In late 18th century England, Richard Bolton developed a double-barrel, 10-ga. "scattergun" designed with the challenges of defending a moving coach from galloping highwaymen in mind. These defensive double-barrel shotguns, or "coach guns," continued to evolve and eventually migrated to America, where they became a fixture in the settlement of the Old West. In those days, a second person often rode up top next to a stagecoach driver to fend off horse-mounted bandits with double-barrel shotguns. It's where the term "riding shotgun" originated.
The double-barrel Badlander takes its design cues from the classic coach guns of the Old West.
Heritage Manufacturing Co. jumped on the coach gun bandwagon in 2024 with the release of the Bandlander series. This company has been steadily manufacturing affordably priced Rough Rider rimfire revolvers and carbines for quite some time now. But recently, its catalog has expanded to include rimfire lever-actions, 1940s-style Roscoe double-action revolvers and now the Badlander, shotguns with models currently available chambered for 12-ga., 20-ga. and .410-bore shells. This is an evaluation of the 12-ga. version.
According to the left-side barrel markings, the Badlander is made in Turkey by Büyük Huğlu for importation by Heritage. The barrels, receiver, controls and trigger guard are all formed from alloy steel. All of this steel is treated with a matte-black chrome finish, which very closely matches the appearance of an oxide finish but with better wear and corrosion resistance.
The Turkish walnut shoulder stock features a rubber butt pad and a checkered grip.
Although many coach guns are outfitted with a pair of 20" to 22" long barrels, this model ships with 18.5" barrels. It isn’t clear why they are this much shorter, but the change lends to a more compact overall size and along with a quick-handling feel. I couldn't find an official listing on the Heritage site for the fixed chokes. But according to the digital calipers I had on hand, they measured 0.720" (or a .009" constriction), which would make them improved cylinder-size chokes. This low level of constriction allows for a fairly rapid shot spread that is suitable for upland game, rabbits and sporting clays at relatively close distances. The sighting system consists of a bright brass bead up front set into the upper rib, which secures the barrels to each other.
The tang-mounted lever swings to the right to open the action.
The fore-end, like the shoulder stock, is shaped from darkened Turkish walnut with a satin finish. The pattern and outlines of the neatly cut checkering along the sides of the fore-end match that of the stock's pistol grip. A steel release lever located on the flat bottom of the fore-end allows it to be unlocked from the barrels so that the barrels can be separated from the receiver for more compact storage or routine cleaning.
This shotgun is assembled around an unadorned box-lock action with concealed hammers and a typical lever latch. The top-mounted lever is pressed to the right to release the barrels. The gun's serial number is located under this lever. When released, the barrel's tip down so that shells can be loaded and unloaded from the breech. Opening the action cocks the internal hammers, and the extractor presses against the cartridge rims to lift them about 0.25" out of the chamber.
This shotgun’s chambers are fitted with an extractor to press spent cartridges just far enough out of the chambers for manual extraction.
This shotgun's external safety is a tang-mounted slider. It's pulled back, towards the buttpad, in the Safe position and pressed forward, towards the muzzle, to fire. It should be noted that the safety slider does not automatically engage when the action is opened, and the barrels can be released with the slider in either position.
The forward trigger fires the right-side internal hammer with the rear trigger firing the left.
The curved, steel dual triggers are housed inside of a traditional, rounded trigger guard. The front trigger is set slightly to the right of the rear trigger. This indicates that the front trigger will fire the right-side barrel with the rear trigger touching off the left. But to double-check, I verified the trigger-to-barrel alignment using the good old paper test.
The checkering of the removable Turkish walnut fore-end matches that of the shoulder stock grip.
With the shotgun completely unloaded and pointed in a safe direction, the action was closed with a thin sheet of paper set in between the barrel chambers and the receiver. One trigger was dry fired (don't pull both), which in this case was the front one. The action was opened and the paper removed. There was a nice, neat small hole punched into the paper by the right-side firing pin. The triggers exhibited a smooth pull and a short arch of travel with the front (right) trigger breaking at 7 lbs., 1-oz. of trigger pull and the rear (left) trigger weighing in at 7 lbs., 15 ozs.
Removing the fore-end allows the Badlander’s barrel to be separated from the receiver.
