Heritage Rough rider .22 revolver

[Guest musiccitymadman]

I have been looking for an inexpensive .22 mag revolver to plink cans and such with my kids. As well as to carry in the woods to squirel hunt with.

looking on the net I ran across the heritage rr .22 lr/mag combo at low cost. Has anyone had experence with these revolvers?

[gregintenn]

You get what you pay for. I'd suggest you shuck out a few more bucks and buy a used, quality firearm. You be glad you did in the future.

[Almond27]

I'd suggest avoiding it, they don't have the best reputation out there. I'd go for a Ruger Single Six with interchangeable cylinder's. High quality and great warranty if anything goes wrong which I highly doubt.

[JAB]

I actually own one and really like it. It has gone bang every time I have pulled the trigger. So far, I have put roughly 100 WMR rounds through mine and somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 LR rounds. It isn't a 'showpiece' but it is a fun and so far reliable little shooter. I got mine partly to use as a yard/woods gun and the ability to shoot .22 WMR was a big consideration so I went with the 6.5 inch barrel. Is it any good? Well, below is a target I shot with it at 100 yards the first time I took it to the outdoor range. These shots were made using open sights and were not made from a bench or rest - I like to practice the way I might actually be shooting in a real world situation. These shots were fired offhand with a two-handed grip in basically a Weaver style stance.

There wasn't much of a breeze that day and we were the only ones there so I decided to try this more as a lark than anything. I had never tried shooting a handgun at such a distance, before but had surprised myself by doing pretty well with it at 50 yards. I loaded up the cylinder with WMR rounds and took aim at the center of the target. When I checked the target, lo and behold, I had actually put two on paper (circled in green) and figured that maybe it wasn't that crazy an idea, after all. Loaded up again and aimed higher and more to the left but overcompensated - only got one on paper that time (purple circle.) This helped me dial in my aim better and the four yellow circles show the results of the third cylinder full. I don't consider myself to be an exceptional shot, at all and am certain that my Rough Rider is capable of better in more skilled hands. Even I could probably do better if I spent more time on it. One more thing - you might notice the clean, round holes - no keyholing even at 100 yards. In fact, the 40 grain Winchester Super X JHPs I was shooting not only cleanly passed through the target but also passed through the plywood that the target was taped up on and made nice 'thuds' with little clouds of dust when they hit the dirt berm behind the target stand.

My advice is that if you are looking for an 'heirloom' then maybe the Ruger would suit you better. If you are looking for a fun plinker and utilitarian shooter, give the Heritage a try and spend the extra money you would have spent on a Ruger on ammo, instead.

Edited February 16, 2010 by JAB

[Sidinman]

I have both a Ruger and a Heritage, they both go bang when you pull the trigger. I did have to have a new hammer put in the Heritage after 7 or 8 hundred rounds. Other than that is has been flawless since then.

[Chris]

I've got a Heritage and as long as you are using it for plinking it's just fine. Shoots reasonably well and reliably. Not as tight as a Ruger, but for the money it's not bad.