Who made Herter's brass?

[jpr9954]

I see old Herter's brass coming up occasionally on eBay. Given that Herter's was something like the Cabela's or similar company of its day, who actually made the rifle brass sold by Herter's?

Thanks

John in WNC

 

[Walkalong]

Don't know, but Herters had a good rep as far as their products.

 

[Wil Terry]

MUCH WAS MADE IN FINLAND, SOME WAS MADE IN SWEDEN, AND SOME IN NORWAY.

SVENSHAMETALWERKEN[SP] was a big supplier.

 

[jpr9954]

Given that much of it was made in Scandanavia, would Lapua or Norma have been potential suppliers as well? Would there be anyway to tell who really did make the brass?

Thanks for the info.

John

 

[BruceB]

Way back in the 1970s, when I lived in the Canadian Arctic, I got a new flyer from Herters'. In that flyer they advertised new-unfired 6.5x55 brass....for FIFTEEN CENTS PER TWENTY ROUNDS!!!!

I sent them a note, saying that I was sure they had a misprint on that price, and a money order for $25.00, and also saying "Send me $25-worth anyway, whatever the price might really be."

Hah! A couple weeks later, I received a BIG box from Herters' with no less than 170 20-round boxes of new 6.5x55 brass!!! Talk about deals??

The boxes were silver-and-black Herters'-marked ones, but they had a statement that the cases were made in Sweden. Cases were headstamped "Herters".

That was damned good brass, and I finished up the last of them not long ago. In the '70s, we in Canada could get new-condition Ljungmann AG42B semi-auto 6.5mm rifles for forty bucks or so, and a lot of my brass was used in those rifles, either by myself or when sold by me as a package deal with an AG42B rifle.

There are other manufacturers in Sweden besides Norma, but it's safe to say that anything from the Swedish factories is pretty decent.

 

[jpr9954]

Wow! 15 cents per box of 20. I just paid $11 for 2 boxes and thought I got a decent deal.

Sometimes I almost cry when I hear things like a AG42 going for $40. I just didn't come to gun collecting at the right age. Then again when the prices were that low, I was just in elementary school and didn't have any money.<g>

John