shell casing pens

[Boomer]

I am interested in turning a few pens with a rifle casing as part of the pen. I thought I read on here awhile back that someone is selling them ready to go with the tube inserted.
My second question is where do you find the copper looking end for the pen. Thanks in advance for any and all help. Thank you.

 

[edman2]

David,
There are three folks on the forum that I know of that sell shell casings. Sylvanite sells them with real bullet installed (you have to glue in the tubes), EddieO sells them with real bullet, tube and transmission installed, and Gary Max sells the casings with tube installed (You use a regular slimline copper pen nib if you want that color).
There may be others. Check the three diffenent classified forums and you will find their ads. Hope you are not under water there in Cedar Rapids.

 

[Sylvanite]

If you want to make a pen using a rifle case and a slimline or euro kit nib, contact Gary Max. His latest offer, http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37095, is closed but he sells them pretty regularly.

If you want to make a pen with a rifle case using a drilled-out bullet for the nib, I can help you there. My classified at is at http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29751. I sell them in a variety of calibers and styles for use with slimline, cigar, and other kits. If you like, I'll even supply all the remaining slimline parts to make the complete pen. When you buy this way, I install the tube and transmission for you. Rifle clips and custom laser marking are available. See my website (at the second url in my signature) for full details.

Regards,
Eric

 

[sbell111]

You can also make these yourself. The brass and bullets are quite inexpensive and the process to turn them into a pen is not complicated.

 

[bitshird]

The worst part is having to buy 100 cartridges and 100 bullets, but you can also solder the tubes in place, I've been a bit leary of the glued in tubes[B)][B)]

 

[Sylvanite]

Originally posted by sbell111

You can also make these yourself. The brass and bullets are quite inexpensive and the process to turn them into a pen is not complicated.

Absolutely. It takes a few tries to develop the technique for drilling clean, concentric holes (especially through lead) without marring the surface (or breaking a drill bit) -- but it is not especially difficult. You can do it without specialized reloading tools, but even those are not outrageously expensive.

Originally posted by bitshird

The worst part is having to buy 100 cartridges and 100 bullets, but you can also solder the tubes in place, I've been a bit leary of the glued in tubes

If you want to try drilling the case and bullet yourself but are stopped by having to buy components in quantity, send me an email. I buy cases by the thousand, and bullets in boxes of 250. I can sell them piecemeal at a reasonable price (plus shipping).

I won't dispute that a good solder joint is stronger than a press-fit, or (possibly) a CA glue joint. For a pen, however, I do believe that press-fit and CA are sufficient. After all, we press-fit the slimline transmission. If the other joints are stronger than that one, does it really matter how much stronger they are? I've only ever had one cartridge pen CA bond fail, and that was a brass/wood joint, not a brass/brass joint. Soldering wouldn't have helped there.

Regards,
Eric

 

[wolftat]

Eric the cartridges that were sent over to me while I was in Iraq were top notch. I had a couple of other guys on my lathe and we all liked the way they were made. I gave most of them away, but I did keep one for myself, but it was lost while working a rough job. If anyone is looking to make a pen from a cartridge, we did some in the tent in Iraq while off duty, so anyone with just a little time can tube them and make a nice pen in a shop with basic tools. We used CA to glue the tubes and they held up under some tough conditions. They are easy to assemble if you are willing to try.