Well, since you asked,....
The Pen came out amidst a lot of hype and fanfare- much like the FF ll. We see this in cartridge design all the time-someone reinvents the wheel. What is hard to understand is that there are tools that seem to perform slightly better than other tools, regardless of what the paper stats are. The 375 H&H has always been credited with more killing and knock down power than some more powerful rounds. Now, the older I get, the more I think a 18" khuk at 28 oz is the peak of all around virtues in a khuk. It can be carrried, hits harder than it has a right to, and is indestructable.
I'm not very certain any more that small variations in design mean much. That's the horrible shocking truth- weep bitterly in private if you must, saying: "Lassie Will Come Home, She Must Come Home."
So when Dan trotted out the Pen I yawned. Was there anything there a 12" AK couldn't do? I didn't knock the Pen, I was not a foe of the Pen, but I was a stranger to the Pen. Still am; but wait, the plot thickens:
ON another forum famous for it's neurotic obsesssion with all things HI, people were taking snipes at the Pen. This was many years ago. (We see a back ground in that kind of behavior even then.) Now, like I said, I didn't care one way or another about the Pen, but this was outrageious to me. My own beloved 41 mag has been in the shadow of the 44 for years.
"If people want a cartridge, then that's all the justification it needs!" Bob Milek once scolded the Gun Clan. So I scolded the Pen detractors.
And this made me think; nothing much was new under the sun- but we put into new context what came before. We renew. HI is doing what Artists do when they are comfortable with their craft: they are exploring and branching out. This is a good thing, not a bad thing. This becomes a celebration of life and ourselves.
I still don't want a Pen, nor a BAS for that matter. Too small for me. ( I have Hollowdweller's old cracked horn handle BAS which thinks it's a chiruwa Ak and I'm not telling it different.) But people are allowed to try new things, they are allowed to deviate from historical patterns, they are allowed to have.....fun.
And that's my story of the Pen; a good little blade much admired by those who own them. That makes me a Friend of the Pen.
I hope when and if the Sher Special shows up on these DOD pages you all will forget the traditional, that it lacks a cho and small tools, (and that Yvsa does not like it) and give it a fair shake.
There is no reason why this handy blade should not be economical to produce and satisfactory to many of us.
I've always wanted a longer BDC. Several of us asked about this during introduction. Yesterday I wrote to Yangdu and she surprised me by writing right back and saying,"good idea; how about a 15" Pen too?"
Yangdu's in charge now and this company is changing. There's a new face on the old story of great tools and wonderful friends.
Damn, should I write ad copy?
munk
