PSI's Phoenix Rising and Lever Action (Rifle) Kits

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magpens

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Feb 2, 2011
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15,913
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Canada
Just wondering .....

I have wanted to try these two kits for some time.

Finally did.

When finished, both of these pens are much too heavy (around 70+ grams) in my opinion.

The Phoenix Rising is a very attractive idea and seems to be a much better manufactured kit than some similar fairly recent new kit ideas. The final weight is its only drawback.

The Lever Action as a pen design is not all that attractive but I wanted to give it a go anyway. . Having done so, I am not impressed with the result. . Apart from being too heavy, the other things I noticed are that the alignment, shape, and quality of the metal gunstock (which is optional) are rather below my expectations, and the telescope rotates in its mount so that the aiming alignment of the sights is not accurate unless you can find a way to get a tiny bit of thin CA into the very tight telescope mount.

I would be interested in other people's opinions.

I could have made these comments as reviews on the website, but perceived negative reviews never seem to make it through to being publicly viewable.
 
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elyk864

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Jun 12, 2017
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Phoenix, AZ
I agree with the Lever Action kit, it's kinda neat but almost useless as an actual pen. Wasn't impressed with the work needed to make the stock fit right either.
 

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cdwrrtx

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Jul 30, 2018
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Round Rock, TX
Made one of the lever action as well. Will not make another.

Donated it along with a bullet pen that I didn't make to a Friends of the NRA banquet. Live auction item for choice of one, double your bid and you get both.

Bid went to $100 and buyer doubled. So helped raise $200 for FNRA.
 

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Skie_M

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Aug 7, 2015
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Lawton, Ok
I don't recall where I got my lever action pen kits .... I'm pretty sure it was NOT PSI, as PSI has only just recently introduced them and I've had these kits sitting on my shelf for over a year now. I think I got them from Dawn and Ed, but not 100% certain, I'ld have to look through a bunch of paperwork to find out.


I have never had any issues with PSI blanking or pulling a negative review from me. My reviews of their products got handled through a 3rd party company, for transparency. They were posted to the site and PSI could not affect them directly. They DID contact me concerning my issues and we were able to work out that the problem was from a manufacturing end, so they sent me replacement parts right away that fit and worked, and so I updated my review to reflect this and my satisfaction with the service that I had received.

I am happy to say that I am pretty satisfied with the products that I've gotten from PSI and many other sources. However ... I do have to agree with Mal, in that some of the "specialty" pens from PSI do tend to be on the heavy side. Those metal detail parts need to be strong in order to stand up to daily wear and tear, and strong means it's gotta be thick ... perhaps a bit heavy ....

The PSI Dragon pens are made the exact same way as the Pheonix, just with different cast designs in the band and clip, ect ... any other specialty pen of the same basic design is going to be just as heavy. You can help alleviate this by using a lighter weight blank, but the issue with that is that the total balance of the pen will just feel .... off ....

Now ... if we could ask PSI to make a lighter version of these specialty pens, say out of Aluminum, with a steel clip, and colorize them to match their current offerings (or even just leave them nickel chrome bright or polished aluminum) then the total weight of the pen might drop by quite a bit .... but the durability of it would ALSO drop quite a bit ... (if the clip were also aluminum it would snap off easily).


I'ld like to actually call them up and make a suggestion, if they can get the parts turned rather than cast, because the alloy I am thinking of cannot be cast.... There used to be a metal alloy that was thought to be the next best greatest invention for all of aviation history worldwide. This metal was called "Durasteel". It had less than half the weight of steel, but similar tensile strength and much lower density. It was harder than plain aluminum ... it contained 1 part each aluminum, titanium, and magnesium, so 33.3% of each metal, with no iron, so it was non-magnetic as well.

There's only one reason why planes and other things that fly are NOT made of this alloy.

This material made up 70% of the structure as well as the exterior wind baffle and interior tanks of The Hindenburg. Upon examination of the reasons for WHY it caught fire and burned the way it did .... they discovered that this alloy is flammable, due to the magnesium included, and that aluminum and titanium only made this reaction take longer.

As most people dont just stick their pens into fire or carry hydrogen inside of them, it SHOULD be safe to make into pen bodies, right?
 
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