"Herter's" brand name showing up in catalogs . . . .

M

Montana Pete

Guest
I notice that the Herter's brand name is showing up on ammunition which is featured in the Midway USA catalog.

Furthermore, the small photos displayed in the catalog show an old-fashioned coat-of-arms on the ammo boxes that very much resemble the trademark of the old Herter's company of Minnesota - - of the "Herter's catalog" fame.

Does anyone know what's up here?

Could Midway have somehow acquired large quantities of very old ammo in a warehouse or something . . . or are there stirrings of life in the old Herter's marketing organization?

I ask this because catalog shopping was never more fun than with Herters. I'd love to see them coming back. I even bought a box of 100 bullets at a gun show, going back to the original Herter's brand of about 1968.

Let me know . . . .
 
Montana Pete said:
I notice that the Herter's brand name is showing up on ammunition which is featured in the Midway USA catalog.

Furthermore, the small photos displayed in the catalog show an old-fashioned coat-of-arms on the ammo boxes that very much resemble the trademark of the old Herter's company of Minnesota - - of the "Herter's catalog" fame.

Does anyone know what's up here?

Could Midway have somehow acquired large quantities of very old ammo in a warehouse or something . . . or are there stirrings of life in the old Herter's marketing organization?

I ask this because catalog shopping was never more fun than with Herters. I'd love to see them coming back. I even bought a box of 100 bullets at a gun show, going back to the original Herter's brand of about 1968.

Let me know . . . .
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I hope someone found a stash of Herters 222 mag brass, that was the best stuff I've ever used...close tolerances and tough as nails. I've still got a hundred new 7x57 herters brass used exclusively in my P.O. Ackley 6.5x257 Roberts AI. I've got an old Herters 401 Powermag revolver running around here somewhere, not a thing wrong with that one either!
Mark
 
I recently bought a set of Herters .303 reloading dies, still in the original box with little sign of ever having been used, an envelope of spare decapping pins thrown in.
Looks like these will work out okay, they fit my Lee Handpress, I'd wondered if the threads would be the same.
 
Herters brand name

I'll have to look at Midway on this.
The herters brass was very good. i think it was made by RWS or another company in Europe, I had some 222 mag brass that was the best around.
 
Montana Pete said:
I notice that the Herter's brand name is showing up on ammunition which is featured in the Midway USA catalog.

Furthermore, the small photos displayed in the catalog show an old-fashioned coat-of-arms on the ammo boxes that very much resemble the trademark of the old Herter's company of Minnesota - - of the "Herter's catalog" fame.

Does anyone know what's up here?

Could Midway have somehow acquired large quantities of very old ammo in a warehouse or something . . . or are there stirrings of life in the old Herter's marketing organization?

I ask this because catalog shopping was never more fun than with Herters. I'd love to see them coming back. I even bought a box of 100 bullets at a gun show, going back to the original Herter's brand of about 1968.

Let me know . . . .
Click to expand...


Pete;

Those bullets you bought...

Were they by any chance the "Super Wasp Waist Sonic Missle Tails?
We used to laugh at that back then.
I regret not buying one of their J9 Mauser actions for $129. or so.
I still have one of their catalogues and in front of me is a box of streamer hooks made in England of sheffield steel, ( with the coat of arms insignia.)
It used to be fun...
 
I believe it was Cabelas that bought the name, if I remember I saw some brochures for Herter's products there.
 
I've seen Herter's stuff in recent Cabela's catalogs, so wouldn't doubt that the name was bought by Cabela's or someone wholesaling stuff.
 
GerryM said:
I'll have to look at Midway on this.
The herters brass was very good. i think it was made by RWS or another company in Europe, I had some 222 mag brass that was the best around.
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You're damn skippy...I've got some with 20+ firings and still going strong
and 150 NIB...they ought to see this barrel into the garbage can...:)
 
I believe the Herters ammo is liscensed to a East EURO manufacturer,NOT the original Norma/Hornaday-Frontier stuff. When Herters went bankrupt in the 70's the name was sold (not sure to who) ,in the last 10 years or so the Herters BRAND has been poping up on clothing/gear and now ammo . From what I've seen it's a marketing ploy on the OLD HERTER NAME/QUALITY, the NEW stuff is NOT in the same league as the OLD. My 2 bits.
 
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I have a book he published
"Professional Loading of rifle, pistol, & Shotgun Cartridges and Reloading Data for Professional & Amatuer hunters Target Shooters Game Hunters & Guides"

By George Leonard Herter and Jacques Pierre Herter
Waseca, Minnesota
First edition of 1963

Great reading, especially the hunting stories. He and his son traveled a lot in search of game and adventure.
 
Back in my stash of stuff...

