What do y'all think: RG 14s .22lr wheelgun

RG firearms are poorly made from what I've seen. I have an RG Derringer in .38 Special I bought that on second thought I should have passed on. I'm a little afraid to shoot it because of what it's made of. (some kind if cast white metal)

It probably is but whatever it is, it's scary!

It's the holster that's worth $45. The pistol is thrown in for free.

I have a RG 22lr with ~1.5 barrel.

My mom bought it new over 30 yrs ago. She only shot it 1-2 times. She said it was load enough to scare anyone away. LOL

I have shot under 200 rounds through it... probably a lot closer to 100 rounds.

Its sloppy. Considering how few rounds have been shot through it... its very sloppy. Im referring to mechanically sloppy.


Now that I got the firing pin assy to quit backing out causing light strikes... it shoots all 6 now.

How bad can it be? Based on my 1st hand knowledge with one that was bought new and know the exact history of it.... I wouldnt buy it unless I could handle it 1st.

They are one of the most poorly made .22 wheel guns there is, IMO. I suppose they are safe to shoot, but all the ones I have seen appear not much better made than a diecap buster from the old days.

i carried an rg-23 for years and shot hundreds of rounds through it flawlessly. best "cheep" gun iive ever owned.

Heck, even if it IS an impulse purchase, how bad could it be?

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Well, it could be pretty darn bad.

If you want to spend $45 on a headache, go buy a bottle of good whiskey.

I'd buy it. If anything for a project gun, and that holster might be all right. You can barely buy a box of 44 shell for that any more.
About 6 months ago I bought a Llama 38 for $90 and it looked worse than that. Cleaned it up, and it shoots like a champ. Come on, take pity on the little guy and give it a home .

I see them get scarfed up pretty quickly these days. I think their reputation as "the worst" piques peoples curiosity and for $45 dollars, it's a conversation piece. Maybe it's the new hipster gun - Pabst Blue Ribbon in one hand and a RG in the other. Maybe people just want to see how bad a cheap gun is. I dunno. I always promised I'd try one if it came along local, but as I said, they seem to go quick.

I have owned three of them. Two were ok mechanically but not very accurate and the third was ugly as sin but decently accurate. I never paid more than 40 bucks for any of them and one was new in the box.

I normally try to always be fair and look to the positives as much as I can on guns I've owned or shot, but I have never had any good experience with an RG .22 revolver.

One of the few brands that I truly consider "junk".

danez71 said:

I have a RG 22lr with ~1.5 barrel.

My mom bought it new over 30 yrs ago. She only shot it 1-2 times. She said it was load enough to scare anyone away. LOL

I have shot under 200 rounds through it... probably a lot closer to 100 rounds.

Its sloppy. Considering how few rounds have been shot through it... its very sloppy. Im referring to mechanically sloppy.


Now that I got the firing pin assy to quit backing out causing light strikes... it shoots all 6 now.

How bad can it be? Based on my 1st hand knowledge with one that was bought new and know the exact history of it.... I wouldnt buy it unless I could handle it 1st.

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Yes... I quoted myself.

Thinking about it more, Ive probably put around 200 rounds through it.

Once I fixed the firing pin issue... its been 100% reliable.

Its still sloppy... very sloppy for only 200 rounds. But thinking about it... it was darn sloppy at <50 rounds so I cant really say its wearing fast. I can just say its sloppy.

Would I spend $40 with out handling it 1st? In this economy, No.

Would I sell mine for $40? No. For 2 reasons.
1) Its mom's.
2) It worth more than $40 to me even if it wasnt mom's.

An rg was and is my sons first and only handgun. His is the saa version. I bought it used so im not sure of it's previous history but since he got it it's fired several thousand rounds. I keep a 550 box of rounds in the truck and also a small box in the glove box BECAUSE every time I go for the 550 pack it's gone.

It has broke the plunger to extract shells.

You'll spend more than 45 bux on a date or taking the wife to supper. It's worth 40 bux in decent condition. They all have flaked paint. I paid 60 for the first one, my sons. I have a couple others. Good tool box/shed/fishing/learning guns. They work but ain't pretty and won't last. But they do last good enough for 40 bux

Was it one of those junkers that John Hinckly used in his attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan?

I had one of these for a short time. Every time I fired it I would get "splashed" with lead shaving because none of the cylinders lined up properly with the barrel. The cylinder was loose and barely locked up at all. Much of the time it would give light strikes. After frustrating myself for almost a month messing with it attempting to get some kind of reliability out of it, I sold it for $25. I'd pass it up.

Back when I was a much younger man, and even broker than I am now, I desperately wanted an RG, 22 pistol. They had the one essential quality I absolutly HAD to have in a handgun...they were cheap. About $29.95 if I remember correctly.

Alas, I didn't have $29.95 for one. I've said over and over that I was going to buy one, one of these days just for grins and giggles. Would I spend $40.00 on one?

You bet your bippy.

But I gotta have the box and papers...

I have one (not a Model 14 but a .22 short RG) that I carried as a trapline gun for many years putting many rounds down the tube. It never failed,was short distance accurate(I killed a bobcat with it @ 20ft) and is still in time. I think this brand,moreso than any other,has to be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Rohm guns (RG) are the original Saturday Night Special. I remember these from the 1960's, when you could buy one of these for about $20. They were the basis for the argument that even poor folks have a need to protect themselves, and while that's true, I wouldn't want to have to base my life on an RG.

Would I pay $45 for one? Maybe, if I had every bill paid up and enough food on the table, and that $45 was really burning a hole in my pocket. But personally, I'd probably pass on it unless you just wanted it for a conversation piece. Then I think I'd sit it on a shelf and not shoot it.

Quality on the RG's had been ahhhhhh "spotty" at best.

I had a 2" barrel version of that .22 in your post, and i could not hit a 9" paper plate a 2yards...you read that right 2 yards...6 feet. It also sent more lead sideways than down range.

Now, to be fair, I have a .38Spl RG that is a decent shooter, doesn't spit lead sideways, and actully puts the lead where you point. Yours could be decent, a real gem, or a steaming pile of . . . . or anywhere in between.

My dad had an RG single action, it spit lead out the sides but I watched him kill a rockchuck at 75yds with it.

Back in the day, "RG" was said to stand for "Rotten Gun".

As above, these were Saturday Night Special level guns. About the very best that could be said is that they'd usually shoot at least one cylinder full, which considering the type of people who where the big buyers of them, that was all that was needed.

After the Gun Control Act of the 60's banned importation, they started importing parts and assembling them in Florida.
This lasted until the company was sued out of business.

If and I say IF I needed a gun and it was all I could get then I would buy it. I have owned 2 of them in my life a 38 I gave to my brother years ago and he soon got rid of it and a 22 single action I sold like the other said it spit more lead out the side than it did down the barrel.