The Good The Bad The Ugly Heritage Rough Rider

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Xd45owner

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Hello Brothers & Sisters! I purchased a Heritage Rough Rider 22lr/22mag combo for my grandsons Christmas gift today. He is 16 years old and the gun will be for plinking and trips to the range. I was just wondering what are the good, the bad, and the ugly on these guns. thanks for any and all information concerning this revolver. Peace Merry Christmas!!!!
 
I like mine. I use it for pest control on the farm. It doesn’t have as smooth a trigger as my Ruger Single Six but I like the .22 magnum. It is a Jeep not a tank but it is s good knock around revolver.


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After putting a gazillion rounds through mine the sear notch on the hammer wore off, had to replace it. Still running. It's more accurate with magnum rounds except Maxi mags (tend to group poorly but standard magnums do well).
 
Well, the finish isn't that great and dislike the safety, but mine is accurate enough for plinking. Had the pawl spring break. Replaced with a spare. All I ever shot with it was .22LR. Lots of it. I don't shoot it much anymore as I have a nice Single-Six.
 
The one that I fired wouldn't hit the can on the fence post but at least it would hit the barn behind it.

I consider only one fact when I talk about accuracy. Is it accurate enough to kill the intended target at the normal distance? No, it wasn't. It's good for nothing bigger than a rabbit, right? it isn't accurate enough to hit a squirrel at even half the distance that you would normally get within.

It's a gun that is good for shooting cereal boxes at 70 feet or so. I believe that when you are trying to train a kid in the art of shooting, doing it with an inaccurate gun is going to defeat the purpose. If you can't shoot a small group, the best that the student can do is going to be really discouraging.
 
Serviceable Starter !!

The Good The Bad The Ugly Heritage Rough Rider
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I have been watching these for a number of years now and feel that the newer ones have improved. My point of reference are the Single-Six's and that is not a fair comparison nor will I start bashing the Heritages. For the price, they are a very serviceable starter. I know many folks who shoot and like them. I have two Trapper friends that prefer to take these, when running their lines. .... :)

One of these that has caught my attention, is the Bird's head model and I just may buy one if I see a good deal. ...... :cool:

Be Safe !!!
 
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16? He’s gonna love it. Mine is very accurate and is a joy to shoot. LGS had them with the single 22LR cylinder for 109... had to buy it.
 
I have two. Both with the combination cylinders. One is a 6 1/2" and the other a 3 5/8" "birds head" grip model. Both are quite accurate, although the 6 1/2" needed a little "old west" adjustment to the front sight to bring point of aim to point of impact.
The only complaint I have is the unnecessary, obnoxious safety. It doesn't belong on any revolver, and doubly so on a single action revolver.
He should be delighted with his Rough Rider. Like most 22's try several brands of ammo to find what shoots most accurately. In both of mine it is CCI standard velocity. Closely followed by Remington Golden Bullet.
 
I have the 6 1/2" 22lr only model. I really like it. I treated myself to it on Father's day as a an excuse to intro my kids to pistol shooting. It has been accurate since day 1. The frame is painted and cleaning solvents can take the finish off. Several screws worked loose on mine. I noticed before any were lost. Do your grandson a favor and loctite all the screws before you gift it to him.
 
Have had mine for ten years or so.

I got that same gun about ten years ago. Short range accuracy is good and the gun has held up well. I've not hunted with it, but have done a lot of plinking and target shooting. I think I only paid $129 for mine. Got it when I was first getting into shooting and it has become a range gun for the youngsters. The single action plus the safety make it a good teaching tool.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
I feel like with all the questions about Heritage I should just make a Youtube video and run down my experiences with them instead of spending 10 mins to explain. Oh well, I like guns and always like to reveal my Truth.

I don't have the .22 model, but I have the .32 H&R 3.5" with the birds head grip. It's built on the same size frame as the .22's and for the caliber and size, I like it. The trigger is nice, the gun feels good in the hand, it groups well. The only issue I have with it is the fixed sights are off... way off and I can't adjust them. It shoots high and to the left, so I have to do a 4:30 hold with it.

Your kin's experience may vary with the sights.

I think for the money, especially the .22 models, they're unbeatable. Would a Ruger be better? Yup, but how much are you willing to spend for the subjective concept of "better?"

I don't have an issue with the safety, some people hate it, but to keep the price as low as possible, Heritage couldn't put in the transfer bar safety. Does it make the gun look ugly? Yeah, sure, but I'm sure the same people who hate safety would then just bash the blue finish.

I just wish that Heritage would offer more models with adjustable sights as right now, only the 6.5 inch models are available with them. I'd like to see the 4 inch models and especially the 9.5 inch model offered with adjustables.
 
I have one that is quite accurate...or, at least, it is as accurate as I am. I have the adjustable sight model...it does very well.
 
I've owned/shot a couple of them. Always ended up selling them when some other bright shiny thing caught my eye, but they were pretty decent shooters. They actually remind me of a couple of Colt Frontier Scouts I've also owned. The Colts of course had better finish, but the basic gun seemed about the same to me. (Colt fans probably just spit whatever they were drinking all over the keyboard).

I didn't care about the safety. Use it you want to, or leave an empty chamber under the hammer. Your choice.
 
I have one, it is about ten years old now. It is the 6.5" model with fixed sights and has 22lr and 22 mag cylinders. For the price I think it's hard not to like them. The safety, yes it's a little silly but these are the times we live in. My only complaint is that while it groups pretty consistently, it consistently groups a bit high and left at 50 feet, but well within the range of adjustability if it were equipped with adjustable sights. I bought this one second hand from my brother, so I didn't make the choice. I would buy another if I found myself needing/or wanting another 22 wheelgun, but I would opt for adjustable sights.
 
I guess the appeal for these things (RRs) is that they are cheep. Otherwise, I'm not seeing the charm nor the purpose. No offense intended but I can think of a whole bunch of better gun related things I can do with $100 - $200.

Dave
 
I guess the appeal for these things (RRs) is that they are cheep. Otherwise, I'm not seeing the charm nor the purpose. No offense intended but I can think of a whole bunch of better gun related things I can do with $100 - $200.
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I said the same thing in another thread about these guns and was flamed for it. They work for some people but if I am going to spend money it will be on a higher quality gun. But thats just me. I hope this gun puts a big grin on the OPs grandsons face.
 
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