Ruger Wrangler versus Heritage Rough Rider

ontarget said:

That might not be good. Does it feel tighter at the muzzle with a cleaning patch?

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No, not particularly. It does feel "gritty", if that makes sense.

doubleh said:

Why do makers have so much trouble building a semi-auto 22 mag that works then?

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The problem with autoloaders is the long pressure curve. The .22LR and .22Mag have the same pressure peak but the Mag has much longer curve. They could design a gas system that would probably work beautifully but no one would want to pay for it.

To the OP's question. I came to that decision and went with the RR. I own too many Ruger's already and just wanted something different. .22LR and .22Mag cylinders, haven't fired it too much, but - just to play with a single action and do some plinking, it has done everything I wanted it to with zero issues. For a cheap plinking pistol, it is fine, it works, it hits what set up for plinking targets. It clicks 4 times, like the old SAA pistols, but the safety is gawd awful and I would prefer it not have one at all, but - whatever, lawyers and whatever, so it is there. I might like the Ruger better, but honestly if I get another Ruger it will just annoy me that they always seem to hit a quality standard and a strong price point, just about always, bugs me, so - I went the other way on this one.

silicosys4 said:

Hey I just noticed something. Is anyone elses Wrangler cerakoted INSIDE the bore? It looks like I've got a flat dark earth bore.

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I believe mine was. I got a bunch of little specks of something out of the bore with a bronze brush. The crown looked just like yours. After scrubbing with no improvement I lapped the crown which made no difference. Yesterday I measured the bore and cylinder diameter and polished the bore with semichrome paste even though was bright and shiny. Everything measured right but I have little hope that it will be any better than before. The only improvement is that it hasn't keyholed since the barrel scrub.

CraigC said:

The Ruger any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Before the Wrangler, I always suggested folks spend a little more on a used Single Six. Now I tell `em to get the Wrangler. It is twice the gun and only a little more expensive. I've got numerous Single Sixes, three Wranglers and no Rough Riders, for very good reasons. Now looking for the 7.5" version.

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That's what Ruger says but I don't believe that for one second. The two cartridges operate at the same pressure, so to the gun, the experience is the same.

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I wonder if the powder used in the .22 WMR cartridges flame-cuts the aluminum over the barrel/cylinder gap in a Wrangler like some of the .357 Max loads did to the Blackhawk frame?

I use one of my Single Sixes as a .22 WMR, the other is strictly a .22 LR (as are the Wranglers).

Stay safe.

Riomouse911 said:

I wonder if the powder used in the .22 WMR cartridges flame-cuts the aluminum over the barrel/cylinder gap in a Wrangler like some of the .357 Max loads did to the Blackhawk frame?

I use one of my Single Sixes as a .22 WMR, the other is strictly a .22 LR (as are the Wranglers).

Stay safe.

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I don't think there's enough pressure for that to happen. The Max runs at 40,000psi.

I have owned an HRR since 2018.
Bought it because I couldn't afford a Ruger Single Six.
If I bought a Ruger it would be a Single Six, not a Wrangler.

Mods to my HRR:
_ locktited the extractor housing screw
_ stronger spring for the base pin catch
_ removed the paint from inside the rear sight groove and blackened it
_ carefully filed the front sight down for a 25yd "apple on a fence post" sight picture with 3 inch bull & .22 LR 40gr HV (same as I did my Ruger MkIi with fixed sights)

I think most people don't give the rough rider a shot because of the safety. There are too many good sa 22s out there to have that on it. People hate smith and Wesson because of a lock hole that is pretty easy to not notice. And ruger for stamping a paragraph on the barrel. Those don't bother me but the safety is a no go.

It's a rare case where removing something that adds cost would actually make the value of the gun go up.

I have several single six and colt sa revolvers. I greatly prefer the da smith/ruger/taurus/H&R etc revolvers or a semi auto.

crestoncowboy said:

I think most people don't give the rough rider a shot because of the safety. There are too many good sa 22s out there to have that on it. People hate smith and Wesson because of a lock hole that is pretty easy to not notice. And ruger for stamping a paragraph on the barrel. Those don't bother me but the safety is a no go.

It's a rare case where removing something that adds cost would actually make the value of the gun go up.

I have several single six and colt sa revolvers. I greatly prefer the da smith/ruger/taurus/H&R etc revolvers or a semi auto.

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For years I considered getting a Rough Rider and doing a torture test on it. I didn't do that because it feels like a cheap POS and I couldn't bear the thought of putting thousands of rounds through one. Had nothing to do with the safety.

CraigC said:

For years I considered getting a Rough Rider and doing a torture test on it. I didn't do that because it feels like a cheap POS and I couldn't bear the thought of putting thousands of rounds through one. Had nothing to do with the safety.

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Yeah, I'm sure some don't mind it. But I've saw them for 99 bucks every year at Thanksgiving and just can't stomach the safety myself. I just buy a tank of gas or a decent sit down meal. Lol. Or a dozen eggs.

crestoncowboy said:

Yeah, I'm sure some don't mind it. But I've saw them for 99 bucks every year at Thanksgiving and just can't stomach the safety myself. I just buy a tank of gas or a decent sit down meal. Lol. Or a dozen eggs.

