Customer Reviews

Smith & Wesson SWPENMPBK Military and Police Tactical Pen, Black

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is my first tactical pen (S&W Military & Police) and now that I've had it a week I've got some thoughts both pro and con:

PRO:

Solidly constructed; fit and finish excellent. Well balanced.

Comfortable to write with.

Size is just right, at least with the cap in place. I saw one review with the opinion it was 1/2"too short, but in my opinion if it were much longer it would not fit in typical shirt pockets.

The point would deliver a very painful jab even though it's not "sharp." It makes a nice intermediate stage between pulling a tactical knife and the use of pepper spray, both of which I also carry.

CON:

A lanyard loop on a pen is not only useless but looks odd. I'd have rather they made the upper 1/2" of the cap solid. I may fill it with some 1/8" stainless steel.

Now for my pet peeve with this item: The words "Smith & Wesson" are prominently embossed on the clip which will show when carried in a shirt pocket. Since tactical pens are supposed to be unobtrusive, a stealth self-defense tool you can take into places that wouldn't allow more obvious weapons, I find it rather mind-boggling that S&W decided to print something that even non-gun people would immediately connect with weapons. Sorry, Smith & Wesson, you blew it on this little detail. If you are a soldier, cop, or security officer this might escape notice but it would be immediately noticed if a "civilian" had it. Suffice it to say I would NEVER try to take this pen past a security checkpoint; it would probably be confiscated immediately or (if you're lucky) prohibited. Take a mini-mag type flashlight instead. I may remove the paint from the clip and just leave it as bare metal.

I remember researching these pens before I bought this one, which I advise because the cap on this model stays on differently than the other style. The cap locks on to either end and stays on, this part I liked. I also remember a review that recommends switching out the ink that comes with it for Parker Pen refills. That's all good and everything, but I had a Fischer Space Pen (Rite in the Rain, what have you) Refill on hand that I used instead. The Space pen refills are made shorter than other pen refills, but they also come with an opaque plastic adapter that increases the length of the refill for use in Parker pens. In the S&W pen, the pen cartridge is held in place with a spring that goes around the skinny part of the refill shaft that keeps the pressure on it to hold it in place. The Space pen refill is what I prefer because I use mainly the Fischer Space Pen/Rite in the Rain style black pens and Bullet pens. I think having a waterproof, write-anywhere ink refill is what a "tactical" pen would need for field work.

This pen means business...!!! It's rock solid and delivers an extremely sharp - mind bending - blow to anyone who happens to be on the wrong end of it. I will instantly disable an attacker (if you hit the right spot of course). It's really nice to hold and has a good grip. It's pointy enough to ensure maximum delivery of pain, yet not so pointy it would actually penetrate skin (unless you hit very hard). I like the lanyard hole and that the cap snaps on/off, no screw cap here.

The pen writes rather nicely out of the box (I'm sure you can find various other refills to suit your need), although it's a bit too heavy for writing an essay - for that I prefer a lighter pen, like the Pilot Precise V5 RT (my every day choice of pen).

Best thing about this pen is, it's 100% legal to carry anywhere. You can even take it with you past TSA security checks.

Great pen with a dual purpose. Two issues I have with the pen.

1) The metal used on the tip of the pen is not as hard or durable as I would like. I was fooling around with it and disfigured the tip by putting pressure on it. I can still use it but it just looks funny and doesn't encourage me to buy another.

2) The cap is held in place utilizing pressure from a piece of circular plastic inside the cap. It makes the cap have a very snug and tight fit around the pen, that is until the plastic cracks. The cap is now very loose and jiggles every time I use it. It has become quite annoying especially now that I feel it will eventually fall off. I had it for about 3 days before this happened.

i found out about tactical pens online and i thought the idea was just plain cool.
i saw the one with the glass breaker on it (forgot who made it) but it was like 150$ this was in my price range
this pen wont break glass but if you needed it to i think it would at minimum fracture a skull
i was worried about the snap on/off cap but the little thing is verry secure it takes 2-3 lbs of force to get the thing off (my estimation) the pen is solid and from the slight heft im fairly certain its steel
as far as the snap cap goes i could wear this swinging from my belt loop off a lanyard and i would not worry at all that the pen would come unsnaped

my only grype (can be fixed with locktite) is that the pen head where you put in the cartriges likes to unscrew while the pen is capped its never unscrewed all the way on me but i found it annoying. so i got some locktite and problem solved

This is a kubaton that can be used as a pen. It is too thick to use comfortably as a pen. It doesn't look like a pen, it looks like a weapon. It also has "Smith and Wesson stamped on it." People who don't know anything about kubatons will think it is memorably strange and people who do know something will not be fooled for a moment. The message it sends is, "I like tactical toys." Contrary to the lead review, it is not permitted on airplanes by the TSA and a man was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon by the TSA because he had a tactical pen. [...] If you use it in a defensive situation, you will have to explain why you came loaded for bear.

Unless you are interested in it as a tacticool collector's item, or operate in an environment where you can freely carry weapons and want everyone to know that you do, you'd be better off with any unobtrusive steel bodied pen.

I really like this pen, don't know if I will ever use it as a defensive weapon but I usually need to carry a pen around and this one just feels good and solid and it may come in handy in an unexpected situation. A minor compliant is that it took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to open the pen. To some extent this is because it is so well manufactured that the cap seems to be one piece with the body of the pen. But it simply pulls apart (with a lot of effort) , no twisting, pushing, buttons to pop etc. After removing the cap, it (the cap) securely snaps into the body so you won't misplace it. Maybe a simple instruction or diagram would have been helpful.

I like it a lot. The pen actually works very well as pen and I have had no problem with the pen cap. My only caveat is that the pen is bigger than it looks and does not fit in a shirt pocket quite as well as I had hoped it would.

I know that this pen is supposed to be a potential weapon but it's so big as to be hard to keep in my pocket. It's well made except the finish is failing after only a couple of months. I'll carry it as a heavy duty writing instrument. I wouldn't buy it again though. TOO big for daily carry.

There are men that want Mont Blancs, and there are guys who just want an uber cool pen that writes (almost) as well as a Mont. This S&W pen is for da big boyz. Whenever I take out this pen in meetings, all the other guys give it a double take and the resulting tactical pen demonstration disrupts the meeting. Half the fun of this pen is knowing the 'secret' to convert it from a tactical device to a pen. I also don't have to worry about ruining more pens when opening up shipping boxes when box cutters just aren't around when you need them.

I like this pen so much that I've given away several as gifts, and every single recipient told me it was the coolest gift they received.