Some more Herters stuff

[richhodg66]

I'm beginning to think I have a problem, the number of old presses I own continues to increase. I'm on a couple of reloading pages on Facebook and a guy was trying to find a home for a Model 3 press and some other goodies, not really aggressively trying to sell. He had gotten the stuff intending ti get into reloading, then the bug bit and he got new upgraded equipment and never used the old stuff. I made what I thought was a fair offer, and he made a counter offer of less than I offered then shipped it to me before payment reached him, good guy. The box arrived yesterday.

OK, the press is common and straight forward enough, came with two priming arms and several of the old shell holders it uses. The interesting thing includied was a powder measure I haven't seen before, designed to clamp to the edge of a bench or table, the hopper is fairly small, it has an arm that is square in cross section which is hollow and actually is the drum for measuring powder and has a sliding scale on the outside for setting the powder charge it drops. I'm not even sure it's a Herters, seems kind of small and light compared to most of their over built stuff.

I'll try to get a picture or two of it up today. With the shortages going on, I have kind of resolved to getting the reloading room I've planned in my morton building done this year and a part of that will be a 20' long, 2' deep bench that will have as many of these old toys mounted up as I can, but between the shotgun presses, regular presses, sizer lubricators, powder measures, priming tools, etc., I'll probably still need a quick change system.

[richhodg66]

Picture of the measure.
273867

[Pressman]

That is not a Herter's despite the brown color. It is a Bonanza/Forster Benchrest powder measure. The same Bonanza, of Faribault, MN that designed and made the CO-AX press. They were brown till the color changed to red with the sale to Forster.

The powder measure is somewhat unusual in the frame, it uses the TECTO measure that was made in St.Paul. The Bonanza uses the frame up-side down from the original. Pacific also used the TECTO for a rifle and pistol measure with the frame right side up.

Ken

[Maven]

What Ken said! (I have the red Forster version.)

[richhodg66]

OK, so is it a good measure? It's certainly interesting.

That model 3 press is a tank. I know it's likely not as strong as it looks because of the C design, but it sure is big and well built.

[richhodg66]

Looks like Forster still makes it, pretty pricey too, looks like I got a better deal than I thought. Gonna have to get it cleaned up and give her a try.

Nice to know it's still made, the plastic hopper and bottom spout are pretty cloudy on this one, might need to order new ones.

[Maven]

rich, Like all measures, it depends on the operator's finesse to get a consistent charge. Although it is simple enough, you need to start with a weighed sample of a given propellant, e.g. 50 gr. IMR 4350, pour it into the hole in the hopper and adjust those round knurled bolts until that weighed charge is barely visible in the hopper. In other words, it is a volumetric measure that can be a mite tricky to adjust. Needless to say, once you get the charge you want, record that setting. Btw, it also helps to remove the nut holding the throwing lever to the body, polish the surfaces, and use something like white lithium grease on both. Spraying dry graphite lube into the innards (and letting it dry, of course), helps keep rust at bay. I used mine last week and it's consistent, but getting there is "fiddly."

[richhodg66]

rich, Like all measures, it depends on the operator's finesse to get a consistent charge. Although it is simple enough, you need to start with a weighed sample of a given propellant, e.g. 50 gr. IMR 4350, pour it into the hole in the hopper and adjust those round knurled bolts until that weighed charge is barely visible in the hopper. In other words, it is a volumetric measure that can be a mite tricky to adjust. Needless to say, once you get the charge you want, record that setting. Btw, it also helps to remove the nut holding the throwing lever to the body, polish the surfaces, and use something like white lithium grease on both. Spraying dry graphite lube into the innards (and letting it dry, of course), helps keep rust at bay. I used mine last week and it's consistent, but getting there is "fiddly."

Good to know. I need to get it cleaned up and set up and try it out.

[John Wayne]

Good find Rich. Merry Christmas! I like the old iron also. The castings were designed with function and appearance in mind. Really robust and nice lines. The manufacturer cast their name into it and were proud of it. If you watch the old presses on ebay like I do they are bringing top dollar.

[richhodg66]

I have quite a few different ones now and haven't hardly payed much for any of them. Makes me wonder why anyone would buy one of the entry level Lees or anything else for that matter when really good older ones are available so cheap.

[Maven]

rich, re the Forster's powder measure: What I meant to say in post #7 was that it is very consistent once you develop a rhythm, which also means a firm bump at the top and bottom of the stroke. Btw, it digests extruded propellants quite well with a minimum of crunching.

[richhodg66]

rich, re the Forster's powder measure: What I meant to say in post #7 was that it is very consistent once you develop a rhythm, which also means a firm bump at the top and bottom of the stroke. Btw, it digests extruded propellants quite well with a minimum of crunching.

Good to know because I still use IMR stick powders. I keep a little brass rod on the bench for tapping powder measures that don't have one of the little knockers on them and usually get pretty consistent results that way.

[Green Frog]

Well richhodg66, you've got a lot of thread drift from your title. Maybe you should have called it "How I Got a Great Powder Measure and Some Herters Stuff Too!" ;) It sounds like your powder measure may be the high point of the trade. I agree with the previous posters with regards to accuracy. These measures can be very consistent IF the operator develops a consistent technique. It sounds like you were already aware of this, so I predict you will have very good luck with this measure as well. FWIW, I like to clamp this type of measure to a shelf or bracket to get it above the work surface of my bench... down low seems awkward to me. YMMV, of course.

As for the Herters press and its accessories, the sore spot there is those proprietary shell holders. Unless you want to use one of the adaptors made by 4-C and others, it can be quite challenging to change calibers if you need to find another one. I'm in that predicament myself but have a few to trade... drop me a PM for a good list of the numbers if you need it.

Froggie

[richhodg66]

I had a bunch of the shell holders already and they aren't hard to find, this one came with six more. I also scrounged an adapter somewhere, but I'd kind of rather use the correct ones for the press. The old Lachmiller I rescued uses the same ones, so went to the old gun store in the next town and picked up a bunch a few years ago.

Yeah, the press was the reason for me making the deal, but now I'm happier about that measure. Pretty cool that it seems parts can still be had new as well.

[Mk42gunner]

Talking about old Herter's stuff, I recently came across some Herter's .38 Special dies that I acquired in a box of stuff at an estate sale a few years ago. Not that I plan on using them, but the small lockrings on the dies look like a very good idea to me.

Big enough to work, but small enough to not get in the way. I think they would work fine on a Dillon 550 tool head.

Now if I still had my old 550B to try it.

Robert

[richhodg66]

I have and use a few sets of Herters dies, in fact, I used the .458 dies I bought from a retired three star's estate sale here about 20 years ago just the other day. Seem to work as well as others. I think one of my sets of .300 Savage dies is Herters as well. Several others too, some still in the cardboard boxes.