It’s no secret the firearms market saw a huge increase in imported guns since the latter half of 2020, with a particular rise in affordable Turkish-made shotguns. These range from basic hunting and home defense guns to the more tacticool-type magazine-fed shotguns. The low price point is what stands out the most about these firearms. While affordable price tags can be attractive, it’s not worth much without some reliability to back it up.
We got in two of our best-selling Turkish imports from Landor Arms – the AR-style LND-117 shotgun and the bullpup BPX 902 – to give them a whirl on the range and see if the reliability could be paired with the affordable price.
Functionality, Specs, Feel in the Hand
Functionally, both shotguns are 12 gauge, magazine fed, and chambered for 3-inch shells. That’s about where the comparisons end. The AR shotgun, as the name implies, imitates the AR-15 in controls and style. On the other hand, the BPX 902 is a bullpup-style shotgun, providing a more compact package. Funny enough, the BPX has a charging handle that resembles the AR-15, while the AR-style LND-117 has a charging handle that more closely resembles a traditional semi-auto hunting or competition shotgun.
As a bullpup, the BPX 902 is more positioned to be useful in tight quarters. Its overall length is 33.5 inches with an 18.5-inch barrel. You can compare that to the AR-style LND-117, which has the same 18.5-inch barrel but adds an additional 4 inches to the total length.
Overall, both guns are quite heavy in the hand, but they’re also not designed for swinging on upland birds. The LND-117 weighs in at 7.9 pounds, while its shorter brother weighs in at a slightly chunkier 8.1 pounds. These are both weights without any optics or accessories on them, which many owners will want to add. Check out how the rest of the specs stack up below.
Mounting Options
Speaking of add-ons, you’ll find MLOK and Picatinny rail along the entire top of both shotguns and under the foregrip of each as well. You’ll also find KeyMod toward the back of the foregrip on the LND-117. How useful that KeyMod is at that location is a subject of debate. Since it resides directly over the spring with very little clearance, it seems like mounting any accessories could actually jam the gun.
While we didn’t test this out, it should be noted for those with KeyMod accessories. But for those who have accessories readily available in all three attachment methods, you’re in luck with the LND-117.
Field Testing and Reliability
This is where the rubber meets the road. If the guns only look cool but don’t function, then they’re of little use. The more reliable of the two for us was the BPX 902, which ate everything I fed to it ranging from heavy Federal Vital-Shok 3-inch loads moving at 1,225 fps to budget-friendly 2¾-inch Remington target loads with a slower 1,145 fps. On top of the reliability of the BPX, I also found it to be the softer shooting of the two, most likely due to the nature of its bullpup design.
The AR-style LND-117, on the other hand, didn’t prove as willing to chew through just anything. It certainly didn’t like the target loads. We tried to feed it an intermediary between the Federal and the Remington – 2¾-inch Winchester Defender 00 Buck moving at 1,145 FPS – but it would stovepipe these loads regularly without reliably cycling them. The only shells it could reliably cycle were the 3-inch Federal loads.
The AR shotgun produced much more felt recoil, and I do mean quite a bit more. The LND-117 also had a trigger that was not great, to put it nicely, while the BPX 902 trigger was light and crisp. This made follow-up shots easier. I could see an enjoyable afternoon of shooting the BPX, but I’m not sure I could say the same for the LND-117.
That said, the AR shotgun had more intuitive controls and seemed much easier to use in terms of basic firearms manipulation. For example, the mag release on the BPX seems backward for a right-handed shooter, making for an awkward mag drop and reload scenario.
Another word of caution, the BPX will not be your friend if you are a lefty. The ejection pattern would hit you right in the face. I don’t need to speculate about this either. Thanks to some of our good 2A friends on YouTube, we know what the results will be if you’re a lefty and decide to operate.
Finally, let's talk triggers. The BPX again proved to be the favorite here with a trigger that offered a nice light pull and a surprisingly clean break. The LND, on the other hand, had a much longer and heavier trigger with a clunky break to it. The trigger alone made the BPX an enjoyable shooting shotgun.
A Cure for the AR Shotgun?
It can be a little frustrating that the LND-117 will only function with 3-inch, higher-velocity loads, but that doesn’t mean that this will always be the case. Many Turkish shotguns, like the Retay Gordion that we’ve reviewed in the past, have a “break-in period” of 200 shells. While there is no stated break-in period for the LND-117 or the BPX 902, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
After doing some research, I’ve found a few useful suggestions that others said helped them cycle the lower-power ammo more reliably. The first suggestion is to do exactly what we just talked about. Give the gun a break-in period with 300-400 rounds of high-velocity 00 buckshot.
If you don’t have the money or inclination to go to the range for a break-in period, it has been suggested to lock the action back and let the gun sit for a month or two. The spring compression over a lengthy period of time seems to release some of the tension so it can more reliably cycle loads with less thump. Given that this is essentially an affordable straight-blowback, magazine-fed shotgun, it’s not entirely surprising that this is an issue.
If you don’t want to wait a month or two to try this like me, it has also been suggested to just cycle the action manually a few hundred times to get the same desired result.
It should be noted that none of these methods have been independently tested by Guns.com. But we’ve had the action locked back on the LND-117 for over a month and plan to go to the range with it again soon to test the theory.
Conclusion
These Turkish shotguns are both affordable and overall fun to shoot. I particularly found the BPX 902 to be a lot of fun at the range because of the bullpup design, reliability, and overall tacticool aesthetic it gives off. While I tested this gun on a private range, I would have no doubts it would draw some gazes and admiration from fellow range goers at any public range.
Stay tuned to Guns.com as we continue to put these guns through their paces in the coming weeks and months.
