It is almost Halloween! Perhaps you believe in ghouls or goblins... or perhaps werewolves?
Luckily, if werewolves are prevalent in your area, the good folks at Fisher Space Pen may just have you covered...
If you aren't familiar with the myth, it is tradition that the only way to permanently transform a werewolf back into his (or hers?) human state is to shoot them with a silver bullet. Thanks to our lovely friends at Wikipedia, we can read all about where the myth stems from, attacks made in France by a wolf called the Beast of Gévaudan.
Also, I'd highly recommend the podcast Stuff You Should Know and the episode where they discuss werewolves because, frankly, these guys are hilarious.
So where does Fisher come in? Well, the company produces one of our favorite all-weather, anty-gravity, high temperature writing refills which they put in a variety of pen barrels. One is referred to as the bullet pen, but there is also a pen that is literally made from the bullet casing from a .375.
Traditionally these .375 casing pens have maintained their brass color and finish, but knowing that we may need to slay some mythical beasts this season they created an all silver version known as...wait for it...The Silver Bullet.
Honestly, I was completely sold on this and knew I wanted one. Fisher was kind enough to send me one of these as a sample for review which was awesome and I'm pretty jazzed to talk about it.
I mean, seriously, is the below promotional pic they sent out not fantastic? I was hooked.
The Silver Bullet doesn't come in any sort of special spooky packaging, but that's alright. Fisher makes a nice series of plastic clam shell type of cases that clip shut that are nice enough to keep in my opinion and provide a good presentation.
The pen isn't actually made of any silver if anyone was wondering, but the pen section as well as the casing are coated in a nickel/chroming and polished to a mirror finish. It definitely makes an impression when you pull it out of the packaging for two reasons: it is all chrome and it is a bullet.
Being all chrome and mirror finish, anticipate some fingerprints on it. Not really much more to say here.
Some people aren't super crazy about the Fisher refill, but I actually quite enjoy it. I see it for the very utilitarian type of pen refill that it is, but come at it with an enjoyment of the heritage and history that the pen has grown to have. Is it your smoothest, darkest writer? No. But that isn't what it is made for.
Like many pocket pens, you use the bullet casing sleeve as a means to extend the pens length while writing. Unposted (or "un-bulleted?") the pen is only about 3.5" long which is too small. By adding the bullet to the back it gives you another 1" which is comfortable. Still a relatively small pen, but great for pocket carry.
Most of the weight of the pen is in the very tail end of the casing as it is a thicker piece of brass. In bullet cartridges, this is where a lot is happening like the firing pin and where the explosion needs not to go, so the pen is a little on the top heavy side.
Not going to lie, this pen is awesome. A big part is due to me geeking out over the fun marketing which I think Fisher nailed. Outside of even that, it is a highly functional pocket pen that I personally know dozens of your friends would enjoy. Heck, I bought five of these .375 pens last Christmas as gifts for some of my family members.
If werewolves aren't your thing, they also came out with a zombie slaying pen called The Zombie Apocalypse with a green bullet...
Is this pen a solid necessity? Probably not, but it sure is fun.
Also as more of a disclaimer, I probably wouldn't recommend (nor does Fisher) taking this pen through airport security.
Thanks again to Fisher for sending this my way!
