Not very impressed with a heritage 22 revolver.

[jimb16]

They replaced a bad barrel on mine.

[Tazman1602]

Hey I bought one of these for $99 and a 22WMR cylinder for $35 + $35 for fitting. So now for $169 I have both and never have to worry about hurting it as I would a beloved Colt Frontier Scout that costs roughly 4-5 times that.

It's exactly what I wanted. A cheap truck gun and it goes bang every time. Not bad for what they are and we all know --- you get what you pay for, just know what your going to use it for.

I also have an Olympic AR that I paid $350 for, it rides in the truck every day and I don't worry about a thing....

Art

[fatelk]

My sons and I spent some time at the range this afternoon. I shot the little Rough Rider quite a bit, 12 six-shot groups at 10 yards. I shot some CCI SV, Aguila lead SV, Winchester T22, and some Federal Black Pack. Most of the groups were around one inch. A couple groups had fliers, but other than those the average for all the groups was about an inch. The groups vary in POI because I was changing my aim. It shoots a little high. All in all, this seems pretty good to me. I'm not the best shot around, and have trouble doing better than this with any handgun.

I didn't have any tumbling bullets at all this time. I don't understand the tumbling issue before. One thing I did notice is that if I cock the hammer slowly and am not careful to pull it completely back, it's possible to pull the trigger and drop the hammer without the cylinder being locked into position. It doesn't seem likely to me that that's what I was doing before, but I guess it's possible.

[Texas by God]

Looks like you got a good one, fatelk. Nicely regulated As well with the CCI sv that tumble like dice in mine.

[fatelk]

Funny thing is, there's been a couple times where it has slung shotgun patterns of tumbling bullets like yours. I was kind of hoping I could duplicate the problem today so I could try to figure it out.

[Traffer]

I think that if it starts throwing tumblers knock it against a fence post a few times. Maybe that'll clear it up.

[fatelk]

Texas, I had a thought while shooting at the range today. I have a silly question for you about your Rough Rider. Any chance the cylinder wasn't quite locking up completely when you were shooting it?

I was out again today, and took the little Rough Rider .22lr just because it really is a lot of fun to shoot. I shot two cylinders at a single target at 25 yards. 10 out of 12 were inside 1.5"; one round was another half-inch outside the group, and a flier took the whole group to 4". That's about as good as I can shoot with anything (with the exception of the flier).

I was fiddling with it a little, and found that if I very slowly and gently cocked the hammer, pulling it back only to where it would click but not all the way back hard, it would fire fine but the cylinder was not quite aligned and locked. I tried a cylinder full by gently cocking it like that, and ended up with an ugly, scattered group of oblong holes.

As I mentioned before, on a previous range trip I had a couple groups just like that, and couldn't figure it out because the tumbling magically stopped. I sure can't recall how I was gripping it and cocking the hammer, but my best theory is that I was focused on shooting accurately and must have cocked it insufficiently, then changed my grip a little and started doing it right.

It strikes me as a poor design to allow it to fire without being fully aligned and locked, but that's how it is on mine. Anyone else with a Rough Rider notice this?

Otherwise, it really is a lot of fun to shoot, kind of brings back the kid in me. I'd never had a single action .22lr before. I went through a couple hundred rounds. It will bust clay targets on the 25 yard berm every time. My son shot it too, but he's still learning pistols. He was also too busy shooting his new 10/22 that he got for his birthday. I figure that's a pretty good 13th birthday present.

[fatelk]

The more I read about single-action timing, the more I realize that mine is clearly out of time, although slightly. I haven't decided if it bothers me enough to try to figure out how to fix it, or if it really even needs fixing.

[Texas by God]

I'll dig it out and try again. I had literally filed it away in the filing cabinet I keep shop pistols in. Thanks for the tip.

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[Tackleberry41]

Well with a traditional forcing cone, timing is critical. The heritage one, it could be pretty far out of time, and the bullets still go down the barrel without shaving. Its more of a funnel than forcing cone.

[Traffer]

Well with a traditional forcing cone, timing is critical. The heritage one, it could be pretty far out of time, and the bullets still go down the barrel without shaving. Its more of a funnel than forcing cone.

That is an excellent observation. May as well call it the bore funnel. lol

[fatelk]

Well with a traditional forcing cone, timing is critical. The heritage one, it could be pretty far out of time, and the bullets still go down the barrel without shaving. Its more of a funnel than forcing cone.

That is true, but as I’ve found out, they don’t go down straight. To shoot accurately, timing is still critical. I’ve become convinced that the tumbling is a timing issue.

[lead-1]

I bought my son one several years back and it shot OK, wasn't disappointed for the cost. A couple years later he took it to the range and and after a couple cylinders it started throwing round all over the target and he said it don't feel right, I shot it and the same thing. After looking it over real close we noticed the barrel was loose, I searched the net for issues and found that the barrels are press fit. Yup, the rear part is knurled and pressed into the frame, most common fix seems to be to coat the barrel end with high strength lock-tite and press it back together. If I ever actually do fix it I will let the lock-tite set and then drill a hole for a cross pin to make it more permanent.

[Cloverdale]

For the price, did you really expect to be impressed with the Heritage...other than from a value standpoint? We have one that we are very pleased with considering what it costs...never had any issues and the accuracy is pretty decent.

[Texas by God]

I did a rough wax cast of the throat um, er, funnel. Shown with a .309" 113gr for reference. I've decided to see if I can fix it myself. Down the project road a bit. The barrel unscrewed very easily; I think the loctite was the only thing keeping it tight. The barrel stub is not pictured- I previously cut it down to snub nose size. It will finish up around 4-3/4".

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[Tackleberry41]

Probably only way to get a decent forcing cone, is to cut the barrel back and rethread. Be curious the results. I have a lathe, but not so good at cutting threads.

[Texas by God]

We'll see how it goes. I've other projects to attend to first. Best thing is only $100 worth of gun to mess up

[Tackleberry41]

Thick as the barrel is, wonder if a liner would be alot easier?

[fatelk]

OK, a little update for me. I have to eat a little crow, or at least revise my review of the Rough Rider revolver.

I bought it with low expectations. I bought it because it was a cheap gun to tinker with. I did not buy it instead of a quality gun. I knew the risk, so no big deal. I was surprised to find that it seemed to be a decent little gun, and a good value for the money.

I took it out again today to the range, and was surprised to see the front sight canted a little. I then realized that the barrel was loose in the frame! Once I removed the ejector rod housing, I could easily thread it completely off. I don't see any cracks or damage, it just came loose.

So, I looked up my receipt, and I bought the darn little thing brand new about 8 months ago. For curiosity sake, I called Heritage (actually Taurus) and they said that it was still under the one-year warranty, and all they needed was $50 for a shipping label. I told them no thanks, I'll fix it myself. From a quick online search, it appears that loose-barrel syndrome is common for these, and most people just clean, de-grease, and loc-tite the threads. I expect that should work fine and it will continue to be a good little plinker, but I'm not going to spend $50 to have them fix their own shoddy work.

I have to update my review from "Good value for the money" to "Shoddy, buy at your own risk".

[rfd]

geez, loose barrel - that's something to keep in mind and check for. thanx for the post!