Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR Revolver 4.75 in. 6-Shot – Superb Single Action Plinker

Description

The Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR is the cheapest honest way into single-action shooting, and it has introduced more people to cowboy guns than every replica Colt put together. Four and three-quarter inches of blued barrel, a six-round cylinder, cocobolo grips and a price that does not make you careful with it.

This is a traditional single action in every sense. The Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR loads one round at a time through a gate on the right side, ejects with a rod under the barrel, and will not fire unless you thumb the hammer back first. Nothing about it is quick, and that is most of the charm.

How a single action actually works

• Load the Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR by opening the gate, half-cock the hammer so the cylinder turns freely, and drop rounds in one at a time.
• To eject, line each chamber up with the gate and push the rod under the barrel back through it.
• The hammer must be thumbed to full cock before every shot; there is no double-action pull.
• A manual hammer safety sits on the left of the frame, which is unusual on a single action and worth using.
• Even with the safety fitted, the old five-round habit — leaving the chamber under the hammer empty — is still the safest way to carry one in the field.

Build, sights and handling

• The Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR uses a zinc alloy frame in a blued finish with a steel barrel, which is how the price stays where it is.
• Cocobolo wood grips as standard rather than the plastic you might expect at this money.
• Fixed sights: a blade front and a groove down the topstrap, sighted for standard-velocity 22 at close range.
• Thirty-three and a half ounces, which is heavy for a rimfire and steadies the hold nicely.
• Exposed hammer with a wide spur, easy to cock without shifting your grip.

Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR specifications

• Caliber: 22 Long Rifle
• Capacity: 6-shot cylinder
• Barrel length: 4.75 in, blued steel
• Weight: 33.4 oz
• Frame: zinc alloy, blued
• Grips: cocobolo wood
• Sights: fixed
• Action: single action, exposed hammer, manual hammer safety
• Manufacturer part number: RR22B4
• UPC: 727962500200

22 Long Rifle is a standardized cartridge with dimensions and pressure limits published by SAAMI. A revolver does not need the cartridge to cycle anything, so the Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR is the least fussy 22 you can buy: standard velocity, high velocity, subsonic and even 22 CB caps all work, which is not true of any semi-automatic.

For an afternoon of tin cans with the Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR, a 1,500-round jug of Winchester Wildcat 40 gr is the obvious buy. Armscor 36 gr high-velocity hollow point is the choice when you are actually after something.

If you want a longer sight radius, the 6.5-inch Heritage is the same gun with more barrel. For the same action in a carbine, the Rough Rider Rancher with a 16-inch barrel takes both 22 LR and 22 Magnum cylinders. A DeSantis Wild Hog holster is the sensible way to carry one on a belt, and the Heritage 92 lever rifle in 357 is where this rabbit hole leads next.

One practical note: the zinc alloy frame means this is not a revolver to shoot ten thousand rounds a year through and expect to hand down. It is built to a price, and it shoots like it should for many years of normal use, but it is not a Ruger Single-Six and Heritage has never claimed otherwise.

Why the Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR earns its place

• The cheapest way to find out whether you like single actions, by a wide margin.
• Cocobolo grips and a blued finish that look far better than the price suggests.
• Eats any 22 ammunition made, including the quiet stuff a semi-auto will not cycle.
• A manual safety, which no traditional single action offers.
• Slow enough to make a new shooter think about every round, which is exactly what you want.

Be realistic about the ceiling. The Heritage Rough Rider 22 LR is a plinker and a teaching gun. It is not a target revolver, the trigger is what it is, and the fixed sights mean you adjust your hold rather than the gun. If you want precision out of a rimfire wheelgun, a Ruger Single-Six costs three times as much for good reasons.

What this does, better than anything else at the money, is make an afternoon disappear. It is the gun that comes out at a family cookout, the one a teenager learns hammer discipline on, and the one nobody minds getting a scratch. Buy it for that and it will not disappoint you.

In stock now at MAG5 Firearms in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Transfers to your FFL, and we answer the phone.