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For me it's everything else. The feel of the action, the sprayed on finish.

Eggs are nuts. My parents have chickens and an overabundance of eggs. I'm going today to get a few dozen. Feel like I need an armed escort.

CraigC said:

For me it's everything else. The feel of the action, the sprayed on finish.

Eggs are nuts. My parents have chickens and an overabundance of eggs. I'm going today to get a few dozen. Feel like I need an armed escort.

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Be honest, I never made it far enough to actually hold one. Someday I'll see one for that 99 bucks and give it a shot though.

I usually let my chickens molt and not lay eggs over the winter like would be natural. This year I put a light in the coop and let them lay all winter. Lol. They better earn their keep. Only the second or third winter I've ever used artificial light to keep them laying.

For the first time in my 20 years of raising them laying feed is actually cheaper than scratch grain anyway. I usually switch to scratch while they aren't laying during the winter.

When I grew up and left the farm I swore I would never have a chicken and have stuck by that. I like eggs but not enough to pay today's going price.

I almost got in trouble one time because of chickens. My parents kept a lot of laying hens (free range) and sold eggs to one of the local grocery stores. I built a fire cracker powered gun and had great fun shooting chickens with it using small rocks for bullets. Those hens would really put on a show squalking and jumping around when I hit one. It didn't seem to hurt them. They just became really excited for a minute or so and then back to being a dumb ol' chicken. When my dad mentioned that the egg production had dropped somewhat for no reason I never said a word but dismantled my little fire cracker gun, got rid of the parts, and left the chickens alone.

In terms of quality, it's hard to beat the original Single Six (I bought my Super Single Six in 1975). But if I was in the market for the most affordable yet reliable single-action .22 rf revolver, I'd pick the less than half the price of a Wrangler, Heritage. For a while you could get one with the rebate for under seventy bucks and they commonly sell for under a hundred dollars. If price was no object between the two, I'd opt for the Wrangler. But for most of the people who are debating between which of these two to buy, the price is most of the time very much the object.

CraigC said:

I'm going today to get a few dozen.

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Good grief. Some folks just have to flaunt their wealth. lol
Not to brag, but thanks to a lot of hard work, I picked up a dozen today myself.

And to the OP, Ruger all day. I have handled and fired a RR. It worked fine, and was beer can accurate at 10', but it just felt like a toy to me.
If I only had $100 to spend, I'd just buy ammo for guns I already had rather than get one.
Full disclosure, I do admit to being a bit of a Ruger fanboy.

But that's just me. No stones to throw at folks who buy them.

Put me in the RR camp. I like the traditional finish more (wranglers look like plastic toys), The Safety is well designed. Parts and accessories are easy and inexpensive. The loading and unloading indexes properly on the 6 shot versions. The design has been around forever.. FIE, RG, Erma days etc. Inexpensive and reliable. Adjustable sights and even a rail mount version available as well as almost any barrel length and grip configuration one could want.

Only real "want" for me would be maybe some different caliber offerings. Steel frame offerings out there if you look around.

For the money they are pretty exceptional. The wranglers dont really do much for me. Checkered grips are nice and the fixed sights a little better on the Wranglers though.

I'm an outlier. If I'm buying a single-action plinker, I want it to be kind of "western" in feel and operation. The Wrangler is not.

Both of my HRR revolvers have four-click hammers and require the gate be opened to rotate the cylinderl; the cylinder also lines up with the chambers when doing so instead of free-spinning. The colors, while cheap, look more authentic than the Cerakoate colors on the Wranglers as initially offered (I don't know if new options are yet available.) Also, the HRR comes with wood stocks, not plastic.

I do not own the RW, but I do own a NM-RSS. It's a nice, solid shooter, but I still favor the HRR over it for some reason.

MedWheeler said:

Also, the HRR comes with wood stocks, not plastic.

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Some do, some don't. Both of mine came out of the box wearing plastic but there is a huge array of both substances available from Heritage if you wish to change and the prices aren't bad at all. Cheap guns that shoot pretty good, cheap parts to change them. If one breaks there is no reason to shed tears, just buy a replacement part and go have more fun with it. I get it about single sixes being far above them in quality but they are great for games with the kids.

Arkansas Paul said:

Good grief. Some folks just have to flaunt their wealth. lol
Not to brag, but thanks to a lot of hard work, I picked up a dozen today myself.

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Four dozen! Felt like I won the lotto.

I went with the RR vs the Ruger because of the options I got with it. I got a 9-shot WITH adjustable fiber optic sights. Also came with a 9 shot magnum cylinder. And it still cost less than a Wrangler at the time that still has none of those features.

Howdy

I handled a Heritage Rough Rider years ago.

Thought they were junk then and still think so.

I do not have a Wrangler because I have several old three Screw Ruger Single Sixes.

But I have handled the Wrangler and if I did not have my Single Sixes I would choose the Wrangler over the Rough Rider any day of the week.

Or, I would just save up for a Single Six, like these:

The safety on the Heritage is a no go for me. The cerakote on the Wrangler is fugly. I looked at a few Wranglers at my LGS and paid 75.00 more for a used Single Six.