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Inherited press

reddnekreddnek Member Posts: 1,552 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited March 2010 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
my brother in law just offered me my dads old herter reloading press which he has had since my dad stopped reloading. I remember this press as being very rugged and i can't beat the price, pick it up next time I visit.Any downside to this press???
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    PearywPearyw Member Posts: 3,699
    edited November -1
    A lot of the old Herters press were set up for their dies which had different threads than everybody elses dies.
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    MIKE WISKEYMIKE WISKEY Member, Moderator Posts: 9,972 ******
    edited November -1
    THEY ALSO USE A SPECIAL SHELL HOLDER, STILL EQUAL TO ANYTHING ON THE MARKET TODAY (COMPARABLE TYPE PRESSES).
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    Jim RehmJim Rehm Member Posts: 102 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Herters presses normally were threaded 1 1/4-18 to accomodate shotgun loading dies and were supplied with a threaded bushing threaded 7/8-14 for most dies or 5/8-30 for Lyman 310 dies.
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    remington nutremington nut Member Posts: 961 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i have about 10 sets of herters dies that all thread into my rcbs,lyman and C&H presses, must have been the first dies herters came out with when they first started, all mine have standard thread on them??
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    bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a bunch of herters shell holders they are bigger than normal. I love the old press it is heavy and rugged and hell for stout.

    Here is what I did to use standard RCBS type shell holders.

    I got a old worn out RCBS Jr. press and cut the ram off about one inch below the part where the shell holder sits. I then drilled the HERTERS ram to accept the part. I did all this with hand tools so it must not have required much metal removal. There are two set screws in the ram that I aligned with "dimples" that I drilled into the RCBS ram head. The shell holders from all the manufacturers now work fine. (Except the HERTERS)

    If you are interested in making this modification send me your email and I'll send you some pictures. It really works well.
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    rhoperhope Member Posts: 118 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I keep pokeing around through these old posts because I never know when I may learn something new or interesting. My first press was a Herters because the price was right (somewhere in the $10-$15 range as far as I can remember). I think the die sets were about $4.98 and $.98 for shellholders. As far as I know all the rifle dies were standard 7/8 - 14 but the shellholders were unique to Herters and were attached to the ram with setscrews. Over the next few years I aquired a number of Herters die sets and corresponding shellholders and loaded many thousands of rounds in various calibers.

    After Herters went out of business someone came out with an adapter to allow use of todays standard shellholders. I bought one of these and continued using that old press for some time befor eventually aquiring a couple of other presses. I believe I have seen ads at some time for both adapters to use the original shellholders and for new shellholders which are made to fit these old presses.

    I still have that old press and still use it occasionally. Since the dies fit my newer presses I am still using them and they all do the job. They may not look or work quite as nicely as somthing like RCBS but they produce perfectly good ammo.

    I'm sure there must still be a lot of these old presses out there. They seem to be pretty well indestructable. With a little effort you can probably find (or make) a shellholder adapter or perhaps somone can still supply the original type shellholder.
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    cnsaycnsay Member Posts: 1,373 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'll throw in my .02 on this old post. Call these guys they stock adapters for the old presses.http://www.buffaloarms.com/
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    gcs10gcs10 Member Posts: 32 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    MidwayUSA stocks an adapter that will let RCBS type shell holders work in your Herters press. I think I paid about $22 for it last year. It works very well.
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