I made the rounds of my local pawn shops last Saturday, one I visited was extremely busy, probably 10 or more people waiting to be served by the two guys who worked there. I looked at the handgun display and saw a Heritage "Barkeep" 2.6" barrel .22 caliber single action revolver, price $169. Way too busy to look at it Saturday, so I went home and did a little Internet research on this model, and found it seems to have a good reputation for accuracy, reliability and longevity, so I went back to look at it Monday morning when they weren't so busy.

The good thing about dealing with this pawn shop is they will take almost anything in as trade, so once I decided to get it I ran some yard sale items past them, and they gave me $25 credit, so out the door I was at $150....

I've spent the last two days wringing this little .22 out, and I am very pleased. It is way more accurate than it should be, holding it's own with other full size, quality .22 revolvers like a Ruger Single Six.

Here's some pics, comes with a little steel rod to punch out the empty brass as the barrel is too short to host an ejector rod housing:





Shooting results at 15 yards, 12 rounds, standing two hand hold. Aiming black is 1 3/4", I was able to keep 10 out of 12 in the black:



Stepping back to 30 yards showed just how accurate this revolver is, and how well the sights are regulated. This is an 8" diameter piece of steel, it was fairly easy to keep all hits on the steel at 30 yards:



I can see many uses for this revolver, trapping comes to mind. Tackle box and truck gun, fun revolver for teaching youth to shoot. I don't really need a good use, I'll just shoot the heck out of it and let the Great-Nieces and Nephews have at it.

Shooting this revolver took me back to my High School days when I was spending my hard earned pay of $2.50 an hour on guns, with the blessing of my Mother. $67.50 bought me a Ruger Standard .22, a good buy and wise choice. $40 or so bought me a Harrington and Richardson 949 Western Style revolver, that one, not so much of a good buy. Spit lead from day one, horrendous trigger, and poor accuracy. A dissapointment. At $40 it cost me over two days pay. This Heritage "Barkeep" cost me right around one days pay today, and it is way more satisfying......

You all must have a better class of bars in VA than we do around here. All the bar owners I know keep a 12 gauge riot gun under the bar!

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No school like the old school.

I was surprised to see these priced at $139 at a local gun show this past weekend. That is amazingly cheap even for what they are. Heck even a fancy dinner out for 2 will run you about the same.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

I have one with a slightly longer barrel and have zero complaints about function or accuracy. I’m not a fan of the funky manual safety but for the price point I’m willing to ignore that feature. I honestly don’t know how they can manufacture a firearm in this day and age and sell it for that price point and make money.

I’ve heard the cylinders from the 9 shot variant can drop right into these as well and function. Like you I think the bar keep is the most interesting example, especially if I could squeeze a 9 shot cylinder into it!


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That Barkeep looks like it's all grip!!

I like it. Lots of fun for not much money. Winner, winner.

I have had a few Heritage revolvers through the years all did what they were supposed to do that one begs for a birdshead grip frame.

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Randy

Never had any experience with any Heritage, and have never even fired one. I have a friend who owns one, and he seems to like it. And the price is right. I was with my friend when he bought his, and that was probably 8-10 years ago. I think it was around $100 back then, maybe even less.

Rural King has the Heritage revolvers on sale quite often for very reasonable prices. Lately they have had the Barkeep model on sale. Never owned one so don’t know much about them. When I bought a Ruger Wrangler from them they told me the Heritage outsells the Wrangler because of the lower price.

For what it is, it's a pretty nice shooting revolver. I bought a .22 Mag cylinder for mine and it shoots where I want it to, with either .22 calibers. I bought my daughter the regular Rough Rider about 6 years ago and it has performed well every time it was out to play. Those Barkeeps are handy little guns. I have mine in a holster inside my driver's door pocket cup holder sometimes. I still don't leave it in there overnight. It's a cheap gun but the bullets are real; there are enough stolen guns on our streets.
I'd recommend one to anybody for whatever reason you may have to shoot a few desparate hombre beer cans.

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Waiting For The Sun.