Heritage Rough Rider .22 LR and .22 WMR Combo

[turnbub]

I bought one of these just under two years ago.
I have a 9mm, so this was just for "fun." I shot perhaps a box (50) of .22LR and less than a box of the magnums as they are more expensive.

Last December, i noticed it shooting LEFT. Not being a great shot I had the rangemaster come in and try it - he IS a great shot, and to be sure he steadied his hand on the counter. He was glad to help as he always is, and also as he sold me the gun. It was shooting left - about 3" at 20 feet.

He suggested sending it back to Heritage, which I did; as the warranty period is only one year they charged me $50 just to look at it! After about 10 weeks, still not having heard from them I messaged them, and after 3 more days they got back and said "the firearm frame is out of specs."

They also said "We are offering you another firearm off our website at a discounted price since this firearm is out of warranty. If you would like the same model as you had the cost would be $150.35. Or you can get the original firearm back as is. " This is very distressing as I've never known a gun to "warp," and I never dropped or abused it.

So, if you want a cheap revolver to take out in the woods with you, for plinking or varmint shooting this one might be OK.
There have been those who have bought one of these and had good success with it; I HAVE NOT, and do NOT recommend this revolver.

[Aguila Blanca]

I have never recommended or even suggested a Heritage revolver to anyone. IMHO they're junk. And let's face it, a gun that shoots 3 inches off the point-of-aim at 20 feet isn't going to be much fun as a plinker (not even minute of soda can) and is useless as a woods gun.

At that price point, the Ruger Wrangler is a much better deal. I'm fortunate enough to have bought a Ruger Super Single Six Convertible a couple of decades ago, so I'm set in the rimfire revolver department.

[44 AMP]

Buy Quality, pay once
Buy Cheap, pay OFTEN.....

Just to be clear, was the $50 the cost to ship the gun back to them, or was it an additional charge on top of shipping??

An "out of spec frame" on a .22? Well, at least they won't claim it was your reloads, that did it,,,,

The bad frame is almost certainly a factory defect. The sad part is you didn't notice anything wrong within their 1 year warranty period. Since they are not going to cover the repair as warranty work, how kind of them to offer you a discount on the purchase of a replacement. TO me that's just a way to try and scam you out of more money for their crappy products.

Sorry you got burnt, thank you for letting us know the level of customer service and care they give. Even if they made something that appeals to me, (they don't) I wouldn't do business with people that "cheap" where customer satisfaction is concerned.

I bought a Ruger Super Single Six convertible back in 83. Adjustable sights, 6" barrel, magnum cylinder (which I haven't used in decades) its a very fine gun, better than some I've seen with Colt's name on them.

[44caliberkid]

When Heritage first debuted, my son bought one at a gun show. I can’t recall the problem but he immediately took it back to the show to return it and the dealer wouldn’t refund it or take returns. So it has been sitting on his garage work bench ever since, accumulating rust, and he occasionally uses it for a hammer.
Since then they were bought by Taurus. Last year I bought a Tactical Cowboy model, picatinny rail, threaded barrel and fake carbon fiber grips. I put an AR mini cage flash hider on it. I think of it as a joke, to entertain guys at the range. Haven’t really shot it much.
I also have a Ruger Single Six convertible and a Colt New Frontier convertible for serious .22 shooting.

[rclark]

I have a Rough Rider. Shot it enough to break the pawl spring, and replaced it. I found it worked just fine for 'what it is' . My goto of course is the Single Six, but for a plinker my RR shoots well enough. I never used the mag cylinder. didn't really thing the pop metal frame was up to it. Here is an off-hand 15Y target I shot years ago now as an example. Good enough for pop-can shooting and bit more. Only thing that I 'really' don't like is the safety as it is 'ugly' sticking up there.

That said if you can afford it, go for a Ruger Single Six. Lifetime(s) of use.