Although I prefer polymer-stocked long guns for certain endeavors, there's nothing else out there with the satisfying warmth and smooth feel of a properly finished walnut shoulder stock like this one. The heft of the hardwood contributes to this gun's well balanced weight of 6 lbs., 5 ozs. The stock is capped off with a black polymer plate and a black rubber recoil pad. The Heritage circled "H" logo is laser engraved into both sides of the shoulder stock just in front of the butt pad.
Turkish shotguns from reputable makers are known for providing top-notch quality at more reasonable prices. The Badlander is a good example of this. All of the metal finish, which is intended to look flat and ordinary, was properly applied. The metal-to-metal and metal-to-wood fitting was expertly executed. Simply stated, I could find nothing to complain about and a whole lot to like about this shotgun.
Break-action shotguns like this one are known for being reliable operators with a broad range of shotgun shells.
At the shooting range, the Badlander's action was a bit stiff to open and close at first, but it smoothed out with use. This 12-ga. shotgun exemplified the qualities that keep double-barrels in production. Namely, it was easy to use, quick to point and operated reliably with all of the ammunition tested. Formal pattern testing of the 18.5" barrels was conducted at 25 yards by firing individual rounds of four different loads into 34" x 22" paper targets. Birchwood Casey 8" Shoot-N-C reactive bullseyes were added to each sheet to provide a clearly visible aiming point and to make the results easier to see in the photographs. Test loads included high and low brass 2.75" shells, two filled with birdshot and the other pair with buckshot.
Fine lead birdshot spread rapidly from this gun’s relatively short 18.5” barrels.
First up was Federal's Field & Target load launching 1 1/8-oz. of No. 7-1/2 lead birdshot at a listed velocity of 1,200 f.p.s. At this distance, the pellets spread out enough to form a relatively thin pattern evenly covering the target from top to bottom.
Heavy birdshot also spread quickly.
The second birdshot load was Winchester's Super X Heavy Game Load pushing 1-1/8 ozs. of No. 4 lead birdshot at 1,255 f.p.s. Once again, the resulting pattern effectively covered the target but with more pellets landing in the top two thirds.
I'm a longtime fan of the reduced-recoil 12-ga. buckshot loads. This is because they can get the job done at closer ranges without the shoulder-breaking kick of some cartridges. This makes them more manageable in relatively compact guns, like this one.
The 21 pellets of this #4 buckshot load formed a relatively open, but still useful, pattern.
Remington's Ultimate Defense Managed Recoil round is stoked with 21 pellets of No. 4 lead buckshot at a listed velocity of 1,200 f.p.s. The pellets formed a 17" pattern, which was a bit to the left of the bullseye—that's on me. With only 17 identifiable pellet marks on the paper, it's possible that some of them were clustered together to form the ragged hole or that they missed the paper to the left side of the target.
The 00 buckshot load pattern was a just-right size for its intended applications.
The last load patterned was Hornady's American Gunner Reduced Recoil 00 Buckshot round, which fires eight pellets at a listed velocity of 1,350 f.p.s. The 12" pattern was more of a linear shape than the more common grape cluster patterns. That happens once in a while, but I’ve seen it happen more often with .410 bore buckshot loads.
Heritage is continuing to expand its firearm catalog in fresh directions with long guns like the Bandlander.
The Heritage Badlander is a welcome addition to the slim selection of new production, side-by-side coach guns on the market these days. The relatively short 18.5" barrels may cause the patterns with some shells to open up more quickly. However, the gun swings so easily and pops up so nicely that any concerns about losing a bit of range are swallowed up in the enjoyment of working with it. Some folks will want the Badlander for cowboy-style shooting events, while others will want it for use as a simple, rugged and reliable multi-purpose shotgun. And there will be those who pick one up just because it will be a slick addition to their collection. Whatever an enthusiast's reason may be, the Bandlander is deserving of a closer look.
Heritage Badlander Specifications (Model BL1218BK)
Manufacturer: Büyük Huğlu, Turkey
Importer: Heritage Manufacturing Co.
Action Type: break-action, side-by-side shotgun
Chambering: 3"; 12 gauge
Barrels: 18.5" 4140 alloy steel, black-chrome finish, fixed cylinder bore choke
Receiver: box lock, alloy steel, black chrome finish
Capacity: 2-rounds
Sights: brass bead front sight
Triggers: 7-lb., 1-oz. pull, front; 7-lb., 15-oz. pull, rear
Overall Length: 35.5"
Drop at Comb: 1.5"
Drop at Heel: 2"
Accessories: owner's manual
MSRP: $894
