Tactical Pen?

[Monocrom]

I had a Timberline Lightfoot. These were some of the first of the genre. Wrote great and would have worked perfectly in a pinch. Then I had two separate strangers make comments about my tac pen, and the fact that TSA is wise to them, I traded it...for a Spyderco. Zebra makes good pens that are sanitized and would work fine.

The Zebra F-701 is not nearly as strong as it looks. It's actually very weak where the smooth portion of the barrel meets the checkered one. As a pen, it's fine. For any sort of impact, it has a tendency to snap where the smooth meets the checkering.

[TheRaven]

I have gone thru quite a few edc pens--some tac pens some regular pens. I've found the big tac pens draw unwanted attention. If you want a big pen that could be used as a tac pen and won't draw unwanted attention, I'd go with a luxury pen. Something like a Montblanc made of high strength resin; they're are surprisingly sturdy.

After going thru numerous edc pens, I've settled on the hinderer flame ti investigator. I've flown 8 times with it and haven't been stopped by TSA. I've lent it out a dozen times, and pretty much everyone I lent it to complemented it. People asked where they could get one but lost interest when they heard it was $200. I guess people don't see the pen as tactical because it's quite small.

Btw, I don't carry it because I like tactical pens, I just think it's a great edc pen.

I'd be interested in a spyderco pen if they came out with one???

[twinboysdad]

Monocrom

not trying to give you a hard time, but are you saying you have snapped one? In training? Against what surface? My point, and believe me I am no tactical dude, is I would rather have a sturdy writing pen that might not still be useable after impact usage but be sanitary. I would wager a tac pen in use is good for a few whacks in a real SD scenario. People have been maimed and taken out of fights by plastic Bics for years. Do they still work good enough to sign your re-fi after impact use? Probably not, but they weigh a lot less for daily use and they write well and are low key. Again, my second post about steel toed nice shoes is what I would like to see developed. In my mind the tac pen has had its sun set, the TSA grabs them and you can be detained or worse. Buy what any of you like, but 2 different strangers asked me about my "tactical pen" and that is why I no longer have one.

[Monocrom]

I have gone thru quite a few edc pens--some tac pens some regular pens. I've found the big tac pens draw unwanted attention. If you want a big pen that could be used as a tac pen and won't draw unwanted attention, I'd go with a luxury pen. Something like a Montblanc made of high strength resin; they're are surprisingly sturdy.

Sorry, going to have to disagree with you. This is going back a bit to my days as a Sales Associate at Colorado Pen Company. We easily sold more "precious resin" MB Solitaires than any other model from MB and other brands combined. On average, about once a week, we'd get a very angry customer in the door. Same, exact, story every time.

We sold the customer a Solitaire. Customer dropped it on the sidewalk. The pen shattered! Not scratched, not cracked. But literally shattered. They'd be standing there with the shattered pieces in one hand, with the rest of the pen in the other ... And pure hatred in their eyes. Luckily our store (#30) used to be located inside Roosevelt Field Mall. Literally upstairs from us was a Mont Blanc store. We'd tell the customer that we could send the pen in for them, and they'd have to wait at least 6-8 weeks for an official reply from MB. Or, they could go upstairs right now and deal with MB directly.

Guess which option they chose 100% of the time? :D

Oh! The MB employees hated us! Absolutely. We didn't care. Their product, their angry customers. We were just an AD. We simply happened to be fortunate considering where there was an MB store located from us. There actually were a couple of confrontations between our staff and their staff (both times both opposing managers were present).

When it came to customers we liked, those who treated us decently; we'd at least tell them to buy the more expensive stainless steel MB Solitaires as stay away from the "Ridiculously fragile precious resin" ones. They'd ask why ... and we'd tell them.

[Monocrom]

Monocrom

not trying to give you a hard time, but are you saying you have snapped one? In training? Against what surface?

Yup ... Yup ... and a heavily duct-taped punching bag. Have also had numerous other members on a different forum I post on, report similar results. It's an excellent pen. But far more fragile than it looks.

My point, and believe me I am no tactical dude, is I would rather have a sturdy writing pen that might not still be useable after impact usage but be sanitary. I would wager a tac pen in use is good for a few whacks in a real SD scenario. People have been maimed and taken out of fights by plastic Bics for years. Do they still work good enough to sign your re-fi after impact use? Probably not, but they weigh a lot less for daily use and they write well and are low key. Again, my second post about steel toed nice shoes is what I would like to see developed. In my mind the tac pen has had its sun set, the TSA grabs them and you can be detained or worse. Buy what any of you like, but 2 different strangers asked me about my "tactical pen" and that is why I no longer have one.