[DaleA]

I'd suggest anybody looking at a Heritage Rough Rider or Ruger Wrangler take a look at the Ruger Super Wrangler. It's a heavier gun, (Wrangler=30 ounces, Super Wrangler=37 ounces), has adjustable sights, comes with both a .22LR and .22 WMR cylinder and, to me, just feels better in the hand.

Disclosure: I pretty much like everything Ruger produces.

https://ruger.com/products/superWrangler/models.html

https://www.scheels.com/p/ruger-supe...=en_US&start=1

[Aguila Blanca]

The Super Wrangler must be fairly new -- I haven't seen it before.

My guess is that the extra weight is due to the longer barrel and the adjustable sights. Both are good features, but I don't think it adds to the strength of the frame.

[rclark]

Actually the Super Wranger has a steel frame. The Wrangler has an Aluminum Alloy frame. To bad the Super is finished in Cerakote though as otherwise it might be a nice revolver. Introduced in 2023.

[FrankenMauser]

My Rough Rider would not function, right out of the box. Rather than have Heritage take weeks (or months) to fix it and send it back just as broken, but in different ways, I stoned, filed, polished, and broke it in myself. All by hand, all before live-fire.
I probably cycled that thing over 5k times before I fired a round.

It had maybe 200 rounds of .22 LR and maybe 30 rounds of .22 WMR through it when the front sight canted to the right.
Upon close inspection, it was obvious that the barrel had unscrewed. I disassembled it for a deeper inspection and found it still safe to shoot.
But the barrel, turned in by hand, would over-rotate and clock too far. No tools. No craziness. Just turning the barrel in by hand, it would rotate beyond 12 o'clock before it snugged up.

I had only owned it for about 5 months.

The frames are so soft that the screw threads, and apparently barrel threads, can be stripped or stretched with normal use.

I recently (like 5 months ago) bought one of the Traditions "Rawhide" .22 LR SAA "clones". I knew to expect disappointment when I bought it, even for $125. But even I did not expect the barrel and cylinder to start spitting out their liners within 50 rounds; or for the cylinder stop to fail.
It is just as bad, if not worse, than the Heritage guns. So much garbage on the market today.

Ruger Wrangler is a much better option. (Which I have also owned since the week Ruger announced them.)

[FrankenMauser]

I'd suggest anybody looking at a Heritage Rough Rider or Ruger Wrangler take a look at the Ruger Super Wrangler. It's a heavier gun, (Wrangler=30 ounces, Super Wrangler=37 ounces), has adjustable sights, comes with both a .22LR and .22 WMR cylinder and, to me, just feels better in the hand.

Disclosure: I pretty much like everything Ruger produces.

I wouldn't buy one without determining which barrel Ruger is using for them.
My biggest reason for not owning Ruger Single-series rimfires is the .224" groove diameter used by default, because of the convertible variants.
Ruger did so because of the .224" nominal groove diameter of .22 WMR, which makes .22 LR performance suffer.

Supposedly, however, the basic Wrangler uses .222" barrels. Performance of mine has been extremely good, so I have no reason to doubt it.

I don't want to gamble on groove diameter in a Super Wrangler, unless it is meant to only be used for .22 WMR.

[Pumpkin]

That goofy safety is enough for me to stay clear of a Heritage.
Looks like aluminum is superior to zinc in gun applications, who’d a thunk that!
I would definitely go with the Wrangler, can’t wrap my head around Single Six prices.

[wild cat mccane]

So if you bought with your credit card, your credit card *probably* has a warranty extension coverage.

I would file a claim on the purchase. It's very likely you get the purchase back 100% given you have written correspondence, they currently hold the gun, and your email from this is usually all that is required.

While you got a bad one and the money probably isn't the issue, I still think they are solid buys for the fun department when you know they are going to be garbage eventually.

Good luck!

[rock185]

turnbub, that Heritage outfit sounds like a fine organization; only $150.35. Isn't that about what a new one costs without any "help" from Heritage?

[DaleA]

rclark and FrankenMauser--thanks for posting.

I'm not found of the finish on the Super Wrangler either but that's a personal thing, some folk are fine with it. I REALLY do not like the silver and bronze finishes but again, that's just me.

