Rifle Paper Co Rollerball Pen

I saw this Rifle Paper Co rollerball pen on sale and I could not help but pick it up. I’ve been loving the cheerful floral designs and I had to have it. I recently picked up the Recipe Box in this same pattern (Juliet Rose) and wanted to have this to match (is that a thing? Matching a pen to a recipe tin?).

When I received the pen, I was surprised at how thin and narrow it is. I had expected it would hold standard Euro format refills (like the Schmidt 5888/888) but it actually takes a Parker G2 style refill. This was a bit of a disappointment, I can thought that I could use the standard Gel refill available from Pentel, Pilot or Uniball as a cost effective alternative.

The pen itself is on the thin side and a tiny bit too thin for comfortable writing, for longer sessions. For quick notes or as an EDC pen, it works well, but for longer sessions, I would prefer something that had a tiny bit more girth. I was over gripping it a bit to write with.

The refill that came with the pen is a Kaco 0.5mm G2 gel refill and I’d been keen to try out this refill for a while. Although most people like having the Parker G2 refill as the refill of choice for whatever pen they have purchased, I typically don’t as I prefer a gel or a rollerball refill and Parker G2 gels are either expensive or they run out quickly, or both. I have found a wider pen refill in the Pierre Cardin Gel refill (Reviewed here) but I wanted a cost effective 0.5mm option as well.

The Kaco gel refill is on the finer side at 0.5mm and I am pleased to say that it writes smoothly and consistently. I think the ink is a tad light for a black pen, compared to a Uniball Signo dx or a Pilot Juice, but its perfectly acceptable. You can find Kaco gel refills on ebay for quite cheap, although you will generally need to have these shipped from overseas.

Pleasingly, a Uni Style Signo refill also fits into the pen – so long as you put a bit of tape near the tip so it doesn’t fall out of the pen, providing potentially a more readily available and cost effective option. Better still, it provides a wider range of colours and tip sizes to choose from.

All in all, the Rifle Paper Co rollerball is unlikely to rock your pen world. It’s a cheerful pen that comes in different print patterns, but in terms of performance, its fine without being brilliant.