50 cal. bullets pens w/o kit?

[Royce Meritt]

There is a guy who is interested in having me make a few dozen 50 cal. bullet pens similar to the ones available in kit form from the various suppliers. However, he already owns a large number of the 50 cal. brass casings and would like to use them.

Is there a less expensive way to go aside from purchasing the 50 cal. bullet pen kits, discarding the casings from the kit and using his? Is there another type of pen kit that can be used? Would this save us any money? Or would it simply be more trouble than it's worth? For example, the 50 cal. kits can be bought from Penn State Ind. for $6.05 in quantities over 10.

I've made a lot of bullet pens in the 30 cal. size using slimline kits but this will be my first attempt at the 50 cal.

Thanks.

[Peter Fabricius]

Hi Royce;
I would build them from scratch. Use the casings from your friend and buy real bullets, the ones with the silver tip seem to be popular. I do not remember the name of the bullet at the moment. For the scratch built pen there are tutorials for that.
Drill out the bullet to fit a 7mm mechanism. Fit a wood insert into the Casing and epoxy it in. The wood insert is drilled to take a tube and that is where the Slimline mechanism fits and provides the hold for the mechanism to twist the pen tip in and out.

Here is a picture of a few Walnut 50 Cal pens with Maple bullet pen tips, I made these earlier this month. One is a Toothpick holder.


225636

Have fun and enjoy the ride.
Peter F.

[James Combs]

Hi Royce, your best resource for anything pens is over on the IAP in their library. I would link you to a 50 cal tutorial but I don't think it is allowed. You can find it here. http://contentdotpenturnersdotorg/library/pens/50BMG.pdf It describes the method that Peter is referring to.

Edit: If you need parts such as transmissions check out Wood-n-Whimsies (http://www.woodnwhimsies.com/pparts.html). Another thought, if it were me I would buy one of the kits and see how it is made. You can probably duplicate it with parts.

[Steve Campbell]

225639Royce. How cheap and easy do you want to go? Here is one I made from a 50 cal. brass and a chunk of walnut. Just turn the walnut into a bullet shape and drill a hole through it. The pen is nothing more than a Bic pen that I pulled the refill out of. Can't get much easier than that.

Steve