Smith and Wesson Tactical Pen
Review by Phil Elmore
Taylor Cutlery, which holds the license for Smith and Wesson-branded knives and other accessories, has taken on the "tactical pen" market with a line of writing utensils that double as striking implements. The concept is simple enough: Any rigid cylinder roughly the span of your palm can be used with pocket-stick or yawara techniques. This is a proven method for enhancing the power and efficacy of your striking. A wooden or metal pocket stick cannot feel pain, doesn't break as easily as the bones of your hand, and concentrates the force of your strike into a smaller area, thus producing greater trauma.
Taylor's tactical pen is a 5.7-inch cylinder of CNC-machined 6061 T-6 aluminum. It tapers to a striking tip at the end opposite the pen cap. At its thickest, the pen is half an inch in diameter. Light grooves cover the cap portion, while flutes in the tapered body improve traction a little bit. The body is relatively slippery regardless, but not so slippery as to be unworkable.
The pocket clip is of steel and is marked with the Smith and Wesson logo. That's probably a liability. This pen won't pass for something ordinary or harmless thanks to its aggressive, fluted styling, but adding the licensed brand of a famous gun manufacturer guarantees that this pen isn't going to get through most security checkpoints (particularly those in Federal buildings and prior to boarding aircraft).
The pen cap is screwed firmly onto the body and stays in place during day-to-day carry. If you do choose to write something with your Smith and Wesson pen, the cap unscrews but does not really fit on the tapered rear of the pen body. It sort of does, by friction, but it's not going to stay there firmly.
The pen writes well enough, though it's nothing special. It accepts any standard Parker, Hauser, or other compatible Gigant 012 refill. The writing tip unscrews from the tapered barrel to provide access to the ink cartridge.
This pen is solid enough, heavy enough, and of the proper length to do some real damage when used as a pocket stick. The tapered point accentuates that potential. Unfortunately, however, it looks like nothing so much as a standard aluminum yawara into which a pen has been inserted. If the purpose of a "tactical pen" is to look like a pen and not a weapon, this Smith and Wesson tool fails in its purported mission. It is, however, cheaper by roughly half than its competitors, notably Benchmade, which will be a selling point to some. >>
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