FrankenMauser
New member
I have never been a fan of the Rough Rider.
Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. (And that stupid, ugly, useless, frame-damaging "safety".)
They're just cheap. They have nothing else going for them.
Just today, I learned that the cylinders are 12L14 steel. For those unaware, that means they are free-machining steel that cannot be hardened or tempered. Good enough for .22 LR, sure. But cheap.
Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap.
I bought one to put my money where my mouth was. And for the jokes.
(I bought three, actually. But that is another story, with very, very few rounds fired.)
Here we are, two months out of warranty, and I found the barrel turning by hand. And I really don't think this thing has seen even 150 rounds.
If the "sights" are aligned, the barrel is loose.
If I tighten the barrel (just a bit past snug) by hand, it is over-clocked and the sights are WAY off.
I submitted a support ticket with some polite but colorful language and sarcastic questions. They emailed for clarification (likely due to sarcasm). They want me to pay for shipping and repairs.**
So, that seems to be shipping and a new frame. I don't know what they want for a new frame (they didn't quote a price), but if it is a price represented by MSRP on complete revolvers, I'll be money ahead by just buying something locally for a frame or replacement.
I am looking at well over $100**, just to send it off for Heritage to charge me for a frame (or more?).
When I bought it, the hammer stuck between half and full cock. It was incapable of firing. The trigger felt like a shovel scraping gravel off of a jagged granite rock face covered in horse dung. The hammer bound up in the frame. The main spring turned out to be too weak (required replacement). The trigger drug on the frame. Two of the screws had stripped heads. And the base pin lock assembly did not actually hold the base pin.
(I had to order this model, as there weren't any in local shops. Otherwise, I would not have bought it.)
It could not be fired when I took possession. But I am an idiot and refuse to let a cheap gun beat me. So, I fixed it.
I had over 14 hours of filing, stoning, and polishing; time and money in main spring, screw, and base pin lock assembly replacement; and well over 1,000 cycles on the action (with spent hulls as snap caps) before it functioned well enough for me to even fire it.
A year later, it has literally shot itself so loose that the barrel is turning by hand.
My mouth is now where my money is.
They are garbage. They will always be garbage.
Rough Riders are garbage.
**Shipping a firearm where I live is not easy. Handguns are massively worse. This is not Heritage's/Taurus's problem from a customer service or business standpoint, so I don't blame them. But it is stupidly expensive for me. We lost our customer service counters for Fedex and UPS several years ago, because we are rural cowpokes and "don't deserve" the finer shipping services that city folk have available. I have to schedule a pickup at my home and be there, waiting for the driver to arrive. On top of already expensive shipping, that is a $38 charge for pickup. (Yes, $38, just for a home pickup.) And I have to waste my day by waiting for the driver to show.
Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. (And that stupid, ugly, useless, frame-damaging "safety".)
They're just cheap. They have nothing else going for them.
Just today, I learned that the cylinders are 12L14 steel. For those unaware, that means they are free-machining steel that cannot be hardened or tempered. Good enough for .22 LR, sure. But cheap.
Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap.
I bought one to put my money where my mouth was. And for the jokes.
(I bought three, actually. But that is another story, with very, very few rounds fired.)
Here we are, two months out of warranty, and I found the barrel turning by hand. And I really don't think this thing has seen even 150 rounds.
If the "sights" are aligned, the barrel is loose.
If I tighten the barrel (just a bit past snug) by hand, it is over-clocked and the sights are WAY off.
I submitted a support ticket with some polite but colorful language and sarcastic questions. They emailed for clarification (likely due to sarcasm). They want me to pay for shipping and repairs.**
So, that seems to be shipping and a new frame. I don't know what they want for a new frame (they didn't quote a price), but if it is a price represented by MSRP on complete revolvers, I'll be money ahead by just buying something locally for a frame or replacement.
I am looking at well over $100**, just to send it off for Heritage to charge me for a frame (or more?).
When I bought it, the hammer stuck between half and full cock. It was incapable of firing. The trigger felt like a shovel scraping gravel off of a jagged granite rock face covered in horse dung. The hammer bound up in the frame. The main spring turned out to be too weak (required replacement). The trigger drug on the frame. Two of the screws had stripped heads. And the base pin lock assembly did not actually hold the base pin.
(I had to order this model, as there weren't any in local shops. Otherwise, I would not have bought it.)
It could not be fired when I took possession. But I am an idiot and refuse to let a cheap gun beat me. So, I fixed it.
I had over 14 hours of filing, stoning, and polishing; time and money in main spring, screw, and base pin lock assembly replacement; and well over 1,000 cycles on the action (with spent hulls as snap caps) before it functioned well enough for me to even fire it.
A year later, it has literally shot itself so loose that the barrel is turning by hand.
My mouth is now where my money is.
They are garbage. They will always be garbage.
Rough Riders are garbage.
**Shipping a firearm where I live is not easy. Handguns are massively worse. This is not Heritage's/Taurus's problem from a customer service or business standpoint, so I don't blame them. But it is stupidly expensive for me. We lost our customer service counters for Fedex and UPS several years ago, because we are rural cowpokes and "don't deserve" the finer shipping services that city folk have available. I have to schedule a pickup at my home and be there, waiting for the driver to arrive. On top of already expensive shipping, that is a $38 charge for pickup. (Yes, $38, just for a home pickup.) And I have to waste my day by waiting for the driver to show.