Established by Jay Bernkrant and Maria Diaz in 1992, the mission of Heritage Manufacturing Co. has always been to provide their customers with affordable and reliable firearms inspired by those of the Old West. This company's most successful venture has been the Rough Rider revolver series. Based on the Single Action Army, these scaled down single-actions are chambered to fire .22 LR or .22 WMR (also known as .22 Mag.). Since the company was acquired by Taurus Holdings in 2012, the Rough Rider series has grown into one of the most popular American-made revolvers in the marketplace.
In keeping with their Single Action Army design, most Rough Riders feature 6-shot cylinders. This makes them an ideal understudy for center-fire single-action revolvers. Although the .22 rimfire cartridges are smaller, the steps for loading and unloading them are the same. However, there are folks (like me) who would like to fit more ammunition into their .22-caliber revolvers. Instead of preserving the Old West motif, they prefer the utility of a few extra shots for on the trail, around camp, handgun hunting or casual plinking. Thankfully Heritage has a solution, if not a well-known one.
Heritage offers a handful of 9-Shot Rough Riders including this model with adjustable sights.
Tucked into the back of the online catalog, behind nearly 80 variations of the 6-shot models, Heritage currently offers a few Rough Riders configured for 9-shot cylinders. The most unusual among these less common models is a .22 LR that sports a 6.5" barrel, adjustable target sights and it ships with a 9-round .22 WMR caliber conversion cylinder. With a suggested retail price of $246.99, and real-world prices closer to $220, it offers too many useful features at too good of a price to ignore.
The front sight is fitted with a light gathering orange fiber optic.
More Bang for the Buck?
If you take a look at the line-up of Heritage 6.5" barrel 6-shot Rough Riders, the listed pricing starts at $165.99. This can translate into sales prices of around $140. Then what makes this particular model worth the added investment?
The square-notch fiber-optic rear sight is fully adjustable for height and windage.
First up would be the dual-caliber, 9-shot cylinders. They simply hold more ammunition and both calibers are provided with this package. And just like the 6-shot guns, Heritage has made it easy to tell the interchangeable cylinders apart from each other. In addition to the caliber markings, the .22 LR cylinder is fluted while the .22 WMR is un-fluted, or solid. This makes it easy to tell which is which without having to read the fine print. If you do pick up either a 6-shot or a 9-shot model with only the .22 Cylinder, the .22 WMR caliber conversion cylinders can be purchased separately at the shopheritagemfg.com website for prices starting at $29.99.
A modern swing-down thumb safety is located to the left of the hammer.
Regarding most of the other features, the 9-shots are identical to the 6-shots. The round blued-steel barrel, zinc alloy receiver and the removable flat bottom (“plough share” or gunfighter) grip frame are the same dimensions. This means they are compatible with the same holsters and replacement grips made for the 6-shot models. The one accessory trade-off that comes with the 9-shots is that there are no engraved cylinders for these guns as of this writing. But I was quite pleased with the handsome set of factory installed laminated Cocobolo hardwood grips.
This model ships with smooth laminated Cocobolo hardwood grips.
That brings us to the other unusual feature which is the adjustable sight system. The square profile front sight blade is fitted with a rounded, bright orange fiber optic. The profile drops neatly into the square notch rear sight which has a pair of screws for adjusting the height and windage. A “U” shaped fiber optic provides two bright green dots to either side of the notch.
The loading gate is located on the right side of the frame.
I shoot with 3-dot and adjustable target sights much more frequently than the old fashioned fixed sights common to the Rough Rider line-up. This made the fiber-optic sight system of this model immediately familiar and easy to work with. With groups I was able print at the shooting range, which hovered around 1.5" at 15 yards, it’s safe to say that this revolver and sight system combination can be a hitter out to 25 yards and beyond. The light, smooth trigger also contributed to a positive shooting experience. According to a Lyman Products digital trigger gauge, this revolver's trigger breaks cleanly with just 2 lbs. 7 oz. of trigger pull. Overall, it’s a best-of blend of modern sights and increased capacity while keeping the classic lines and fun factor that have made the Rough Riders so popular.
The .22 LR cylinder (left) is fluted and the .22 WMR (right) is un-fluted for easy identification.
Strappin’ it Down
Some folks are in the market for a more traditional rig for their rimfire single-action revolvers. This is why Heritage has teamed up with The Hunter Company to provide leather holsters and gun belts sized specifically for the Rough Riders and made to the same standards as Hunter's center-fire offerings.
