Years ago I had several Ruger Single action Blackhawk revolvers. My wife just loved shooting them. More so than any of my other guns. We then went through a poor period in our lives and had to slim our gun collection down a bit, so the Blackhawks had to go.
Well, things are much better now, but my wife still clinches on to our money. If you look up "tight wad" in the dictionary you will probably see her picture. You may say that having a wife that doesn't spend money would be great. Well, it is except that she doesn't want me to spend money either, even when we can afford it!!
Anyway, I decided to buy a western style handgun but try to keep it cheap (not always a good thing). So, I did some research and found that Heritage Manufacturing Inc. made relatively inexpensive revolvers. I also researched many reviews and read many personal opinions on these guns. They were all positive. So, I went down to Academy Sporting Goods and bought the Rough Rider Deluxe .22 LR/Mag with a 6 1/2" barrel. It comes with adjustable sites and has a cylinder for 22 LR and one for 22 Mag. It cost $199.00. Now the only guns I can compare it to are the Ruger Blackhacks that I had previously owned. Examining the gun it is obviously not of the same "finish" quality as the Ruger line. I didn't expect it to be. The Heritage guns (per caliber) are right at half the cost of a similar Ruger pistol. But, I found the gun to be sturdy and it appears to be well made. Its action is smooth and trigger pull seemed crisp with no creep. It is single action so there shouldn't be any creep (IMO). It has an interesting safety that can be activated with your right thumb just left of the hammer. The safety lifts a small hammer blocking bar and will keep the hammer from striking the firing pin. (not made for leftys) The safety system seems to be pretty good. It will do the job and doesn't take away from the looks of the gun. So far the only negative thing I have to say is that the bluing seems to be, for the lack of a better description, thin. I believe that the bluing will be easily scratched. Why? Because one of the guns at the store had places on it where the bluing had been scratched off. Now these seemed to be pretty deep scratches so I could be wrong on this. I bought the display which was scratch free. I will be going to the range today and put a few hundred rounds through it. I will let you know what I think. Over all, so far, I think this gun is worth the money I spent. I did not buy it for its looks or finish. If I scratch it I will just apply some cold bluing on it and keep shooting. Hopefully, it won't disappoint me at the range. We shall see.
Well, things are much better now, but my wife still clinches on to our money. If you look up "tight wad" in the dictionary you will probably see her picture. You may say that having a wife that doesn't spend money would be great. Well, it is except that she doesn't want me to spend money either, even when we can afford it!! Anyway, I decided to buy a western style handgun but try to keep it cheap (not always a good thing). So, I did some research and found that Heritage Manufacturing Inc. made relatively inexpensive revolvers. I also researched many reviews and read many personal opinions on these guns. They were all positive. So, I went down to Academy Sporting Goods and bought the Rough Rider Deluxe .22 LR/Mag with a 6 1/2" barrel. It comes with adjustable sites and has a cylinder for 22 LR and one for 22 Mag. It cost $199.00. Now the only guns I can compare it to are the Ruger Blackhacks that I had previously owned. Examining the gun it is obviously not of the same "finish" quality as the Ruger line. I didn't expect it to be. The Heritage guns (per caliber) are right at half the cost of a similar Ruger pistol. But, I found the gun to be sturdy and it appears to be well made. Its action is smooth and trigger pull seemed crisp with no creep. It is single action so there shouldn't be any creep (IMO). It has an interesting safety that can be activated with your right thumb just left of the hammer. The safety lifts a small hammer blocking bar and will keep the hammer from striking the firing pin. (not made for leftys) The safety system seems to be pretty good. It will do the job and doesn't take away from the looks of the gun. So far the only negative thing I have to say is that the bluing seems to be, for the lack of a better description, thin. I believe that the bluing will be easily scratched. Why? Because one of the guns at the store had places on it where the bluing had been scratched off. Now these seemed to be pretty deep scratches so I could be wrong on this. I bought the display which was scratch free. I will be going to the range today and put a few hundred rounds through it. I will let you know what I think. Over all, so far, I think this gun is worth the money I spent. I did not buy it for its looks or finish. If I scratch it I will just apply some cold bluing on it and keep shooting. Hopefully, it won't disappoint me at the range. We shall see.
