my herter's j9 (zastava) looks pretty good to me, and it is the one rifle i own that i will NEVER sell......



(same stock, different lighting.....)

Nice rifle I wouldn't sell it either! I have a lot of fond memories of Herter"s myself. Like so many have already said their catalog was the greatest at the time with all the little things they came up with to describe their merchandise. I did a lot of fishing back then and bought most of my lures from them because they were so much cheaper than all the local stores. And I found that most of the stuff I bought was good quality stuff that did a good job. Memories, I wish they were still around but I guess everything has to change.
Roadtrash

Vapodog

You designed Herter's dies in 1973? Wow. I have used some of those dies in the past. They weren't all that bad!!!
I too kind of grew up on Herter's. I always liked their Mallard decoys.

Blue

Hey...I was totally disabled and just barely able to hold a pencil in my hands but I knew what dies looked like and could make drawings.....I later went on to become a degreed engineer.....Herter's was more to me than a cheap place for reloading stuff.....if you know what I mean!!!!!

Ah yes, Herters. Boy those catalogs were as optimistic as Egyptian war communiques. I've spent many a cold Canadian winter's night curled up with one. It ranked right up there with the telephone book as the most used publication in our household. I was quite crushed when they, for all practical purposes, went out of business. Mostly what Herter products I have remaining are fishing spinners, hooks and fly tying equipment. I guess they were indeed the good old days. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I thought Herters was originally in Waseca Mn. When I was in Nam a kid from Waseca showed up in our unit. Never got to talk much to him, but I asked him about Herters. He was walking point one day and an NVA popped up in front of him. Bang Bang one dead NVA. Almost never heard of, a lone rifleman killing one enemy with semi auto fire. I always figured just growing up in the same place as Herters caused him to be a rifleman.

I too have a Herter's press, a Model 3 purchased in the late 50's. Other than the fact that it was rather bulky and a little awkward to use, the only problem I ever had with it was that the linkage pins were soft and would bend or shear. I had a machine shop turn me some out of good steel and that took care of it.

The Herter's catalog featured so much overblown hype that even a naive farm kid saw through it, but their prices were attractive enough that you kept hoping. Here are some quotes from a 1963 Herter's catalog I still have:

On the "Wasp-Waist Sonic bullet"(shaped like the old Coke bottle): "If not the most accurate bullet you have ever used return... for a full refund...Up to a third more accurate than any bullet ever produced." (It goes on and on)

And on their conventional bullets: "If you do not find that there are no bullets made that are more accurately or better made or that will shoot more accurately than Herter bullets return unused portion...for a full refund..."

On their Model 45P Powder Measure: "If it does not out perform all competetive powder measures by a tremendous margin, return for a full refund..."

On the Herter's Vari-Choke, their knockoff of the Polychoke (part of 4 full pages of outrageous claims): :"Every pattern perfect...eliminates flyer shot or your money back...eliminates recoil...eliminates muzzle blast...will outperform any choke for both pattern and velocity and we are not fooling one bit."

In the fishing tackle section is a picture of the young Jacques Herter Jr. with "the first Herter trout ever taken."

Well, that sort of gives an idea of the flavor of these old catalogs. If nothing else they were good for some laughs. I'll always be thankful, though, that they were around to allow a kid with little money to get started in reloading.

Heck I have some Herters things and LIKE and use every one of them from my "Bull Cook 14" Freedom chef knife ($4.85 back about 71 or so and still EXCELLENT today.

I actually bought a catalog off of ebay just to look at and enkoy. Not as good as they were about 70-72, but plenty to look and and enjoy.

My favorite rifle stock is a Herters and yes, it is big and clunky but it fits me PERFECTLY.