "crap" from them in the 60s. I for sure like reading their catelog far better than the stuff I bought from them.

A bunch us kids back in that timeframe would buy a case of beer, and sit around the living room laughing our asses off reading the Herter's catalog out loud, drinking a beer. We were all hunters... Memories...

i grew up reading all about the "model perfect" this, that and whatever.... i bought a hawes .357 pistol from them when i was a kid... ive bought herters scopes on ebay, had a herters label, logo, on the tube and nikon on the underside of the adjusting caps... they always advertised their scopes as japanese...i still collect ammo boxes, have most of geo' herters books....

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Originally posted by eurocentric:
I saw a ton of herter's ammo last weekend.

Todays "Herters" ammo is made IIRC in the former Soviet Union. Same stuff, different headstamp.

A number of companies do this BTW, the "Winchester" 7.62x54R and possibly the x39 stuff is made over there also.

This old codger laments the passing of the Wasp-Waist bullet. Too sad. Actually, as a dumbass kid, I suspected that the idea was sound. Wasn't into reloading at the time, you know, being a young kid, but.. Yup!! Herters - The absolute best of every product - just ask 'em.

Bear in Fairbanks

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Those flies might be worth something if you still have them ...

I know I have a couple I put aside to save. Most were long lost. Heck someplace downstairs I still have a manilla envelope with bunch of my 50 year old supplies. I'm sure one of these days over the next 6 months it might work its way to the surface. Sure wish when I packed for my move to CO I had done a better job of labeling my stuff.

vapodog, thanks for posting the very interesting information about Herter's.

Like most every shooting enthusiast of a certain age (I was born in 1949) I have a copy of an old Herter's catalog around somewhere. Never did order anything from it. The baloney was apparent even to what was then a trusting and innocent country boy.

In fact I believe it was this catalog which began the process of changing a naive, goodhearted, and trusting youth into the bitter and cynical old man I am today. What the heck, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

If you haven't read it already you might enjoy O'Connor's "The Last Book" with his reference to an "eccentric" (not named but clearly referring to Herter) in the chapter on Ads and Advertisers.

Thanks again for the firsthand information.

Books by George Leonard Herter

* Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices
* Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices (volume 2)
* Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices (volume 3)
* Professional Guide's Manual
* How to Get Out of the Rat Race and Live On $10 a Month
* How to Live With a Bitch
* George the Housewife

Herter's went bankrupt in 1981 and George Leonard Herter died in 1994.

I can find no photo of him and never met him. He apparantly was somewhat of a recluse.

oops....looky here:

Does bring back memories. I think I still have a Herters Duck and Goose call somewhere.

Thank you vapodog for the information on herters. My uncle still uses their press for reloading, and i saw a catalog with those goofy looking bullets.

My Grandfather used to make a big Herter's fishing tackle order every year.

When I started fishing and later hunting, most of my supplies were "World famous, model perfect" gear from Herter's.

My first pistol, which I still have, was/is a Herter's single action .22. My first centerfire rifle was a Herter's Model U-9 barreled action in .30-06 and Herter's semi-finished walnut stock. I bought it before the Gun Control Act of 1968 ended mail order gun sales. I used that rifle for about 30 years and killed a very large pile of deer, antelope, and elk, 2 moose, a mountain goat and my first caribou with it.

Herter's quality wasn't always top of the line, but it was available.

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Herter's quality wasn't always top of the line, but it was available.

Actually a lot of things Herter's had was pretty good stuff.....and the prices were typically quite reasonable. But one had to know what he was buying.

Cool thread.

Thanks for the info Vapo.

I grew up in Mitchell and remember fondly that old Herter's building. We would go out there to buy fishing tackle to make our own spinners for walleye.

I believe my first rifle was bought in that store. A Rem 788 in 243 Win. circa 1979.

I was too young to understand the implications of how and why they went out of business. But I remember not liking it. As a kid, I lost a place to go dream about hunting and fishing.

I will always remember the full body mounted musk ox in that store.

A while back I bought 100 cartridge cases for my 7x57 made by herters. Box was marked "Made in Sweden." Norma perhaps?
Paul B.

I used a couple of their stocks, pretty good
wood for the money. One thing bothers me, They
listed a 22 automatic pistol that was a knockoff
of a Ruger. It looked like bamboo grips in the
illustration. Antbody ever see one of them?.
Good luck!

the books that vapo talks about are not cheap anymore... ive sold the 3 part cookbooks for over $250 for a set... and the rest command collectors pricing....i bought a lot of the wooden predator calls, plastic ammo boxes... as a kid growing up in west texas in the 60's and 70's there weren't many places to shop... cabelas was still a mail-order only business then, and long distance calls cost money... so mail oreder was about the only way to go...

My first reloading gear in in the early 1960's was all Herters. C press, scale, measure, dies (30-30), and shotshell press. It all worked but I had to sell when I moved to Michigan. Did not realize it was not what they said it was. Lucky to sell when I did. When I came to me senses they were no longer around so I had to buy RCBS, Lyman, MEC, Redding, Foster etc.

I still own and use a number of Herter's reloading tools. Their dies cost about 1/2 of the going price of the C&H they copied, and their Vickerman-type bullet seater is one of the best ever made. And even though Vapo points out that their case trimmer was made of materials nothing like they claimed, the one I own is still going strong and exhibit no wear or other problems -- despite my having converted it to run off of an electric drill about 30 years ago.

I remember buying a scope mount of some type off of them which was the poster child for the word "trash". I enjoyed returning it with a letter parroting George L's hyped-up sales descriptions and describing how disillusioned I was by the product. I got my money back, but not the hoped-for apology gushing salubrious language.

Ironically, there was a company located in a small, nearby Minnesota town of Glenwood that apparently ripped off Herter's! I ordered a lot of supplies from the "Ruhr-American Corporation", all of which were identical to those Herter's sold, but usually a fraction cheaper than Herter's prices. Sometimes their products would be labeled (menacingly, for those of us who remember the history of Nazi Germany and its state-sponsored industrial machine) "Krupp-American". I've got to believe that name was simply another rip-off. Maybe "Ruhr-American" was a little side enterprise of G.L.'s to stay a step ahead of the authorities?

By the way, I'm told that the son G.L. often referred to and who "authored" many of G.L.'s books, "Jacques Herter", was completely fictitious.

Incidentally, G.L. Herter was a close relative (maybe brother?) of the staid Governor of Minnesota and later Secretary of State in the Eisenhower administration by the name of Christian Herter. Chistian Herter was said to have just as soon that knowledge not be widely pubicized.

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Originally posted by vapodog:
The year is 1962 and I was 16 and had just bought my first rifle.....a .270 Pump and was in second heaven....except the darn ammo was a bit over $5.00 a box and I couldn't afford to shoot much.

My uncle showed me how to reload and introduced me to Herters. <SNIPPED>

Great story Vapo, thanks for taking the time to write it!

This thread sure brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid, looking at Herters catalogs.

My Dad bought reloading supplies from Herters. The prices were amazing. I still have several items. "We cannot accept stamps as payment" always makes me smile.

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"We cannot accept stamps as payment" always makes me smile.

Someone please correct me here but I was of the understanding that US postal stamps were legal tender.

I had a long term credit with Dayton Hundon corp in Minneapolis and they paid off the credit (it was under a dollar) in postage stamps...