American_Fusilier
Member
Heritage big bore guns. Who has em'? What is your luck with them?
Heritage big bore
- Thread starter American_Fusilier
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MacAR
Member
I have one in .357, and it's a decent gun. Had a little trouble with timing when I first got it, but after a bit of filing on the bolt it works fine now. My gun shoots decently enough to dispatch critters and plink with, but they are not Colts by any stretch of the imagination. They are essentially Piettas that are shipped over here and put together by Heritage, but instead of a hammer mounted FP, they are equipped with transfer bars. You cannot fan these pistols at ALL; if you do, you'll break things. Heritage doesn't like to send parts out for these, either. They want you to ship them back at your expense for repairs. I didn't fan mine, but I did have trouble with the timing as I mentioned, and had wanted to send it back, but after I found out that they wanted me to pay the freight both ways, I fixed the darn thing myself.
Now, having said all that, if you want a decent, no-frills Single Action then this is a good buy. Just don't expect high-quality, and be warned you may have to tune on them a little to make them "right". But they're good for an every-day farm/ranch carry gun, as you won't care if they get holster worn or scratched. And, they're a darn good plinker and fun to shoot. However, I did notice earlier this month, that Heritage no longer lists the big bore in their catalog. I don't know if that is due to the Recent Unpleasantness, or if they've discontinued them all together.
Mac
Now, having said all that, if you want a decent, no-frills Single Action then this is a good buy. Just don't expect high-quality, and be warned you may have to tune on them a little to make them "right". But they're good for an every-day farm/ranch carry gun, as you won't care if they get holster worn or scratched. And, they're a darn good plinker and fun to shoot. However, I did notice earlier this month, that Heritage no longer lists the big bore in their catalog. I don't know if that is due to the Recent Unpleasantness, or if they've discontinued them all together.
Mac
Speedo66
Member
I would consider a company that sells you a defective product and then expects you to pick up the considerable cost of shipping both ways to have terrible customer service.
That would put them on my “no buy” list.
Thought occurred to me Re: the .22’s they make vs. the Ruger Wrangler, if you had to send a RoughRider back, the cost of shipping might exceed the difference in price between it and the arguably better Ruger.
That would put them on my “no buy” list.
Thought occurred to me Re: the .22’s they make vs. the Ruger Wrangler, if you had to send a RoughRider back, the cost of shipping might exceed the difference in price between it and the arguably better Ruger.
Cornhusker77
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- Dec 20, 2008
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I had one in .45 Colt, and it was awesome.
If the previous owner hadn't wanted it back, I'd still have it.
If the previous owner hadn't wanted it back, I'd still have it.
GBExpat
Member
I have one of the 6½" .22/.22wmr Heritage Rough Rider revolvers and my instantaneous knee-jerk reaction to the thought of a "big bore" Heritage revolver was, "No thank you!" due to the memory of the rather dodgy quality, fit&finish of the HRR.
Then I stopped and thought about it ...
Dad got us into pistols in the late '60s when he bought a Herters .22rf revolver and a Hawes Western Marshal .357mag, both inexpensive Colt SAA -style pistols mfd in WGermany (H.Schmidt & J.P.Sauer&Sohn, resp).
... and both exhibit about the same quality, fit&finish of the HRR ... and both are dandy for plinking and farm/fields/woods walkabout.
Thank you, MacAR and Cornhusker77 for the reports, and American_Fusilier for the Thread, as now *I* am intrigued by the thought of a Heritage "big bore".
Then I stopped and thought about it ...
Dad got us into pistols in the late '60s when he bought a Herters .22rf revolver and a Hawes Western Marshal .357mag, both inexpensive Colt SAA -style pistols mfd in WGermany (H.Schmidt & J.P.Sauer&Sohn, resp).
... and both exhibit about the same quality, fit&finish of the HRR ... and both are dandy for plinking and farm/fields/woods walkabout.
Thank you, MacAR and Cornhusker77 for the reports, and American_Fusilier for the Thread, as now *I* am intrigued by the thought of a Heritage "big bore".
MacAR
Member
That's my exact opinion of the pistol. They aren't expensive, they aren't pretty. Mine took a bit of tinkering but I doubt they all need it. However, they're perfect to carry when wandering around the woods/farm/etc shooting at rocks, varmints, or whatever. Glad I could be of service, I'm in the process of retrofitting some Pietta fake stag grips to mine. When I'm finished with them, I'll post a thread about the process.
Mac
GBExpat
Member
Sounds like a fundamental admonition regarding these handguns is for those who are not comfortable & practiced working-on/tweaking firearms to think twice before getting one.
For many of us here correcting some minor mechanical deficiencies in such handguns would not be a big deal, but for many others, not so much ...
For many of us here correcting some minor mechanical deficiencies in such handguns would not be a big deal, but for many others, not so much ...
JTHunter
Member
MacAR
Member
Simply put, the bolt wasn't engaging the stop notches on the cylinder, which would sometimes allow the cylinder to rotate too far. The boltface angle was too steep, and a bit too wide. I re-contoured the the bolt face and eased the sides of the bolt where it came through the frame. Took me about an hour and a half between taking the gun to pieces, file/try, and then reassembling it. It will still do it occasionally, but only if cocked and fired quickly. Using it normally, it works just fine. To be honest I need to buy another bolt and fit it "correctly" rather than trying to fix one that wasn't right to begin with. It was frustrating at the time as the gun was brand new, but I've since learned to live with it. I'm not a gunsmith by any means, but I hope this helps.
Mac
JTHunter
Member
I'm sorry Mac but having no experience in disassembling a revolver, I don't know what you mean by "bolt" in a revolver.
MacAR
Member
Ah, my apologies. Here's a handy diagram I found:
They call it the "cylinder latch", but ever other source including Colt calls it the bolt. It basically locks the cylinder when the hammer is down, then retracts at 1/2 cock to allow the gun to be loaded, then locks it again at full cock. Sometimes they aren't profiled correctly to fit into the notches, and have to be lightly filed to fit. Single actions are pretty simple, but can be a pain to work on. I learned by trial and error mostly.
I got my Heritage out and messed with it a bit after my last post, and noticed a quirk: as long as my finger does NOT touch the trigger when cocking, it operates perfectly. If I put any pressure at all on the trigger, it'll overrun the bolt. I can only assume this is due to the tension on the bolt spring being lessened when the trigger is held. Maybe time for a new trigger/bolt spring from Wolff.
Mac
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