SkilcraftU.S. Government Retractable Ball Point Pen, Fine Point, Black Ink, Box of 12 (7520-00-935-7135)

Best ballpoint pen ever!!

A marine friend of mine let me borrow one of these years ago and I have never looked back. I asked for his entire stache and have been buying a pack every year since. I always have three hanging off my lanyard. Excellent pen, reliable, and sleek.

Military Quality

These pens are just like I remember from my time in the Marines in the '90s. The pen itself is a hair over 5 inches long (~130 mm), with a hard plastic body, small pocket clip, and oddly-satisfying clicker. Despite their somewhat cheap feel and austere simplicity, they always seem to get the job done. I've found old Skilcraft pens in the bottom of old moving boxes, and they write like the day I left them there. There's no need to shake the pen around, lick the point, or run the tip under a lighter to get it working again. I've dragged them through the mud, left them outside for days, and even run them through the wash, and they just keep on writing. I've used these pens to stir coffee, measure distance on maps, press small reset buttons on electronics, write letters, sign checks, take notes, and so much more. There's something comforting in having a pen I know I can count on when I need it. In the off-chance one does fail, I have plenty more because they're cheap. I'll always keep a box or two of these Skilcraft pens around.

Extremely consistent pens. What else could you ask for?

These pens are fantastic and great quality. Every once in a while I’ll get a box with a pen, or two, that something goes wrong with but it’s the exception not the rule. The last box I got had two pens fail, the two boxes before that the pens lasted forever and they all worked great. They write great, they are sturdy, they don’t gun up or fail.

I'm very impressed. I've been a collector of pens as a hobby since I was a child. As an adult, it morphed into something of an obsession for a while - to the extent I would buy designer sets like the Pelikan M600 fountain and ball pen for $672 USD. I recently bought these as sort of a sentimental thing - These pens used to wander home from my parent's office when I was a child and I loved them. Well, these are still the same great quality pens and at a low price here on Amazon. I will say, the first one out of the box was defective (I bought blue medium and black fine) but I just went to the next pen in the box and it wrote flawlessly and beautifully. I cannot imagine a better, no-nonsense retractable ball point for a more reasonable price than this one. It's a great buy. I should mention, I just ordered 3 more boxes (for our business office...my wife loses pens very quickly).

The ink lasts a long time and is smooth when writing. It doesn't skip. I write a lot so these are perfect and convenient.