George Herter was a character, to say the least. He made a living making and selling things he liked, and while eccentric at times, many of his wares were quite good. By his own estimation, everything he made was the Best Thing Ever. I’ve seen the old catalogs, and some of the claims are hilarious.
Hyperbole aside, I have some of his 6.5×55 ammunition, and it’s very accurate. Some folks think he used Norma components. By all accounts, his ammunition was good stuff. He was also known for developing some interesting wildcat cartridges.
His company went out of business years ago, so I was quite surprised to see people showing up to the range recently with newly-minted pistol ammunition bearing the Herter’s name and crest. More sobering have been the two catastrophic failures I’ve seen it cause.
This newer ammunition is not made by G.L. Herter or anyone associated with him. Apparently, an Indonesian company purchased the trademark, and it is being distributed by Cabela’s. It’s Russian polymer-coated, steel case Tula surplus. Some of the casings are headstamped Wolf.
The failures I’ve seen include an overpressure rupture in a Ruger LCP that cracked the frame and feed ramp, and one that burst the floorplate and cracked the magazine release on a Springfield 1911.
I really can’t caution enough against using this in western (as in NATO, not as in Wyatt Earp) firearms. It burns dirty, the steel casings can cause premature wear on extractors, and despite the change from laquer to a polymer coating, gunk on the spent casings still causes them to stick in the chamber from time to time.
These problems seem far less common in loosely-fitted guns such as the AKM and SKS variants, and many people shoot them without issue in the Mini-14. On the other hand, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to crack open an AR-15 for someone and pound out an intractable case.
If you want to risk a good gun with suspect ammunition, be my guest. Free country and all. If it’s to be a working gun, however, I don’t see a 10% price premium to be worth the gamble.