5.56 Nato cartridge pen with camo blank

[Joe Burns]

Here is my latest effort. Its a 5.56 Nato cartridge pen with a camo blank. Pen was a consignment as a birthday gift for a marine recruiter.

Not sure I like the 5.56 as a pen. Id prefer something a little longer and beefier. First time turning one of these blank. Sorry for the white balance in the photo. Have a grey card on the way so I can set a custom setting.

Joe

 

[jasontg99]

Joe,

I agree on the longer and beefier comment. It seems a little out of balance to me.

Jason

 

[sbell111]

The 5.56 cartridge is so short that you are forced to go with a long top section to make the 7mm mechanism work. To balance out this cartridge/kit combo, I think that you would have to use a light colored top half or segment the top half so that there is still some sort of 'break' line around the middle of the pen.

 

[LeeR]

On a positive note I like the simple pocket clip. Not at all fond of those dorky rifle clips on the Woodcraft/Berea kits.

 

[Dbruner]

Great job...I make a lot of cartridge pens, but tend to stick with .308's or 30-06's...very nice job with the blank.



DAX

 

[bobjackson]

Give them what they want. I agree it is unbalanced, but nice job. I'm sure he will love it.

 

[JD Combs Sr]

I am sure the recruiter will like it, execution is great. However, one other detracting feature on it other then the lack of center balance is the size of the 5.56mm bullet(not much larger then a 22cal). The smaller size(over 2mm down from 7.62mm 30cals) makes the nib hole appear oversize in a photo. I go along with Dax, I will be sticking with the larger calibers.

 

[Sylvanite]

However, one other detracting feature on it other then the lack of center balance is the size of the 5.56mm bullet(not much larger then a 22cal).

The reason that the bullet from a 5.56x45mm NATO (a.k.a. 223 Remington) cartridge looks like a 22 caliber, is that well, it IS a 22 caliber (0.224" diameter) bullet. When building a pen from a 5.56x45mm NATO or 7.62x39mm Russian cartridge, you can pretty much make the upper barrel any length you like. A shorter barrel may look more proportionate to the cartridge, but results in a very short pen. A longer barrel, as shown here, may appear top-heavy, but yields a more standard length pen. It's a trade-off.

30-06 is by far the most popular caliber, but many customers specifically want a 5.56 NATO pen, or just prefer the slimmer cartridge.

Joe, I think the pen looks just fine and trust your customer will be very happy with it.

Regards,
Eric

 

[MSGMP]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I am sure the customer and the Marine will love it. Being retired Army, I fired more of those rounds than I care to count but would love a pen made from one as I am sure anyone who was in the service would. Great job on it. Ever want to sell a few of the unturned kits, PM me.

 

[Joe Burns]

Appreciate it everyone. The client did like it. I'll probably hear how the Marine liked it this week.

Eric, I hear you there. The request was for a 5.56. It was a great kit and easy to make. I really like the 3006 kit. Built one with white tail antler and gave it to my son for Christmas. I'm itching to try one of your magnum kits soon.

MSGMP, I fired a bunch of them back in the 70s myself. Carried a M16A1 with a M203 attached for a while at Ft. Campbell. Probably why I don't care for the assault style rifles. Actually I bought the kit to make the pen. You can get them from Eric at http://www.bulletpenkits.com.

Joe