Anybody experience with the Heritage ROUGH RIDER 357 magnum (Pietta made) revolver?
I Need son info of durability and Quality of the Pietta made assembled in USA Heritage Rough Rider big bore 357 Magnum Revolvers.
Here quoted my comunication with Pietta Italy:
First part is Piettas answer and below my info request to them.
<<Sir
the main difference between Heritage Rough Rider and all our Single Action is just one: we do not assemble the Rough Rider but the materials are the same for all the guns.
You can shoot .357Mg or 38Sp without problem
Regards
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Subject: Richiesta informazioni da sito web
Corpo del messaggio:
Dear Pietta,
I just bought an Heritage Rough Rider 357 Magnum blued 5.5" Revolver (single Action). Heritage said the gun is made in Italy but assembled in the USA by Heritage. My question is now if it is the same Revolver as the 1873 Pietta Single Action Army Revolver or if there an Quality difference? On the Internet the Heritage 357 mag has mixed Reviews but the Cabelas model made by Pietta has very good Reviews. Is the Cabelas 1873 made by Pietta and the gun imported by Heritage the same gun? I plan to shoot 357 mag loads from the gun and do not know the material Quality of the gun. As well how does the Heritage gun described above compare to the Ruger Vaquero single Action 357 mag gun in Terms of Quality? Which kind of steel is used on the gun above? As Heritage told me it is not rated for +P ammo neigther 357 mag nor 38 Special. I believe in the good craftmnship of Italian manufacture but if you can Elaborate above questions and specially referr to Quality.>>
Has anybody experience with the Heritage (Pietta) Rough Rider 357 Magnum Revolvers? Quality, accuracy, durability, material strength, etc. And your opinion is much appreciated.
!!!Update on the Heritage (Pietta) Rough Rider 357 magnum SAA revolver!!!
!!!Update on the Heritage (Pietta) Rough Rider 357 magnum SAA revolver!!! nasty surprise.
Make sure to snug up all screws after a few cylinders of full powder factory ammo.
After I shot 21 rounds of 357 mag 110 grain Winchester (White box) hollow Point I suddenly realised something is wrong with the gun. I did not even get to shoot my 4 grain reloads.
I checked the gun and saw there something lodged between the hammer and Frame and realised it must be a screw or some gun part.
I decided to disassemble it and indeed that Piece turned out to be a spring Plunger retainer screw from the cylinder pin (that part you pull out in order to take out the cylinder). As well I detected 2 other Plungers lodged between hammer and Frame and at first did not know where they belonged to and how did it get there. I dissassembled the gun and saw as well one of the 2 screws of the trigger assembly was loose. That additional Plunger turned out (after lots of figuring) to be part of the cylinder Hand spring. The other Plunger was the safety bar push back. It's spring was still lodged in the cylinder pin as well as the spring of the cylinder Hand Plunger-pusher.
Luckily I did not loose any parts but almost the gun rendered useless because of loose and lost parts.
I assembled everything, put it in place and snug all up und till now nothing got loose (obviously I cant tell if the screws inside the trigger-frame are still snug.
Never the less the revolver shoots good. I do not blame Pietta or Heritage for this issue although they could have done some minor improovements on ingeneering the gun but I believe this loose screw issue is an inherent flaw of the 1873 Samuel Colt design. For the time it was an masterpiece of ingeneering but I can see how screw where lost all the time. Like you ride to another town and a few screw where missing form the gun.
Fiddeling all the time with a screwdriver is not the most pleasant but a must for These SAA design Revolvers (I had a modern design 22 lr Taurus who I never bothered with screws and it allways worked fine.
So each cleaning snug up screws is a must and you can just hope interior screws do not loose since putting together the main spring is a big hassle and the gun is easily marred since using a wise grip (even covert with heavy clothing) can damage the finish.
This design is not a mantainance free design nor to shoot and Forget about it (it is a high mantainance gun). And you better order a complete set of screws, Plungers and springs as well a grip assembly (in order you damage the finish from the wise grip) to have spare parts since there is a chance you loose any time all Kinds of screws, springs and Plungers.