This pen makes a great unique gift. It’s made by using two 30-06 rifle shell casings to replace the body of a click pen. It’s a fun project, which will take you about an hour to complete. What you won’t see here or in the video is how many shell casings and hours it took to figure out the process to get this pen exactly right. So if you try your hand at this don’t be discouraged if it takes a couple tries.

Step 1: Drill Out the Primer Side

What you’re trying to do here is replace the body of a regular click pen with a couple shell casings. Keep mind I figured out this process by trial and error. If you do the steps out of order you may ruin the shells and have to start over.

You’ll have to drill out the primer ends of both shell casings. I used a mini metal lathe with an 11/32 drill bit chucked into the tail quill. You could use a regular drill but the tricky part is finding a way to hold the shell without distorting it. Once you have both shells drilled out, you’ll have to expand the necks. Before can do this you need some measurements.

Step 2: Get Your Measurements

There are two measurements that are crucial to making this pen work. Having a digital caliper is very helpful. One is the outer diameter of the plastic insert you cut from the donor pen. The other is the length of the original pen body. If the clearances are off the pen may bind up, not allowing it to click properly, or the ink tube will end up being too long or too short.

With my specific pen the outer diameter of the plastic piece for the metal writing tip is 8.2mm. Before you can get this measurement you have to remove the rubberized coating from the pen. But before you can do that you have to take the pen apart. The metal writing tip simply unscrews but to get the upper mechanism out you need to pry. I used a knife to separate it. Just be careful.

Use a heat gun to soften the rubberized coating. A paper towel will wipe it right off. The other measurement is simple to get by just measuring the length of the original pen tube. Now that you have your measurements, cut the end of the pen body off so you have the threaded portion for your new pen. Place this small piece in the lathe and machine it square.

Step 3: Expand the Necks

I modified a bearing punch to fit in my lathe. This allows me to use the tapered shaft to expand the shell neck squarely and evenly. You’ll want to expand the neck of one shell until it will accept the plastic insert for the writing tip.

The other shell will also be expanded just not as much. You’ll want that just slightly bigger than the hole on the other shell. Use a doming block to round over the edges to the mouth of the top shell. That way when you meet them together you can fit them snuggly.

To make sure the shells are square to each other, chuck the body into the lathe and turn it at a low revolution. Bringing a live center up to the end of the shells will true them right up.

Step 4: Solder

Double check to make sure the shell body is the same measurement of the original pen tube. In this case it’s just under 119mm. Set the shells up and apply soldering paste as needed. Cut a couple small strips of solder and place them on either side of the joint. A little heat from a torch and you’ll have a solid pen body.

Step 5: Polish

Place the pen back in the lathe and sand it bright with 1000-grit paper. After you’ve done both sides use a buffing wheel with polishing compound to buff it.

Step 6: Glue Up

It’s important to warm up the shell with a heat gun. Since hot glue it just that “hot glue” if you let it touch cold brass it will solidify before you want it to.

Thread the plastic inset onto the metal writing tip. Apply hot glue to it and press it into the lower shell opening. Do the same to the other side using all the components from when you took the original pen apart. After the glue is cold, clean off any excess that protruded out from the joints.

Step 7: Assemble

It’s important to warm up the shell with a heat gun. Since hot glue it just that “hot glue” if you let it touch cold brass it will solidify before you want it to.

Thread the plastic inset onto the metal writing tip. Apply hot glue to it and press it into the lower shell opening. Do the same to the other side using all the components from when you took the original pen apart. After the glue is cold, clean off any excess that protruded out from the joints.