Thanks for the info on the Super Wrangler frame. IIRC the Ruger Wrangler couldn't be sold in my state (Minnesota) when it first came out because of some regulation about the materials used. The Super Wrangler is just fine in MN and I'm pretty sure the Ruger Wrangler would actually have been just fine too. But it's just my opinion on the Wrangler...I don't have any evidence to back it up but I am a firm believer in Ruger making quality products.

Good information about the barrel. I'd probably shoot .22LR almost exclusively instead of .22 WMR and I'd be disappointed if the .22 LR accuracy suffered for the option of shooting .22 WMR.

This site has always impressed me with the amount of technical information one can obtain. Thanks rclark and FrankenMauser again.

[stagpanther]

My heritage rough rider came with a bent front blade--I'm cool with that since I figure it was meant to compensate for a bent frame or bent barrel.

[Forte S+W]

Granted that Heritage Arms Rough Riders obviously aren't the highest quality pieces around, I can't help but feel just a wee bit skeptical when someone signs up on a forum just to post a one-off negative review, never to return or leave any further comments in the thread.

[Ricklin]

One should accept a soft Zamak frame in a buck fifty revolver, that's taking 4 friends to lunch these days.

[DT Guy]

I have a Wrangler that increases the terminal effectiveness of the .22LR by launching them sideways at the target. .22 caliber? Hah, more like .50 caliber!

Of course, anything within a couple feet of the target is fair game beyond 20 feet, since those little buggers aren't too stable flying sideways.

Larry

[FrankenMauser]

One should accept a soft Zamak frame in a buck fifty revolver, that's taking 4 friends to lunch these days.

They start at about $130 now. Most people are paying $150+.

I have a Wrangler that increases the terminal effectiveness of the .22LR by launching them sideways at the target. .22 caliber? Hah, more like .50 caliber!

Of course, anything within a couple feet of the target is fair game beyond 20 feet, since those little buggers aren't too stable flying sideways.

Why haven't you gotten it repaired?

[DT Guy]

Frankly, laziness. I've purchased four Rugers (though I'm not generally a fan) in the past couple years, and two have visited the mothership; this one needs to.

Then, I've heard of folks getting Wranglers back with a test targe showing clean bullet holes and 'no problem found', so that's a bit off-putting.

Larry

[Cirdan]

I have a Rough Rider. To be honest, I bought it because I had 1,000 rounds of 22 LR that wouldn't cycle in my Colt 22 1911 (actually manufactured by Walther).

Mine was dead on out of the box and has been incredibly accurate. Surprising for such a cheap gun.

[Hawg]

Originally Posted by Ricklin

One should accept a soft Zamak frame in a buck fifty revolver, that's taking 4 friends to lunch these days.

Zamak isn't soft nor is it weak. It does have a low melting point but unless you're going to work on it with a blowtorch it's good to go.

[TruthTellers]

I use to defend Heritage when the Wrangler came out as I figured Ruger was putting in a low effort just to snag market share from Heritage and sell their cheap SAA .22 clone at $100 more simply because they put Ruger on the side of the gun.

I never really considered Heritage's warranty or customer service, but asking someone to buy a revolver twice and the replacement comes with the same 1 yr warranty doesn't sit well with me.

The Super Wrangler existing now and with adjustable sights and Ruger usually doing any and all repair work for free, I'd take that over buying two Heritage's. While Heritage has adjustable sight models the extra $100 for the Ruger is basically insurance in the event something is off and it will last a lot longer than 1 year.

[Prof Young]

Revolver Shooters:
I've had a heritage 22lr/magnum for going on ten plus years. I've taught a bunch of people how to shoot with it as a single action 22 is a good safe place for beginners to start in handgun shooting. I've never noticed an accuracy problem but then the circumstances have not called for great accuracy. Overall it's been a pretty good little gun. But yeah, you get what you pay for.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[The Happy kaboomer]

Buy cheap junk...........Expect problems.