I have some Herter's dies in the following calibers;
30.06
32/20
45/70
375 H&H
25/20 Repeater
30 carbine
22/250

They are all in the original boxes they came in. They don't look as if they have ever been used. They belonged to my great uncle and all I know is he always had them. My questions are these; is Herters still selling rifle dies and do you think the dies have any value? There is also an old box of 38 S&W dies made by a company called Roddy. The box has a CH on the side panel. There is also a set of RCBS dies in their old original cardboard box. These are for the 32/40 caliber. And last but not least I have an old Ideal Manufacturing Company cartidge maker for the 45/70. I never saw one of these before. I know by looking at it that you made your complete bullet with it. I almost forgot. I also have three boxes of antique 45/70 catridges (spent) in their original boxes. Two are Wnchester 1886 Repeating Rifle 45/70 and the other is an old box of Remington 45/70. The key to the age of the boxes besides the labels is my great uncle left his reloading recipes in the boxes. The recipe called for the use of FFG black powder. I was wondering if any of this stuff had any value. I know cowboy shooters use some of the obselete calibers. Thanx for your help here

If you run a Google or an eBay search, you'll discover that there must be quite a few collectors of Herter's stuff. As with anything else, it's worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay for it.

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Welcome to the forum.

The Herter's stuff still shows up at the gun shows around here, they sold a bunch of it back in the 60s and thereabouts. I wouldn't think the dies especially valuable but you never know.

The Ideal tong tools are somewhat collectable. Like Rocky says, check the auction sites to get an idea of what it's worth.

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MikeG

Welcome to the Forum,Buckshooter
Those Herter's dies are good usable tools.I still use my 45/70 dies,as well as 38/357 and 45 ACP.
They may be worth more to someone else,though.Do check the web.
Frank

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Frank

A couple years ago I bought a set of Herter's dies in 308 Win off of Ebay. I got them for about $10.00 or so, with shipping. They were quite dirty when I got them, but it they cleaned up real nice. So it might depend the how collectible it is, or how hard it is to get dies in that caliber, I would imagine 30-06 dies won't go for as much as say 32-30 might.

What memories this thread evokes! I can remember as a kid in the early 1970's spending hours swooning over the Herters catalog. It's now a thing of the past, replaced by Cabelas and others. Empires rise and fall even in the short life time of mere mortals.
I have some Herters dies, etc. and I doubt they are worth that much because there must be a lot of them floating around out there. Wasn't Herters a large outfit for its time? The only thing I've seen in recent years with the Herters name is a clothing line in Cabelas catalog. I don't even know if its related to the original Herters outfit.

My family has several sets of Herter's dies and other tools that still in use. It is good stuff.

I don't know about collector value, but someone did a re-issue of one of the old Herter's Catalogs a few years ago. I used to pour over them and drool over the stocks and all the different woods they had for sale. What ever they sold it was always the worlds best and there was lots of rhetoric describing exactly why for every item. Great stuff.

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Bob from Idaho

There is no accounting or anticipation for what some "collector" may pay for anything, even pet rocks!

Herter's tools were as good as any of its type, then or now, but no better. I still use mine (stuff I bought new!) and am still happy with it. The occasional items we may run across have, IMHO, the same value as any other piece of simular used equipment.

None if it's worth much as collectables but collectors with more money than sense can be weird and far detached from reality.

I just bought a set of Herters 6.5x55 dies off of Ebay for $14.00

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All this talk of herters reminds me that I have a model super 81 {double ram} laying in the corner of my reloading room with everything but shell holders. The rams have open holes at the top with a big set screw in each, which I assume holds the shell holder or the part that does. It's one heavy press!!! Anyone out there familiar with these? Thanks

My Herters press uses its own propriatary shell holders, which is a pain, but about 10 years ago I bought an adapter from Huntingtons that allows RCBS shell holders to be used.

Gunpa, I have the same press with a double set of Herters' shell holders, the two ram press is my favorite press for forming cases or sizing two different cases at once. Without Herters shell holders, an adapter is available from RCBS, C&H-4D, Huntington, etc., that will allow the the press to be used with standard shell holders.

The handle on the Herters is heavy and without a 'cam-over' feature, the handle lowers itself when released, some users and I think Herters installed a 'detent ball and spring' to allow the press to be used with the handle up and ram down, do not pick up a a Herters' press by the anvil (top), the fall of the handle will raise the ram pinning the hand between the anvil and ram.

RCBS is called 'Precision' the Herters shell holders are precision.

f. guffey