With a good pen for striking an attacker, weight and metal construction are two factors that really come into play. Some members on the other site have reported snapped F-701s after only one strike. Not good. You realistically might need more than one to extricate yourself out of a bad situation. Also, except for the TSA, security at many other places have no clue about the more subtle tactical pen designs. But if you want something that isn't marked as a tactical pen, I recommend heading down to a local Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, etc. and checking out their heavier metal pens. (Especially some of current Cross offerings at Staples. Cross isn't what it used to be, which ironically means quite a few of their pen models now are more suitable for striking than writing; and they're cheaper than they used to be.)

[demoncase]

Regardless of the pointy nature of most of the tactical pens, they do actually have a VERY practical use at work- particularly in the aerospace industry:

1. They have an aluminium body which doesn't turn to snot when exposed to oils, solvents and (particularly in my case) Skydrol/Hyet aviation hydraulic fluid- an electric-blue coloured oil which can dissolve a Bic biro into a pool of stickyness in 5 minutes
2. Mine have no cap and are twisty-opening ones- pens with caps are considered a very bad thing in aerospace and aviation from a FOD perspective- no-one wants that lost pentop you'd forgotten about rattling around inside a landing gear actuator when your 747 is coming in to land at LAX
3. They have a nice pocket clip and a solid feel- meaning it's a lot harder to lose the blessed thing or have it 'borrowed' by co-workers.
4. They are tough- The scratches and dings you get on a day-to-day pen in an office/factory/international travel environment really rule out a 'nice' pen apart from at the desk

I don't subscribe to the 'mall-ninjery' concept of using a tactical pen to deftly incapacitate multiple assailants, ala Jason Bourne- I've got the reaction time of a frozen pizza and the motor-skills of a drunken potato....Though my blue-ink one has a 'window breaker' end which is useful for tapping pointedly on the desk when a meeting is failing to get to the point

I've got 2 no-brand chinese ones with twist-open rather than caps (for the reason I mentioned above) and both take standard Parker refills rather than the more expensive Fisher spacepen ones.... Wouldn't be without mine.

[Michael Janich]

I am a huge fan of tactical pens. Basically, they give you all the capabilities of a traditional "fist load" weapon like a yawara or Kubotan, but in an unobtrusive package that easily flies under the radar. Although the common misconception is that they are "stabbing" weapons, they really aren't. Penetrating skin is a lot tougher than people think and is literally a matter of point sharpness. This has been proven in a number of medical studies on tissue simulants and actual human cadavers, including this relatively recent one: http://www.maths.nuigalway.ie/~destrade ... ade_91.pdf. Simply put, blunt-pointed objects don't penetrate very well. They mak break the skin and draw blood, but they are not knives.

What tactical pens do very efficiently is strike with focused impact, allowing you to hit much harder and generate much more pain that you would with an empty hand alone. To do this well, you need a pen that is structurally sound and can withstand the force of impact, one that is designed to provide a solid grip without endangering the safety of your hand, and one that is not so overtly weaponized that it gets taken away from you. In the old days before purpose-designed tactical pens I carried a stainless steel Cross pen. It definitely had the strength and low profile, but it was a bit slippery. About five years ago, I discovered Tuff-Writer pens and have been carrying them exclusively ever since.

Tuff-Writer's products are 100% made in the USA from American materials and, in my opinion, are the perfect combination of high-quality construction, low-profile appearance, and devastating performance as impact weapons. I have beaten the snot out of my Tuff-Writers on a variety of different training targets--including solid wood--and they still look brand new. Best of all, I travel extensively--about 25 trips a year--and my Tuff-Writers have gone with me through airport security without a hitch. In fact, a few years ago, I traveled to the IWA show in Germany and was seated next to the editor of a major knife magazine. He was carrying a tactical pen from another company that was pretty aggressive looking. I had my Tuff-Writer. When we hit Frankfurt, we had to transfer flights and go through security again. I sailed through without a problem, but he was stopped for about 10 minutes as security scrutinized his pen. By the time they put their rubber gloves away, I was well into my second beer at the airport bar.

Final word... If you choose to carry a tactical pen, have some tactics to make it live up to its name. By itself, it will not ward off evil spirits or part the Red Sea, so learn how to use it and practice your skills diligently.

I hope this helps. Here's wishing you all a well-armed, safe and Happy Holiday Season!

Stay safe,

Mike

[eric m.]

Like Mike said above! They are not a primary weapon at all. What they are is an improvised weapon in an emergency or when you cannot carry a primary weapon in a specific area/location! In our prison system, guards working the blocks are unarmed because they are so outnumbered all the time! A tactical pen on your person can mean life or death because most attacks are by surprise! :D