Hot dog, do I love Heritage Manufacturing. The Rough Rider series of revolvers trained generations of shooters with affordable nature and 22LR chambering. Recently Heritage Manufacturing took the Rough Rider and began spitting out new models left and right. We got the Rancher Carbine, The Barkeep, and now, the littlest of all, the Barkeep Boot.
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The Barkeep trimmed barrels down to 2 inches, or so, the Boot takes it down to a mere 1-inch. Heritage did entirely away with sights, and all you got is the little trench at the rear. A 1-inch barrel doesn't call for much of a sight anyways. The grips are trimmed into a bird head design that makes them ultra-small and shrinks the entire profile of the little gun.
The Gathering gave us our first opportunity to ring steel with the Boot, and it was a challenge I was ready to undertake. The frame and cylinder size is the same as any other Heritage Manufacturing Rough Rider, so it's not exactly a small gun. However, it could certainly drop into a cowboy's boot rather easily. I wouldn't suggest such an action, but it's possible.
Like the Rough Rider series, the Boot wears a manual safety I don't care much for but will deal with. The little grips are comfy, and the trigger isn't spurred or dehorned, so cocking it is easy. As you'd expect, the Boot has almost no recoil. Sure, the barrel's short, but the frame is big, and the grip fills your hand.
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You won't fight with the meager 22LR, and it's a total blast o shoot. I mean that literally! It's loud and smokey due to the 1-inch barrel. I grinned through all six rounds even though I didn't ring steel even once. The steel target was small and distant, and well, I didn't have sights. The Boot is a point-and-shoot kind of gun, not so much a carefully aimed shot.
The Boot Belly Gun
You'd picture something like the Heritage Manufacturing Boot if I said the words belly gun. The trigger delivers a crisp and short pull that's very consistent and predictable. A super short barrel leaves no room for an ejection rod, so you need to manually press them out. Heritage includes a small rod with a handle with each gun for this purpose.
As you'd imagine, this gun is a bit of a novelty. It's not a serious defensive use gun and not even a great gun for teaching new shooters. The Heritage Manufacturing Barkeep Boot is a gun that's fun. Even though it's hard to shoot accurately, I still got a huge grin with every round fired. It's a silly gun, and that's okay.
Guns like the Boot are fairly cheap, and that makes them easy to invest in and to shoot for fun. 22LR is still mostly cheap, and for fun, plinking guns like the Boot deliver a silly but worthwhile experience. The Heritage Manufacturing Barkeep Boot is shipping now, and the MSRP is only $205.38. That's about the price of a tank of gas these days.
