Hermitage Rough Rider 22 Combo (problem w/magnum cylindar)

[Lsl]

To start off, I know there are those out there that will say this pistol is junk, but at the age of 63 this my first gun and first shooting experience. My husband bought me this gun, so enough said about that. Yesterday we took the gun to the shooting range and I shot about 110 rounds of regular ammo which worked great. Once I figured out the sight I was able to shoot fairly accuately, especially since this was my first time. I only missed the target about four times and had a great grouping of shots in the middle. The problem arose when I switched to the magnum cylinder. After loading, I was able to fire one shot before the cylinder hung up. I could not pull the hammer back to even a half cock nor get the cylinder to move at all. We unloaded it and reloaded the gun but the hammer would still not cock. Then we unloaded it and tried to put the hammer in a half cock but still no dice. We then took the cylindar out and put it back in with the same result. Once I put the regular cylinder in the revolver it shot fine. I have contacted Heritage but was wondering if anyone else had these same types of issues or had an idea of what could cause the problem and how it might be fixed. Getting rid of the gun at this point is not an option at this point.

Thank you in advance for any constructive input.

 

[MedWheeler]

Neat little gun to begin shooting with. I own two of them, along with dozens of other makes and models, so I won't "look down on" them or their owners.

Both of mine have the Magnum cylinders, but I've only used the one that came with the first one I got. It worked fine.

My guess is that Heritage shipped this gun out with a Magnum cylinder that was not "timed" to the gun. In most cases, the differences in timing of the revolver's mechanism can be enough that a cylinder removed from one gun cannot simply be inserted into another and work well. I don't know about Heritage Arms, but most revolver makers who offer a Magnum cylinder for a gun that didn't come with it will ask you to send the gun in to them if you want a Magnum, so they can "time" the cylinder to your specific gun.

I can certainly understand your reluctance to send in your only gun, especially since it works well with the .22LR cylinder in place, but that might be what Heritage asks you to do. I may be wrong, though; they might just try sending a different cylinder for you to try.

Unfortunately, there will likely be posters here who will disregard your last line and tell you to get rid of it and "get-a-whatever.."

 

[Middletown]

I have one of the Rough Riders like you mention and only shot the magnum cylinder a couple of times but mine has worked just fine.

First thing I would do is inspect the cylinder for differences between the cylinder that works and the one that doesn't. especially the rear of the cylinder where the cogs (or whatever they are called) index the cylinder.

If you could post pictures of the cylinders that would be a great help.

Edit: MedWheeler's advice about timing is also good and would not show up in any pictures.

 

[Lsl]

The magnum cylinder came with the gun. Being that it is a combo, it included the regular cylinder, the magnum cylinder, and a trigger lock. My question is, if they time the magnum cylinder to the revolver will the regular cylinder still work? Is the only way it can be timed is through the manufacturer? I really appreciate the input as I know nothing about guns.

 

[GRIZ22]

When you buy a combo both cylinders are timed to that gun at the factory.

 

[Lsl]

I thought that they would have time together since they came as a package. We have figured out that is something to do with the magnum cylinder and the cylinder lock pin. If we push the pin all the way in on the magnum cylinder in locks up but if we back it out about a quarter of an inch it will work. I don't have that issue with the regular cylinder. Any ideas on how to fix that?

 

[Mike J]

I don't know whether Heritage times the cylinder to the individual revolver or not. I had one of the Heritage Rough Rider revolvers for a while. I bought it because I wanted something inexpensive I could use for .22 shot shells around the house if I needed to. It wound up being used as a plinker. Not the nicest gun I have owned but it was okay. The reason I say I don't know they time the cylinders to the gun or not is when I bought mine it just came with the .22 LR cylinder. I don't remember where from but I bought a .22 magnum cylinder. It didn't cost much if I recall correctly. It worked fine in my revolver though I didn't use it much. You could contact Heritage though I just looked at their web site & it says they only offer a 1 year warranty.

 

[Mike J]

I would probably clean & examine the .22 magnum cylinder to see if I could find any manufacturing flaws or if there might be some sort of build up keeping it from functioning properly before I did anything else.

 

[MedWheeler]

GRIZ22 writes:

When you buy a combo both cylinders are timed to that gun at the factory.

They're indeed supposed to be. But, that doesn't mean one doesn't get mis-boxed, though.

Lsl, if you have a .22LR cleaning rod, or a similarly-sized rod, try sliding it down the barrel into the cylinder and see if it "hangs up" on the cylinder chamber walls before dropping all the way in. Do this with all six chambers, and do it twice each, one with the revolver cocked on each chamber,, and once with the hammer at rest on each chamber. This will give you an idea if the cylinder and gun are in time with each other; if one or more chambers don't line up with the barrel, especially when the gun is cocked, you likely have a timing problem.

Otherwise, see if they will simply exchange the Magnum cylinder for another one for you to try.