CountyComm P-51 Original Can Opener - Large

Do not let the size or the price fool you. The P-51 is the larger of the two original GI issue can openers, the pattern the U.S. military issued for decades and the one that quietly outlasted every battery-powered gadget in the kitchen drawer. Scouts carried them, travelers carried them, and anybody who keeps a stocked pantry should have a few scattered through their kit.

It is a folding steel blade on a flat steel body, and that is the entire design. You hook the rim, rock the blade through the lid, and walk it around the can. The larger P-51 body gives you more to hold and more leverage than the little P-38, which matters a great deal when you are working a giant number 10 industrial can instead of a tin of beans.

There is nothing to fail here. No hinge to seize, no gear to strip, no plastic to crack in the cold. It folds flat enough to ride on a keyring, in a wallet, taped inside a mess kit, or dropped loose into a bug-out bag where it will still be functional in a decade. Buy several. They are the definition of cheap insurance.

Specifications

• Model: P-51, the large pattern

• Type: Original GI issue folding can opener

• Material: Steel

• Weight: 1 oz (28 g)

m138