As to Taurus buying Heritage: my suspicion is, what they really wanted is the contract with Pietta for the centerfire guns. See, a Pietta with a transfer bar is basically the same gun as the now-discontinued Taurus Gaucho - same size, heft, handling, transfer bar safety, etc. But without the Gaucho's horrific quality control issues!
If I was a Taurus manager, I'd get on the horn with Pietta and work out a deal where the Pietta parts go to Taurus' Miami shop and get turned into the "Gaucho II" or something under the Taurus brand name, while the core Heritage shop gets re-directed back to the rimfire-size-frame guns that they designed and do quite well with for a budget piece.
This would be a solid deal for Pietta - they need some way to answer the Uberti/Beretta Stampede and could do so with Taurus' marketing muscle behind the guns. And it would give Taurus a new "Gaucho" that would have nothing to do with Brazil. Taurus would be closer to having a "one stop shop" for SASS/CAS guys with the Rossi levers and the "Pietta Gaucho".
Taurus should also work with Pietta to expand this "Pietta Gaucho" line to include Thunderer/Lightning type grip frames and the Pietta "Alchemista" grip frame which is Pietta's answer to the SuperBlackhawk oversize grip frame designed for the huge hands of European SASS competitor "Alchemista" - otherwise known as Pietta's CEO...