Shown here is the right-handed embossed leather holster for up to 6.5" barrels (#1085-RH6; $79.99). The embossing process provides gives the tan, top-grain leather the appearance of traditional floral leather tooling favored for the fancier holsters of the past. This holster ships with two leather thongs installed. One loops over the revolver's hammer, to serve as a retention strap, while the other is long enough to be used as a leg tie down.
The Hunter leather holsters and belts made for Rough Riders are made to the same standards as this company’s center-fire handgun accessories.
The small-caliber cartridge belt (#3458SBH: $94.95) is one solid strap of 2.5" wide vegetable-tanned leather. At either end, secured with brass hardware, are a buckle and strap that can be adjusted for waist sizes ranging from 34" to 58". Along the back of the belt is a set of cartridge loops that can be used to store up to 25-rounds of .22 LR or .22 WMR ammunition. Together this belt and holster are as good looking as they are comfortable to wear.
Riding the Range
A friend tells me that when she takes someone who is new to shooting out for some trigger time that her Rough Rider .22 LR is the first gun she passes them. The one-round-at-a-time loading process and the single-action trigger that requires the hammer to be manually cocked for each shot fired is a great way to slow things down while assessing someone's level of shooting experience. I agree that among the many roles these guns can fill, training is a good one.
The adjustable target sights contribute to a positive shooting experience.
With this in mind, the Rough Rider 9-shot was settled into a bench rest with paper targets posted at a more casual or learning-to-shoot distance of 15 yards for the shooting range evaluation. It proved to be just as reliable as previous models that I've worked with. That is to say, there were no gun-related malfunctions throughout the course of testing both the .22 LR and .22 WMR cylinders with a mix of practice and premium-grade loads. There were two rounds of bulk-box .22 LR with faulty primers that did not fire the first time the rim was hit by the firing pin. However, when re-loaded into the cylinder both cartridges fired. This is just par for the course when using less expensive .22 LR ammunition.
This revolver operated reliably with all of the rimfire ammunition tested.
The formal bench-rested, three 3-shot group accuracy testing was conducted using two .22 LR loads, CCI Clean-22 and Remington's new Golden Hunter, along with a Federal Champion load fired through the .22 WMR cylinder. A Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph was on hand to measure bullet velocities. When looking at the results, don't forget that these are rifle cartridges being fired through the relatively short barrel of a revolver. The drop in bullet velocity and energy is typical for a rimfire handgun like this one:
Parting Shots
My only disappointment with the Heritage 9-shot Rough Rider revolvers is that there are only a few models to choose from, especially when compared to this company's expansive selection of 6-shot configurations. For those who are looking to add just one Rough Rider to their collection, the 6.5" barrel adjustable sight version evaluated here is a flexible, multi-purpose option that will do quite nicely. Use the .22 LR cylinder for inexpensive plinking, target shooting and pest control. With its adjustable fiber optic sights, installing the .22 Mag. cylinder converts this little rimfire into a handy small game potting machine. And with the sleek hardwood grips, it looks mighty nice riding on a hip in a leather belt holster.
The best individual 3-shot group was fired using the .22 LR CCI Clean-22 load.
As much as I enjoyed working with this 9-shot, it left me wanting more. How about the same 2-cylinder and fiber-optic sight system package with a 3" barrel? That would make the 9-shot an ideal little backpacking and kit gun. One configuration I would really like to see is a 2-cylinder, 9-shot version of the Tactical Cowboy with the threaded muzzle, fiber-optic front sight and a short rail for mounting red dot optics. If Heritage does decide to offer more 9-shot configurations, I'll be the first one in line to take them for a spin!
Heritage Rough Rider 9-Shot Specifications:
Manufacturer: Heritage Manufacturing Co.
Model: 6.5" Rough Rider with adjustable sights (RR22999MB6AS)
Action: single-action revolver
Chambering: .22 LR/ .22 Mag. (two cylinders)
Barrel: 6.5" blued steel; six-groove rifling; 1:14" RH twist
Grips: laminated Cocobolo hardwood
Finish: matte black
Sights: orange fiber optic front; adjustable green fiber optic square-notch rear
Capacity: 9 rounds
Trigger Pull: 2 lbs. 7 oz.
Overall Length: 11.78"
Height: 5.25"
Width: 1.5" cylinder
Weight: 31.3 ozs. unloaded
Accessories: two cylinders, lock, owner's manual
MSRP: $246.99
Holster: Hunter embossed 4" to 6"; right-hand small bore (1085-RH6) $79.99
Holster Belt: Hunter adjustable 34"-58"; small bore (3458SBH) $94.95
