Deltaboy1984
Member
I ran a test and the zebra 701 will go in a 1/2 in a roast with dress pants leg over it. I set it up to represent thigh strick.
Tactical Pens
- Thread starter JShirley
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Texan Scott
Member
Thanks again to JShirley for this review! It definitely provided me with the points for consideration in making my purchase decision... received mine today:
http://www.knifecenter.com/item/SWPENBK
Absolutely enamored with it. Good prices and quick, trouble-free service with this vendor, as well.
ETA: In addition to being a fine writing instrument, I like the fact that the cap screws on securely and that the striking end is not the writing point. This allows instant accessibility for use AND protected, tip-up carry to keep it from ruining my shirts.
http://www.knifecenter.com/item/SWPENBK
Absolutely enamored with it. Good prices and quick, trouble-free service with this vendor, as well.
ETA: In addition to being a fine writing instrument, I like the fact that the cap screws on securely and that the striking end is not the writing point. This allows instant accessibility for use AND protected, tip-up carry to keep it from ruining my shirts.
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TimboKhan
Member
John, I saw this far to late to comment, but I have used the s&w pen for a couple of years now. I have never used it with true serious intent, but I have done two serious restraints with it at work to prove a concept to some non-believers. I have nothing but love for it, plus the price was decent. I leave it at work, but it is in my shirt pocket every second of my workday.
Honestly, if I really needed to defend myself at work, the pen would be my first choice over the knife. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest one is I really don't want to have to cut someone up, along with legal problems related to carrying a knife at work. I get away with it, but strictly speaking I am not supposed to carry anything larger than a little penknife. Also, and perhaps naively, I think my wrestling background, though many years in the past, lends itself more readily to pen as opposed to knife "combatives". 16years of being a mat rat gives me a high comfort level with applying pain compliance techniques, you see.
Honestly, if I really needed to defend myself at work, the pen would be my first choice over the knife. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest one is I really don't want to have to cut someone up, along with legal problems related to carrying a knife at work. I get away with it, but strictly speaking I am not supposed to carry anything larger than a little penknife. Also, and perhaps naively, I think my wrestling background, though many years in the past, lends itself more readily to pen as opposed to knife "combatives". 16years of being a mat rat gives me a high comfort level with applying pain compliance techniques, you see.
jackdaddycustoms
Member
i'm interested in this just cause it looks kinda cool, but i'm a newbie to tactical pens... so could someone explain what they are used to do??? other than write of course. what makes them tactical other than that they are heavy?
TimboKhan
Member
Etta Koppo, you say? Google, here I come!
jackdaddycustoms
Member
thanks, that helps. should have went their before asking 
10mm Mike
Member
I took Judo with Al Demers in the early 2000's when I was at UALR. He's a great guy. Always had a hilarious story to tell.
I have a S&W tactical pen (the one blue one with the flutes along the body) and its pretty nice. I don't actually carry it or have any plans on using it in a "tactical" fashion - it just sits on my desk at work all day. I just wanted a nicer metal pen with some heft that could be easily refilled. It could probably do some damage if you jabbed someone in the ribs with it, but I'd rather throw proper strikes and grapple if it came to a physical confrontation, rather that trying to poke someone with a pen.
USAF_Vet
Member
I've recently gotten a nice thick Cross pen. Can anyone recommend how to use it as a self defense item? Every bit of info helps.
jackdaddycustoms
Member
thanks to you guys i just got one. i was out looking for ammo and came across a kershaw tactical pen. i got it, now i just have to remember to keep it on me. i don't usually carry pens around, and when i do, i seem to loose them. we'll see how it goes.
Great concise summation. We tend to get caught up in a false mentality that defenders need to inflict some mortal blow.
NO.
Our goal is escaping the situation with honor. A pen through the back of an assailant's hand may accomplish that. Whether our attacker lives or dies is not our concern or goal: we just want to go home to our family with a clear conscience.
John
TimboKhan
Member
For whatever it is worth, I have always guarded against this false mentality, almost entirely because the last thing I want to do is to have to beat/stab/slash/pummel someone to death. Having had some experience with that, I can truthfully now say that if I am fighting with anything other than a gun, my only goal is escape, not Willis-Level destruction. Could I inflict a mortal wound on someone with a knife or a pen or with thunder and lightning? I know I could, but deep in my soul I just don't want to. Pain is temporary, death is forever.
