THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SILENT

Tactical Cowboy by Heritage Manufacturing

- Mike Searson

If there's one particular rimfire handgun that has taken off in the past two years, it's the single-action revolver. They're fun, reasonably priced, easy to shoot, and give the shooter a sense of nostalgia.

One company that really dominates this market segment is Heritage Manufacturing. They took 2021 by storm with their Barkeep line of short-barreled rimfire revolvers chambered in 22LR and 22 WMR, but in January of 2022 they released a radically different model called the Tactical Cowboy. It has simulated carbon-fiber grips, a matte black finish, a fiber-optic front sight, a Picatinny rail for mounting optics, and a 6.5-inch threaded barrel. Wait, what?

You read that right Heritage's Tactical Cowboy features a threaded barrel (x28) so the shooter can mount a compensator or suppressor. We tried a few of each, and the results were interesting to say the least. We'll get back to that in a bit.

THE BUILD

Heritage revolvers may be on the inexpensive side, but that doesn't equate to a complete lack of quality and QC. Generally speaking, these are well-made revolvers - but they have a few quirks. First of all, there's a safety on the left side on the rear of the frame. You flip it rearward and down to fire. This is probably the most annoying part of the gun, and most shooters trained on the revolver will probably hate it. However, it eliminates the old mantra of "load one, skip one, load four" that most single-action aficionados are used to dealing with. A shooter can safely carry a full load of six rounds in the cylinder without worrying about an accidental discharge. With the amount of new people engaging in the shooting sports with little knowledge of the old ways, it makes sense.