Rough rider

Heritage isn’t a bad gun, but they have some serious weak points and are not nearly as durable as the ruger is. I have a single six, have had several heritage guns, and intend to buy more heritage guns to give to my kids as they get old enough to use them and be responsible. At a hundred bucks they aren’t bad at all, and they will outlast most folks who shoot 3-5 boxes of 22s a year. The worst thing about a heritage of recent production is the junky extractor bar. It has a injection molded plastic finger on it and they break easily. I swap them out with Ruger parts and they work well with a quick length adjustment and rounding of the freshly cut part, but the ruger part is less than $10 and the swap takes about 15 minutes total including the chop and round of the new part. Once that’s done the heritage is fine enough for plinking.

The Heritage is a decent gun for the money. As for the Taurus revolvers, I have never owned one. I've had 3 different gun shops locally talk me out of buying one, claiming that most that they have sold go back to the factory for repairs in fairly short order.

A Single-Six they ain't. There are reasons the RSS goes for three times or more the price.

I own a RSS and two HRRs. The Heritage guns are dandy little plinkers that look and feel pretty good in hand, and have a nice, four-clicking hammer. The goofy safety looks odd, but actually allows for dry-fire, should one feel so inclined.

Until the Wrangler came out, the HRR was the choice for an inexpensive, knock-around trail, trap, or bait-box gun, and (unlike the new Ruger), it can be swapped to shoot .22WMR as well.

There are those who report getting Heritage guns that shoot offside or too high or low, but there seems to be far more that feel their money got them what they wanted for it. I'm in that latter group.

The Ruger Single-Six is a gun for many generations and costs a lot more for that reason. The Rough Rider is an inexpensive plinker that does its job. I have two of the Rough Riders and enjoy the heck out of them. They are comfortable in the hand, make an excellent, and affordable, training tool for kids and newcomers, and are decently accurate. Will they handle tens of thousands of rounds like the Ruger? Don't know but they won't fall apart with average use.

I've had five Taurus revolvers and still have three of them. They are quite accurate and have been completely reliable. The criticism of Taurus and Heritage may have a slight basis in fact but I think most of it is snobbery. Just my opinion.

Jeff

Taurus owns and makes the Heritage Rough Riders and the Heritage Big Bores.

Have a Taurus 605 and rough rider. Grandkids love them, especially the magnum cylinder.

I don't have a Taurus or Ruger revolver, but I like the Rough Rider that I have. For the price I paid, it is a fun little gun. My nine year old likes it too.

The Heritage has been around a long time and for a vast majority of people is a perfectly fine cheap revolver. For people who want to shoot 5k rounds a year in their revolver you'd be better off with a Wrangler or a Single Six or other choice that is made with better materials.

I don't have a fondness for single actions revolvers with fixed sights, nor revolvers that are capable of holding 8 or 9 rounds, but only hold 6. Heritage makes a 9 shot revolver with adj sights and I bought it and have been pretty happy with it thus far.

The disdain for cheap guns on internet forums and among certain people who believe that their money should only be spent on the absolute best because it will last 150 years is largely based on ego and hubris. Everyone likes feeling like they're smarter/better than someone else and I'm not saying that the cheapest guns are the only ones people should buy, there's a time and a place for more expensive guns, but to say the Heritage is not worthy of owning because it's the only revolver out there with a very visible safety and that takes away from the aesthetics is silly or because it can't last 150 years due to the soft steel barrel and cylinder and zamak frame.

Even if you did want to shoot many thousands of rounds from your Heritage until something fails it's not like it's going to cost an arm and a leg to replace it.

That said, if Ruger did make a Wrangler that had a longer barrel, a 9 shot cylinder, and adj sights and didn't cost considerably more than what I paid for the Heritage, I would have bought the Ruger. Things being what they are now, I wouldn't buy a fixed sight Heritage or Wrangler and I refuse to pay $600 for a Single Ten.

Blkhrt13 said:

I just figured at a hundred dollars a piece. Buying us both one for woods guns and something to teach her how to shoot with I couldn’t fail really.

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I’m pretty sure Taurus USA will honor the warranty on rough riders bought used. Don’t hold me to that but I have heard good things.

