I have carried a Coghlin's P-51 copy for 15 or 20 years in my wallet, up until tonight I thought it was a P-38 (Thanks for the informative link, KenK).

Whenever I use it in public someone always says how neat it is, so I give it to them and just replace it (they are inexpensive).
One winter day I was in a coffee shop (I think it was Tim Hortons) buying a hot chocolate for my wife, the machine ran out of chocolate concentrate and the young clerk could not find the opener for the large can. P-51 to the rescue, I opened the can then gave the tool to the clerk, she had never seen one before and really appreciated the useful little gift.

Mike

Won't have one. Won't carry one. Years ago use to carry one on my key ring. Popped open in my pocket. Fell and landed on aforementioned pocket. buried about half the blade in my leg. After removal massed the blasted thing into a wad. never carried one again and still won't.

Besides most of my pocket knives have better can openers on them. So why carry another one. Other than as a status symbol of being in the club.

One of the smallest binder clips you can find, over the hinge, will work. Makes it a bit bulker, but it keeps the can opener from taking a bite out of you.

Mine has been there since 'bout '68. Sure, if flops open, but since I carry my huge keyring clipped to a mini-'biner on my belt, it has never cut me (yet)...

Chuck Norris once faced a group of Marines armed only with a p-38. The incident became the inspiration for the movie Predator.

I use mine every 10-days or so to open a can, and it’s better then the one in my Swiss Champ knife. They both work, but the P-38 is faster to use and easier to use.

I don’t worry about “The Club” that you talk about, I have never ben one to run with the pack.


I have it because I find it useful.

P-51s have the advantage of looking innocuous to anyone but TSA thugs. You can carry one to places where you'd be shot for having a SAK. Plus, the rubber band on it is really useful.

I got a P-38 to replace the similar style can opener that came with an old can of sardines. Then I discovered the P-51. I don't keep either on my keychain, but I keep my P-51 on a lanyard with my mini-crab trap as it is designed to just fit a tuna can as bait.

I don't carry a p-38 any more. Used to be everything came in cans. Rations were C-rations and while you could open one with a knife point a P-38 was just so very quick and efficient that not carrying one didn't make sense.

I never carried one on a keyring. Keyrings,IMHO, need to be kept as compact and light as practical if you expect to have to roll around on the ground. A big cluster of keys wears out pants pockets and leaves a bruise, or worse, if you fall on it. The fold-out blade on a P-38 is only about half and inch but driven into the flesh, ground in, and ripped sideways it can be quite painful.

I used to carry my P-38 on a string around my neck. A simple half-hitch in the string holds the blade in the folded position.

Now there aren't many things that come in cans and my Leatherman has an effective can opener. As much as I admire the simple efficiency and utility of the P-38 I suspect that my P-38 will mostly remain hung on my wall. I just don't see it making it out into the field.

of course P-38's are no longer issued in the military but still can be bought...the larger so called P-51'S are still issued with T-rats or tray pack rations which come in a metal tray and are large enough for a squad out in the field...they are issued as a back up can opener to the regular home style crank type...me i carry the large canadian type p-51 blade coverd in tape on my key chain..vince g. 11b inf..