That isn't to say that with a gun I consider myself Killy McKillshot, but it is to say that if the situation demands pulling a trigger, the likeliehood of a mortal wound being inflicted is considerably higher. It is also to say that if I am shooting, escape was not an option for whatever reason that may be.
I've shown my tiny anti-rape knife to friends, and had them complain that they probably couldn't penetrate the rib cage with it.
The goal is to escape, not annihilate the enemy. That's ego talking, the need to punish anyone who dares touch you.
John
The goal is to escape, not annihilate the enemy. That's ego talking, the need to punish anyone who dares touch you.
John
But the converse of that is that in some situations you might need to create a greater degree of incapacitation or the situation might otherwise not fit into that envelope of pain as opposed to "death." While most knife stoppages may be "psychological" it's hard to say to what degree you need to cause physical damage to trigger that reaction.
I don't like to do the whole internet legal analysis double-backflip thing but I also would warn people against the false comfort of utilizing a categorical deadly force method (knife) in a situation where you may later find yourself stating that the intent was to effect escape via pain as opposed to stop the threat at all costs due to fear for your life.
Put differently I think (not know) that any dichotomy between a gun and knife existing in the mind of someone who might find himself defending with one or the other should not be seen as one dependent on the severity of the situation and with one option more "legally desirable," but instead both are worst-case options you access when you have no other option, and the circumstances dictate which one insofar as one tool may solve that particular problem better.
The way I train to use a tac-pen puts it uncomfortably close to lethal or maiming so I don't consider it a less-lethal or more legally-desirable option, personally.
Just my 2 cents.
I don't like to do the whole internet legal analysis double-backflip thing but I also would warn people against the false comfort of utilizing a categorical deadly force method (knife) in a situation where you may later find yourself stating that the intent was to effect escape via pain as opposed to stop the threat at all costs due to fear for your life.
Put differently I think (not know) that any dichotomy between a gun and knife existing in the mind of someone who might find himself defending with one or the other should not be seen as one dependent on the severity of the situation and with one option more "legally desirable," but instead both are worst-case options you access when you have no other option, and the circumstances dictate which one insofar as one tool may solve that particular problem better.
The way I train to use a tac-pen puts it uncomfortably close to lethal or maiming so I don't consider it a less-lethal or more legally-desirable option, personally.
Just my 2 cents.
Okay, you'll notice I never suggested pain as a defense. I have suggested that whether the attacker lives or dies is besides the point- exactly as I've said in several threads assuming defense with a firearm. Lethal strikes with manual weapons usually require greater commitment than strikes to limbs. This commitment is both mental and physical. Closer is generally speaking more hazardous. Putting something through an attacker's hand is obviously more than just pain compliance, and it's safer to a defender than being 3 feet closer so you can attack the neck, temple, or eyes.
John
John
Re pain, I was addressing you and Timbo, probably should have quoted and replied more selectively. Sorry about that.
I agree with what you say about hands vs eyes/temple. A particularly good training class I took encouraged "taking what you can get" which is often the hand, but a solid hit on the hand can certainly open up the face as a viable target.
I agree with what you say about hands vs eyes/temple. A particularly good training class I took encouraged "taking what you can get" which is often the hand, but a solid hit on the hand can certainly open up the face as a viable target.
Sure. I'm just encouraging everyone to remember we're not trying for "total war" here. The goal is to escape. If a strike to the periphery accomplishes that, well and good. If the attacker's doesn't retreat, then it may be time to go "all in".
John
TimboKhan
Member
Well, I did say that I didn't want to go all in, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't. As mentioned, I have a little experience with this kind of thing, and while escape is my primary goal, if it becomes him or me, any potential misgivings about going further kind of disappear. I didn't mean to imply that I would never do it, but if I can use my considerable size and a certain willingness to inflict pain that exists when I want to escape a situation to hurt someone bad enough that I can run away, thats preferable.
Or a glass beer bottle capped with your thumb?
I've been carrying the Timberline LCP for a long time. It is of a size to use like a kubotan and that's the reason I like it.
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Deltaboy1984
Member
I agree I just want to go home to my family.Killing someone is not high on my list of things to do but I am prepared and willing to do it. Tac pens are just another tool in the Toolbox.
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