Ati Cavalry Road Agent Side by Side Shotgun Review
One of the most useful and versatile guns in the Old West was the side-by-side double-barreled shotgun. It usually had a prominent place behind the front door of a pioneer'southward motel or "soddy," putting meat on the tabular array or keeping iv- or ii-legged predators at bay.
The double gun was also a favorite of stagecoach guards (riding shotgun) and express agents, plus peace officers of all kinds. Of course, outlaws took to it for the same reasons, and it helped in the robbery of many banks and stagecoaches or trains. Today, the side-by-side double gun is nevertheless pop with hunters and sees some defense use past homeowners, but information technology seems the biggest market for these guns is Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS).
I recently became enlightened of a side-by-side scattergun that appears to exist tailor-made for CAS use: the American Tactical Road Agent. With that moniker and the image it projects, you tin almost see a ghostly visage of Black Bart in the groundwork pulling a holdup on a Wells Fargo stagecoach. Made in Turkey, this shotgun has a lot of features that modern-day "cowboys" will about likely appreciate.
Amanuensis Details
The American Tactical Road Agent is an expansion of AT'southward Cavalry shotgun line, and my test gun came in a segmented paper-thin box containing the barrels, receiver/buttstock and forend. Also in the box was a plastic container with three choke tubes and a wrench, a safety padlock and two sample packets of Extreme Duty Gun Oil from Lucas Oil Products. Of course, at that place was also a detailed owner's manual that included warranty and product registration information. Looking at the choke tubes, I wondered how to tell them apart until I saw some piffling "dash" cuts on the muzzle stop. Per the owner's manual, five dashes meant cylinder diameter, four stood for improved cylinder (both of which were already installed), then you had modified, improved modified and full chokes. They spiral in and out using the supplied wrench.
I gave all of the components a look-see, and everything appeared to be well fabricated, with very good marks for fit and finish. The left barrel was light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation-etched with the gauge and chamber size, and the two are held together with a solid rib that has a shallow U-shape. Rising upward from the breech, there is a small-scale five-shaped notch for a rear sight where the rib meets the breechface of the receiver. The barrels are 18½ inches long and fitted with a brass dewdrop front sight. The bluing has a not-reflective matte terminate.
The American Tactical Road Agent has a regular extractor, with no ejectors per Unmarried Action Shooting Society (SASS) requirements. At the breech, the chambers are chamfered for piece of cake insertion of shotshells.
The receiver is a shade darker and is fabricated of aluminum blend, which helps keep the unloaded weight down to 5.iii pounds. It is a two-piece affair, with the larger portion having the butt hinge, barrel locking machinery and breech lever. I'll refer to the smaller portion as the action/trigger associates, and information technology is simply that, plus the triggerguard. Laser-etched engraving is present on the sides and elevation of the receiver as well as the bottom of the triggerguard, which I could honestly practice without.
Old Look, Modern Tech
The actually unique components here are the exposed hammers and the "Auto-Erect" action. You become the flavor of a "mule-eared" double gun with a modern technological advantage. When yous break the action open to load or unload the gun, the exposed hammers are automatically put into the full-cocked position. As double guns must be staged open at CAS matches, all that is required is to choice upwardly the open gun, load 2 shells, close the barrels and shoot. You don't have to cock the hammers manually, and at that place'south no automatic safety to remember to take off.
Adding to this, a decocker lever tin can be found on the left side of the receiver, just below the hammer. Information technology has three positions, with a small pointer indicating what position it is in. This corresponds with three small messages etched into the receiver just ahead of the lever. The first is "Due south" for safe, and this locks the triggers with the hammers cocked. Next is "F" for fire, and is "D" for decock. When the lever moves to the latter position, both hammers safely drop without striking the firing pins. The double triggers themselves have a silver terminate. The front trigger is for the right barrel, and the rear fires the left barrel.
Paw-finished and fitted Turkish walnut is used for the buttstock and forend. My test gun had pretty decent figuring and attractive lilliputian "bird'south eyes" in the wood. I'm going to estimate that the checkering on the pistol grip of the buttstock and the forend is washed by machine; it is very fine and intricate. There's besides a ventilated recoil pad that is textured at the rear so as not to skid on the shoulder. The length of pull from the front and rear triggers is xv½ and 14¾ inches, respectively. The drib at the heel is 2¼ inches while the drib at the comb is 1¾ inches.
A large takedown latch is located on the underside of the forend, expertly inletted into the wood with a round indentation to admission the release lever. The wood-to-metal fit shows the wood just slightly oversized where it meets the receiver, but I won't shave off many points for that.
When I beginning picked upwardly the aircraft box, I noted that information technology was a bit heavy. A second wait revealed 3 boxes of 12-approximate shotshells from AT, likewise produced in Turkey. There were 25 rounds in each box—what we would term "low brass" with a three-dram equivalent powder charge and 1 ounce of #7½ shot. These are ii¾-inch shells with red plastic hulls and natural brass bases. They are nicely rounded on the sides of the crimp and then as to brand chambering a bit easier. As low-brass #7½ shotshells are perfect for CAS use, I decided to use these at the side by side SASS friction match I attended.