Back in my stash of stuff, I have some 85gr, 6mm, wasp waist bullets. Maybe I'll pull them out & see how they shoot.

It was a simpler world when we could rely on Jacques P. Herter and his Model Perfect everything!

Regards, Ron
 
RJM said:
Back in my stash of stuff, I have some 85gr, 6mm, wasp waist bullets. Maybe I'll pull them out & see how they shoot.

It was a simpler world when we could rely on Jacques P. Herter and his Model Perfect everything!

Regards, Ron
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Yup,

model perfect everything about says it all. His goose calls were so good one could turn a flock around and they would land on a blacktop parking lot ! ( or so it was thought )
 
House Brands crossing store boundry lines

There are several of the bigger stores now carrying the others products.

This may have started with Sears, years ago. It now is carrying over to hunting and shooting products.

It now is carrying over to ammunition and components.

Nat Lambeth

ps. mabe they will bring back the U9 and J9 actions, the Wasp and Sonic bullets etc., does that date me a little, eh?
 
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the last I heard...

Back in about the early 80's a store clerk said Herter's had been bought out by a company in Chicago. The store at that time was pretty barren compared to what I remebered when I was growing up. I've heard there is still a wharehouse out in South Dakota somewhere.
In its hayday, Herter's catalog was like a darn good New York best seller for us kids. His staff or maybe George himself was a great story teller promoting products while weaving a tale about their useage and success. He really knew how to set the hook or at a minimum keep you glued and browsing. In our house it could go missing for weeks and then when someone would put it back in circulation (usaually after pops would threaten a shakedown) pages would be missing and corners ripped out.
Todays catalogs serve the purpose we need them for but they are not near the marketing scheme nor as interesting as Herter's was.
 
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Earlier in this thread I mentioned buying a box of 100 old Herter's bullets recently at a gun show. One guy asked me what they were.

They were 55 grain .224 bullets -- flatbase soft points. When I opened the sealed box, the tips were all green so they are REALLY old. Original Herters stuff.

I decided to load some up as fouling shots or warm-up shots, since the first few rounds out of my varminter are usually a little off. I figured these bullets were somewhat worthless.

I was very surprised to find that my first five shots with these old bullets went into about 3/4 inch at 100 yds.

Herter's marketed things as "economy" but as this thread will tell you, sometimes the quality was just fine.

George Leonard Herter was a baloney artist and his catalog is filled with nutty claims. Take tobacco. He sold everything, including tobacco. He seemed to believe that tobacco caused lung cancer due to radiation in the leaves of the plants. So he at one time advertized "safe" tobacco because he could guarantee no atomic radiation had gotten into the plants. Of course this is crazy -- but rather typical of the extravagant claims he made. That's what made the catalog so much fun to read. And of course, we die-hards bought a lot of stuff from him over the years.
 
Waseca MN.

When I was in the Army stationed in Minneapolis in 1969-1971 I went to Herter's a few times and went to the company that made their reloading dies. They made their wooden rifle stocks at the store and has a small outlet in the wood working section that sold returned and special order guns that did not get sold. I heard that they loaded their ammo in another town in MN, but I never knew which and never saw it. A friend's Dad bought a Herter's 401 Power-Mag revolver and their "target" ammo. It was loaded with dead soft wad cutter style bullets with max. loads of powder. The end of the barrel would show a ring of led extending out from the muzzle after only 6 shots.

There are two things that stand out in my memory, the first is that Mr. Herter labeled most everything Guide's Model Perfect and the large Jack-a-lope in their store with a saddle on it. My kids were small at the time and the jack-a-lope scared the bejesus out of them.

I bought a number of their European Mauser based guns for friends here in Arkansas and a lot of their 222 Rem ammo when it went on sale. I also bought a BSA Actioned 458 Magnum with a Douglas air gaged barrel - this gun broke 3 stocks and Herter's courteously replaced them but would never glass bed it. They did put through bolts in the stock like a military gun and did add a second recoil lug silver soldered on the barrel. I still have this gun and flinch whenever I shoot it as I worry that the stock will split yet again.

The company that made their reloading dies was less than wonderful. In my estimation they were pretty much junk.

The one thing that Herter's did make that was great looking was their walnut game calls.

George
 
Herter's. . .

Never knew what quality you would get. Those wasp waist bullets were horrible, I remember sending some back they shot so bad.

But ol' George always hyped everything up. Several years ago, one of the shooting magazines ran a story about George Leonard Herter. Interesting man. He wound up committed to an insane asylum, where he passed on.

Until a few years ago, I received a small waterfowl catalog from "Herters". I believe they are now out of business, have not received a catalog in about 5 years.
 
Can't believe no one has posted this yet. Google "Herters" and you get Cabelas site.
 
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