Heritage rough rider light strikes.

FortHunter

FortHunter

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Hello,

Picked up a few rough riders before the pudsmackers in Ottawa put a stop to the legal sale of handguns. Anyways all three of them have failures to fire due to what I think is light strikes. Its happening anywhere from two to four times per cylinder. Usually I can get the rounds to fire on the second attempt. Originally I thought it was just cheap ammo but I put the dud rounds through my chiappa 1873-22 and every single round fired first try, that gun eats anything and it has a much stiffer hammer pull then the rough riders. This has lead me to believe that it's weak mainsprings that are causing the issues. I'm wondering if others have had the same issues and what they did to remedy the problem. I'm thinking about ordering stronger mainsprings at some point. I did find this thread on reddit about shimming the mainspring with felt furniture pads, which I have done in one of the rough riders but haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. The hammer does feel stronger so I'm hoping it works but I'd rather have something a little less mickey moused together. Anyone know if stronger mainsprings can be purchased? And from where. Or does anyone have other ideas?

Thanks in advance

Here's a link to the shimming the mainspring fix
https://www.reddit.com/r/Revolvers/comments/wksk8o/how_to_fix_your_heritage_rough_rider_light/
 
Have had somewhat the same experience with both the heritage and the Chiappa, but the misfires on the heritage are not as common.

Have not shot either in a while but will keep this mod in mind and a watch on this thread to see if there is a more permanent fix.
 
I have the Heritage Rancher which is the same frame but in a carbine. I just got mine before Christmas and am just over 200 rnds through it without any problems. Only two fail to fire which I blame it on the ammunition. I had about 60 rnds of mismatched stuff which I wanted to see how well it worked with mixing ammunition up. Work well but best groups so far have been with CCI standard. The springs could be different due to having a butt stock.
 
Apart from shimming the mainspring
I watched a video where they marked the hammer with a sharpie then filed it flat to ensure a full faced strike on the firing pin.
Apparently as it’s MIM it can have unevenness that leads to wonky strikes
 
I used a thin piece of an old credit card down at the bottom of the spring. Used a punch to open up that gap and slid it in. Has worked perfect since.
I’d post a pic but I don’t think I have the ability to yet.
 
DanCB7 said:
I used a thin piece of an old credit card down at the bottom of the spring. Used a punch to open up that gap and slid it in. Has worked perfect since.
I’d post a pic but I don’t think I have the ability to yet.
Click to expand...

I like that credit card idea better than the felt furniture pads, they shouldn't compress over time. I'll try that with one of the other rough riders.
Thanks.
 
FortHunter said:
...Or does anyone have other ideas? ...
Click to expand...

When it comes to ammunition, it's not just about duds. You might still fix the problem by switching to a different brand of ammunition with easier-to-ignite primers, some are harder than others.

But I'd probably try fixing the guns. It's all about getting more energy to the primer strike. You're right that increasing the mainspring tension will have the greatest effect, but you can also reduce friction throughout the fire control system and net significant energy gains at the business end of the firing pin. You might not need stiffer mainsprings if everything cleans up well enough. Oh, and a stiffer mainspring will generally mean a heavier trigger pull, which is always nice to avoid if you can.

Everything that moves can be trued and polished, as can the corresponding contact points on the frame. There could be significant drag anywhere from the mainspring to the firing pin. If you want to be precise, you can use layout fluid (or sharpie) to identify the problem areas, and get to it. Or just give everything a true / polish and see how it goes. Most of the cheaper firearms out there can be improved with a bit of elbow grease. Just be sure to stay away from the hammer hook and sear.

diananike's point about truing the strike face of the hammer is a good one, too.
 
alpining said:
When it comes to ammunition, it's not just about duds. You might still fix the problem by switching to a different brand of ammunition with easier-to-ignite primers, some are harder than others.

But I'd probably try fixing the guns. It's all about getting more energy to the primer strike. You're right that increasing the mainspring tension will have the greatest effect, but you can also reduce friction throughout the fire control system and net significant energy gains at the business end of the firing pin. You might not need stiffer mainsprings if everything cleans up well enough. Oh, and a stiffer mainspring will generally mean a heavier trigger pull, which is always nice to avoid if you can.

Everything that moves can be trued and polished, as can the corresponding contact points on the frame. There could be significant drag anywhere from the mainspring to the firing pin. If you want to be precise, you can use layout fluid (or sharpie) to identify the problem areas, and get to it. Or just give everything a true / polish and see how it goes. Most of the cheaper firearms out there can be improved with a bit of elbow grease. Just be sure to stay away from the hammer hook and sear.

diananike's point about truing the strike face of the hammer is a good one, too.
Click to expand...

I definitely like the idea of polishing it up before shimming it. Lighter trigger pulls are definitely nicer.
 
FortHunter said:
I definitely like the idea of polishing it up before shimming it. Lighter trigger pulls are definitely nicer.
Click to expand...

Do it! Fun project, and you'll learn about the revolver. Even better idea since you have a few of them.

You didn't ask, maybe you have plenty of experience, but go slow, use a fine grit, and don't be tempted by the Dremel until you're sure you won't go too far!
 
Well I got the rough rider I shimmed with a credit card and the one shimmed with felt furniture pads to the range today. The one shimmed with credit card worked flawlessly and the furniture pad one was still 1 failure to fire per cylinder. A slight improvement but I plan on taking it apart removing the felt and sanding and polishing it up to see if that fixes it.
If anyone know of where I could find a good tutorial I'd much appreciate it. Thanks
 
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