I thought it prudent to design the American Tactical Road Agent to see how it would do at the range or in the field before I actually went to a match. While holes in the pattern won't affair much for CAS use, I did want to make certain the shot column matched up with where I put the bead front sight.
Even though I planned to use the AT-supplied shells at the CAS friction match, I was curious to see what another brands of 2¾-inch shells would do. I selected a box of Spanish-made Suprema Game & Target shells from TulAmmo, a 3.25-dram load with 1 ounce of #7½ shot, low-contumely and scarlet plastic hulls. I also chose another load from Kingdom of spain: Rio's depression-contumely, two.75-dram Target shells filled with ane.12 ounces of #7½ shot and contained in blue plastic hulls. For targets, I decided to use Shoot-N-C B-27 silhouette centers from Birchwood Casey. They are most the size of many of the falling steel shotgun targets at SASS matches and show patterns well.
I figured that ten yards was near the average distance for shotgun targets at SASS matches, so I used that equally my patterning range. I put two of the B-27 targets adjacent on my target stand up, with a red dot in the center for an aiming point. Shooting the AT shells commencement, I noted two things: This lightweight scattergun kicks a scrap, and the shot was going only a tad higher than my point of aim. The correct barrel went slightly right of center, and the left barrel went slightly left, and it pretty much stayed that way with the Rio and Suprema shells, also.
The AT shells had the tightest pattern for two shots. Y'all have to remember that this gun has short 18½-inch barrels, plus the chokes were cylinder and improved cylinder, so open up was the guild of the day. The Rio loads patterned just a chip larger, and the Suprema shells opened up a bit coming out the left barrel. I really wasn't concerned about the point of aim/point of bear on, as information technology wasn't plenty to brand a big difference on falling steel targets. The patterns were fairly uniform, with no gaping holes between the impacts on the targets.
Match Fourth dimension
To really run into how the American Tactical Road Agent would run, it took it to an SASS match. I used the AT #vii½ shells, conveying them in a six-shell slide on my gun belt. I also decided to utilise 2 .45 Colt sixguns and a Model 1892 lever-action reproduction in .357 Magnum. We had fantastic weather for an early September day in Southern Indiana, which didn't injure anybody's shooting one flake.
I signed up to shoot in the Senior category and, as usual, just shot against myself with the fervent hope for a clean match with no misses or errors. There were 26 shotgun targets spread across six main match stages, and I did not record a single miss. In SASS, if you miss a shotgun target, you lot shoot until it falls. I bobble I did have was with the decocker lever on the American Tactical Road Amanuensis. It has to exist fully in the "burn down" notch if you desire it to go off. I'd been showing the gun around to my compadres and neglected to check the lever—I was surprised when I pulled the front trigger and the right-side hammer didn't fall.
Except for that single "Oh, Hades!" moment, the American Tactical Road Agent did just fine. Information technology was fast to load with the hammers pre-artsy. When firing on four to six targets in a stage, the Auto-Cock feature seemed to make things fifty-fifty quicker and easier. Empty shells fell right out of the chambers without the niggling flip I commonly requite the shotgun in one case I've broken it open to help the spent hulls fly out. The front bead was fast to observe. Even though it's brusk, the shotgun swung smoothly from target to target. The recoil pad did a commendable chore, and that fine checkering on the stock prevented any slippage during fast handling.
On the whole, the American Tactical Road Agent impressed and believe it is a solid value for the price. I'd similar to see a matte silver or natural aluminum finish on the receiver in place of the engraving, just that's all I'd alter.
American Tactical Road Agent Specs
| Guess: 12; 3-inch chambers |
| Barrel: 18.5 inches |
| OA Length: 35.five inches |
| Weight: five.3 pounds (empty) |
| Stock: Turkish walnut |
| Sights: Bead front, notch rear |
| Activeness: Suspension |
| Finish: Blued, anodized |
| Capacity: 2 |
| MSRP: $600 |
American Tactical Road Amanuensis Operation
| Shotshells | Velocity | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| American Tactical ane-ounce #7½ | ane,235 | thirteen.54 |
| Rio 1.12-ounce #vii½ Target | 1,150 | 14.21 |
| Suprema 1-ounce #7½ Game & Target | 1,315 | xv.78 |
*Velocity in fps per MFG specifications and pattern in inches for two shots at 10 yards with cylinder and improved cylinder chokes.
For more than, visit americantactical.usa or call 585-328-0945.
This commodity is from the winter 2018 issue of "Guns of the Old W." To club a copy and subscribe to the magazine, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.
Source: https://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/shotguns/american-tactical-road-agent-shotgun/
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