I've got one for ten yards it's a nice woods gun. It realistically gets shot more than anything else, it's been knocked off the porch about four feet on to a cinder block and has a kiss in the heel of the grip and a mark on the barrel to show for it. The housing assembly for the ejector rod has worked a little loose I'll have to get a screwdriver and tighten it up but other than that it still goes well enough to where I point it and eats everything I can fit in the cylinder. So I don't think you made a bad decision by any stretch of the imagination.

I have been thinking about getting the Magnum cylinder but haven't yet and I would like a bird's head to keep around as a pocket gun. The materials are a bit nicer than most people give it credit for. A lot of the parts most people claim are plastic are actually mim. The tab to push the ejection rod is plastic but knock on wood I haven't broken mine yet, and while the machining is a bit rough the Barrel and cylinder are more than adequate for the job at hand.

There not museum pieces but for plinking and pest control they are excellent bang for the buck

If I posted it once I've posted it a dozen times....
I have 4 HRRs and love them.
I also have a Single Six and a Wrangler. Love them too.
As long as you get what you expected for the price you paid it's a great value. If you get better than you expected it's a great deal.

Blkhrt13 said:

Pretty sure I got a deal for what I paid and I expect they will do fair work for what they are for.

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I'm sure they they will too. I bought 2 for my grandkids and they love shooting them. I usually will grab one before most other guns if I'm short on time but want to do some shooting on the back yard range.
The 6.5 inch model I bought in 1993 is still going strong.

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I have both a Single Six and an HRR. The Ruger is 3x the money but isn't nearly 3x the shooter IME. Its wood and metal look nicer, its action is smoother, but when it comes down to putting bullets on target, I don't see much difference between the two.

If I was going to drop big money on a 22 revolver, it wouldn't be for a Single Six, it'd be a 617.

I finally bought a HRR bird’s head model because I gave up on ever finding a single six in that configuration. It’s no where near the quality of the old single six I have owned most of my adult life but it shoots pretty good. I was ringing an eight inch gong consistently at 25 yards with it last Saturday using cheap federal bulk pack ammo. Not too shabby for that short barrel and 82 year old eyes. I can live with the plastic button on the extractor rod and if it ever breaks
I will fix it with a metal button some how, probably like has already been mentioned. The one annoyance I have with it is the loading gate. The slightest touch when reloading make it flip shut. Small beans but it’s still annoying. I may also remove the safety and whittle out an aluminum plug to glue in to fill the hole.

What I would like to know is where all these hundred buck Heritages are to be found. I have never in my life seen one that cheap.

I've never seen them for $100.00 either. More like $170.00 to $180.00. I have the old three screw Single SIx. I bought it for $69.95 NIB with the .22 Magnum cylinder.

I carry a Heritage 3inch birds head grip in my tackle box with some snake loads and regular LR hollow points. It's cheap, and if I lose it I'm out a $100, but it gives me a firearm for those slithering devils and something if I have to have it against the two legged devils, better than nothing.

hrr serves as a decent enough stash gun, trainer or weekend plinker. it is cheap enough so that if it goes astray you won’t shed many tears or, if finances become tight it’s not worth much, so you will keep it and always be armed. mine has shot okay enough, but watch to keep its screws tightened.

there is very much to be said in favor of getting a $120 hrr as a first time plinker, but knowing what i know now and how much i enjoy shooting rimfire, if i were looking to buy my first inexpensive 22lr handgun now i would try to save up more of my pennies to get a $190 ruger wrangler. i just wish that ruger would offer its wrangler with an 8 shot cylinder and in a slightly lighter/downsized version with a 3.5” barrel.

Heritage was bought out by Taurus. I do not think there was anything concerning any new changing in the actual manufacturing. I did read somewhere that Heritage has sold millions of these Plinkers and they seem to have done a good jot with making them and obviously have it down. Certainly not a first run gun. I have enjoyed mine for years. For the price paid, just a really good deal. When I first received mine, I really did not expect much do to the low cost. I have to say I was and have been pleasantly surprised. If I were in the market for a new one, I would get the Heritage.

Heritage at a Farm & Fleet $189.00 today.

Has anyone tried the Taylor Cattleman? They are expensive, but 12-shot cylinder looks interesting.

I’d like to shoot one at the range, look over at the guy next to me shooting a G44, and say to him, “I thought about getting into semi-autos, but I’m not willing to compromise on ammo capacity.”