1911 Tool
CRKT Tool
It gives me great personal delight to talk about this very cool tool. Dear friend and long-time industry peer Gary Smith (recently retired from Caspian) thought up and otherwise invented this handy gadget. Some years ago, Gary had it in production and I reviewed it several times. It was just too good to not cover again and again. The original one he sent me is on my work bench as we speak and gets used pretty much constantly in 1911 work. Plus, the various tools included do plenty of double duty on other jobs.
Gary recently contacted me and told me CRKT was now producing his design, as well as a Ruger-branded model. This made me happy, as I’ve had to zealously guard my own over the past years from sticky-fingered visitors who lusted after mine after watching me use it. Now they can get their very own. One of the most useful parts of the 1911 Tool is the “plier/bushing wrench” concept Gary came up with. You can easily see it in the picture. The “plier” action allows a firm grip with no slipping if you have a tough 1911 barrel bushing to break free.
The other accessory tools add up to a “must-have” list of gun-tools. The bushing wrench doubles as a plier, there’s a spring cutter, three flat drivers, punch rod, file, knife blade, two Allen wrenches in common sizes, bottle opener (hey, you never know), a wire stripper and the G10 handles and nylon case make it handy. I’ve also found the bushing wrench to be handy for holding all sorts of round “things.” The tool kinda’ folds back over itself, so the handles cover the plier jaws. It’s not a bad “general” pocket/belt tool too, but it shines doing gun work.
It’s $99.99 at MSRP and comes with a lifetime warranty. One of the things I like about this is the fact an actual guy I know invented it and had the moxy to get it into production. And the fact Gary is a real “gun-guy” is evident in his selection of the accessory tools included in the 1911 Tool. You can shop at Ruger or CRKT to get yours. For more info: Ruger, www.ruger.com
, Ph: (336) 949-5200; CRKT, www.crkt.com
, Ph: (800) 891-3100
