Heritage Rough Rider timing/lock up problem

[JB111]

I recently inherited a used 9 shot Rough Rider with some problems. Sometimes, when I cock it, the cylinder does not lock up and can be rotated into place. Also, when using the 22 magnum cylinder, when attempting to cock it, the hammer will bind up and requires to much force to fully cock, and again the cylinder can be rotated into place by hand. I'm not exactly an expert about revolvers but what I was going to do was just replace the hammer, hand and any other pieces associated with lockup but I discovered heritage does not directly sell those parts for the 9 shotters, or at least not through their website. They do however sell everything for the 6 shot version, so my question is can I convert it over to being a 6 shot by replacing those parts and then using the correct cylinder?

Also, after taking it apart, I could find nothing broken, and thus do not know what caused it to go out of time. I was told that it was abused by fanning it so I am sure it warped something or wore something out of spec but I would not know where to start trying to diagnose it which is why I would rather just replace everything if possible.

 

[Riomouse911]

I would call Heritage and see if they will fix it first. You may get a Repair Order and be able to send it in.

Stay safe.

 

[ontarget]

Check to see if your hammer screw is over tightened. I made the mistake myself on a RR. The frame pinched together enough to bind the hammer, but the cylinder was still free. This will also cause drag and slow lock time even if it's not too tight to impede operation completely.

 

[JB111]

Well, after soaking all the parts in a bowl of hoppes bore cleaner over night I cleaned them all up today and inspected them. I noticed tool marks on the cylinder stop and upon closer inspection it looks a little warped. It also fit loosely in it's position, I bent on it a little bit and also cleaned up the hammer really good then reassembled it. The cylinder stop fit more snug going back in. To my surprise, most of the problems went away. It still does not have the tightest lock up but it does index and cannot be rotated when fully cocked. It also does not spit lead anymore when fired and the 22wmr cylinder no longer binds. I shot a box of 22lr and a box of 22wmr through it to see if it was going to act up again and also to see if it was as accurate as my other heritage. It cycled all the rounds fine and hits at point of aim at 50 foot. The only hiccups I noticed is the 22wmr cylinder is sticky when dumping the spent cases but other than that, it's a 100% improvement. Iay still try to convert it over to a 6 shot but it is good the way it is for right now.

 

[TTv2]

The 9 shot model doesn't have a bank vault tight lockup, but mine isn't terribly sloppy either. I did notice early on (first couple range trips) that one of the cylinders (can't remember which) had an issue where it wasn't indexed and locked all the way. I started testing each chamber's lockup until I realized that what was causing the issues was cocking too slowly and softly. Once I stopped babying the thing and went to a hard, fast cock the issue went away.

After enough use I found I could do either a soft or hard cock without the issues, but it has to be a deliberate motion, like you want to cock the hammer. Once I got a feel for it I didn't have to go all out on the cocking and could do it normally.

So, maybe burrs and being dirty can cause the issues as well as the way Heritage designs the action for the 9 shot models. The 6 shot Heritage revolvers feel a lot better.