Hertiage Rough Ryder .45 Colt

B

Bob Wright

New member
In reading the review of the Heritage Rough Rider centerfire Single Action, I'm a little puzzled. This in the Summer 2014 edition of Guns of the Old West.

The article states the gun has the transfer bar safety action, and photos show the gun to be a three screw model. The article states that "Opening the loading gate makes loading live rounds and extracting empties easy." And a photo shows the loading gate open with the hammer down. This leads me to believe the gun loads like New Model Rugers, i.e., opening the loading gate releases the cylinder for loading.

Also of note is the warning on the barrel "Keep an empty chamber under the hammer.


Anybody examined/have one of these to clarify?

The gun is manufactured in Italy and assembled in the United States, and got a good review per the finish.

Bob Wright
 
I have a 4 3/4 blued in .45 Colt. You have to pull to half-cock to index the cylinder to load/unload, and it does indeed have a transfer bar. No pin on hammer. It is a traditional safety advise to load one, skip one, and load 4 to have an empty chamber under the hammer.
 
medic15al: After posting this on four different forums, you are the first to give me a direct answer to my questions. For this I thank you very much!

Bob Wright
 
The guns, design and barrel markings are all from Pietta. Heritage was the only source for transfer-bar Piettas until recently; now I think they can be had elsewhere, last I heard.

I suspect the barrels are the same for the transfer-bar and non-transfer-bar guns and are hence marked "five up only!" on both! But the transfer bar variety are in fact safe six-up.

Also, the whole "three screw versus two" is a RUGER design issue only. It's perfectly feasible to make a three-screw transfer bar gun and that's what Pietta did.

The only reason I would prefer a Ruger over this Pietta is that I know there's a lot more aftermarket parts support (grips, grip frames, hammers, spring kits, etc.) for a Ruger than anything from Italy. Ruger's quality control of late has been quite good but Pietta knows how to make a decent gun too. Exactly which one is "better out of the box" I don't know; I *suspect* Ruger has the edge but it may not be huge if it exists at all.

Also: Heritage is now owned by Taurus and if we're very unlucky, Heritage's support functions will be taken over by Taurus to save money (one service/call center instead of two) and that wouldn't be good for Heritage owners.

Upshot: I would buy a Ruger, but if the Heritage/Pietta is a LOT cheaper ($100 or more difference) I might be tempted, unless you're a "gun modder" in which case it's Ruger hands down.

Of course, I say that having built and carry the most radically modified single action Ruger ever:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/03/03/maurice-frankenruger-magazine-fed-revolver/

...so my bias is showing in that area :).
 
Jim March said:
Also, the whole "three screw versus two" is a RUGER design issue only. It's perfectly feasible to make a three-screw transfer bar gun and that's what Pietta did.
Click to expand...

I had gathered from the article that the gun was in fact a three screw design, and that it had a transfer bar. My question from reading the article was whether the gun had to be placed at half cock to free the cylinder, or whether opening the loading gate did that function.

As I said, all photos showed the hammer down, and no mention of hammer position was mentioned.

Bob Wright
 
Well, to summarize what I've learned form my quest, the Heritage Rough Rider is a three-screw revolver with transfer bar. It needs to be placed at half cock for loading/ejecting.

It shares these features with the Colt Cowboy and Berretta Stampede.

And Beretta is Uberti, and Heritage is Pieta/Tarus.

Whew!

Bob Wright
 
You are very welcome Mr. Wright!!!


Confusing ain't it? :D

I believe Pietta also puts a transfer bar model in the "Traditions" line if I recall an article correctly. Seems I saw it on Duelist1954/Mike Belleview video.
 
Is Armi San Marcos (the third Italian clone maker) still making copies of the SAA? If so, who is selling them, under what name(s), and how do they compare in price and quality to Uberti and Pietta?
 
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