Vintage Herters

[atr]

dies, press, mold and brass cases and even the .357 Revolver sold by Herters and made by Sig in Germany
thanks for looking
atr272207

[John Wayne]

That's a cool group!

[oley55]

Great pics! Wow, that photo really shows how strong and beefy that press is.

[Pressman]

Yes, the Model 3 is a big chunk of cast iron. What caught my attention is the revolver. They were nice guns and well made. Good as a Ruger. I had a 401 that I had to sell 20 years ago, still miss it. I found one last year when we still had gunshows for a thousand dollars. I had to pass on that one. I still have a lot of brass and reload ammo for the 401. Just in case...

Ken

[oley55]

Is the block of wood used to keep the handle up and generally out of the way?

[atr]

Yes the block of wood keeps the handle up. I have been using that press since the mid 1960's and it has never failed me!
The cost of the revolver was $41.00 new when first sold through Herters.

[thxmrgarand]

In "How to get out of the Rat Race and Live on $10 a Month" the authors, George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter, say, ".401 Herter Powermag Now Becoming Most Popular Handgun in Alaska. The .44 magnum was popular for a time in Alaska but its popularity rapidly faded and today in 1968 they are rarely carried. The .44 magnum proved to be a poor inaccurate, difficult shooting gun. It is much easier to kill bears and big game with a .401 Herter Powermag as accurate shots into vital areas of animals are easier to make then (sic) with a .44 magnum."

The .401 section goes on for another two pages, mostly photos. The book is quaint nonsense, 656 pages worth, mixed with common sense that no one need read in a book. I found this book at a local used book store, but I also have the two Herters guide books, given to me by my parents when I was perhaps 11 years old.

I have two of the Model 3 presses, one was my father's, and we learned to reload together on it when I was 10 and (therefore) he as almost 30. The other was purchased here in Alaska at a garage sale. I moved to Alaska almost 50 years ago. Notwithstanding George Herter's statement the .44 magnum has long been and continues to be popular here, as anyone would expect. The .401 is relatively rare but no doubt there are some in every Alaska town.

I have a Herters revolver but it's a .44 magnum. It's a 5 shot single action when carried of course. I sent a $47 money order to Herters when I was 14 years old and received this revolver by return mail. No adult was involved save the lady at the bank who sold me the money order (no one in my class of people had checking accounts back then). Some part of the process required me to claim I was at least 16 years of age according to my best recollection. I had a year-round, full-time job back then, and that $47 represented about 55 hours of work on account of payroll deductions (mentioned for economic context). I still shoot the revolver once in a while but carry a 29-2 my brother gave me years ago, and I am wearing out that gun. There's nothing wrong with the .401 Herters, and I can remember thinking long and hard as to whether to order it or a .44. I still very much resent the 1968 Gun Control Act and what it represents. (If you live in or near GA, or know people who do, please work during the coming weeks to ensure the US Senate remains in hands that might help us head off new laws that would change life even more for law-abiding Americans.)

Over the decades in Alaska I have run into many Herters products, and there is nothing like Herters today for modern outdoors people so far as I know. Adults laughed at the hyperbole in their catalogs back then but for range of products, and to no small degree for value they had no equal. I have purchased one or two nice recurve Herters bows at garage sales; quality as high as any bow of that era so far as I can tell. I have seen one Herters fiberglass skiff and one Herters snowmobile. It was a company and an era unlikely to return.

[SWANEEDB]

This post reminded me of my brother as he told me he had a book authored by Geo Herter, "How to live with a Bitch" Had only been married a short time. As he sat at the table his wife came home from work, she seen the book----------So, this is what you think of me. He was laughing so hard it took some time to explain it was about his new female puppy, not her.