Krag Collectors Association Forum

You do not need fancy stuff & may be able to do OK at the right estate sale. I still use the Herter's press (really a Pacific) that I bought the year after I got out of high school (1959). I switched to RCBS dies because the Herter's were lemons. .

I'm interested in knowing what was wrong with the Herters dies. I am using Herters dies I picked up used some years back and it seems that I am having concentricity problems with some of the resized cases. I have the dies backed of to only partial resize.

IMHO - Some of the Herter's Dies, I've seen, were roughly machined and heavily plated. The workmanship and precision were not the equal of the Lyman, R.C.B.S., C&H, and Lee Dies, I am use to.

That being said, the Herter's Dies and Presses were very inexpensive at a time when U.S. Reloading Equipment was very expensive.

I have a Herter's 6.5mm bullet seating Die, with an open 'side-window' that I like to use for making 6.5mm Swedish Mauser ammo.

Some Herter's dies were OK, others were not. I don't think you can generalize. They may have been rejects or low-end contract stuff from some other company. I don't think Herter's made anything except fiberglass boats & such themselves. Everything else was made elsewhere and George Leonard Herter put his name on it. My Dad called him George Leonard Hotair.

I have Herter's dies in .30-06 that are OK and a set of 6.5 Jap that are so badly off that I have used them when making .220 Swift into 6mm Lee Navy.

The huge Herter's Catalogs made for great bathroom reading. There were some real Non-PC lines in the text.

I think their single-stage presses and reloading Dies came from the Ruhr Valley of West Germany.

As 'reincarnated' states, products were contracted with manufacturers and had the Herter name put on them. BSA made some bolt guns and J.P. Sauer made some Western style revolvers for Herter's. Quality of goods was variable!

The non-PC statements were great. I recall that one said "The Virgin Mary said" that something was one of her favorites, but I no longer remember what it was.

I always thought my Herter's C-press was a Pacific because it is the same size as an example I have seen, but it could well have come from West Germany. No markings on it except the Herter's name.

Bottom line is, if those Herter's dies are giving you trouble (and they very well might), then use them as paperweights and get a set of LEE Pacesetter dies. Good entry level and excellent quality.