America Grip Dagger Tool: Exclusive review

The Loadout Room is excited to have an exclusive first look at the latest offering from the Texas based America Grip, The Dagger Multi tool. We have featured the Veteran owned company before when they released their initial offering into the firearms accessory market, the Tool Grip. The Tool Grip is an easy to use tool that was built with the end user in mind, and America Grip has continued that tradition of making tools that shooters want to own with the release of the Dagger. Once the Dagger is in  full production it will be available in two styles, the Clip Dagger and the Kydex Dagger, both models will be available in .223 and 7.62 versions . The Clip Dagger will feature a clip that allows it to be secured to your belt or the edge of a pocket. The Kydex Dagger will not feature a clip but instead come with a Kydex sheath. The Kydex sheath is also made in Texas by a fellow Veteran owned company that America Grip was able to collaborate with, BlackGuard Customs. The sheath will allow the user to secure the Dagger to almost any oval or round object such as a quad rail or to a backpack handle for easy access.

Why would you need a Dagger Multi Tool ?

I can describe it in a sentence: It is simple to use, affordable, and makes life on the range easier when trouble arrives. Anyone who shoots semi automatic military rifles will at some time suffer a double feed. The Dagger’s contoured blade is designed to cup the rear rim of the case and allow the user to clear the double feed with minimal effort. In times past during a range session a double feed with my Noveske AR15 would aggravate me and send either myself or my shooting partner scrounging threw my tool box looking for a tool or some other item to pry the stuck cartridges. Now all I have to do is reach into my pocket and pull out the Dagger. One quick motion and I am back in the fight.

Ripped or Split Case…No Problem

I tend to shoot a fair amount of the time with my Polish AKM. When you spend a significant amount of time shooting a Warsaw Pact rifle you end up shooting shitty ammo from all over the earth. The problem with shooting ammunition from places like Russia, Yugoslavia, China, and Serbia is the quality control can be spotty at best. Often times, when shooting this type of ammunition short cuts have been taken in the name of capitalism and that results in shell cases that suffer what is refereed to as Case Head Separation. It’s just what it sounds like, the head of the case separates from the rest of the case leaving the empty shell casing stuck in the chamber, leading to a total stoppage.

The solution lies in the Dagger Tool – there are no tools to assemble, no lubricant to apply and incredibly simple

1. Remove the Magazine
2. Lock the bolt to the rear of the weapon
3. Insert the Dagger completely
4. Pull rearward with appropriate force to remove the case

Carbon Problems ?

If you are a fan of the AR15 weapons platform you know about carbon build up on your firing pin and bolt face. These areas of the AR15 rifle can be stubborn to clean. The Dagger Multi Tool has three different ways to help you battle that carbon buildup after a hard day of running and gunning at the range. The first is the firing pin scraper – it’s the V notch located at the top of the tool directly above the pivot axis. Once you have broken down your AR15 and removed the firing pin, all you need to do is line it up in the V notch and begin to move it back and forth. Letting the edges of the hardened steel dig into the carbon and break it free. An alternative way to clean the firing pin is to insert the firing pin into the loop portion of the tool located next to the V notch as seen in the picture below. Either method works very well at removing build up.

The AR15 bolt also collects large amounts of carbon fouling from gases being pushing back onto it during a normal firing process. The tapered end of the bolt near where receives a significant amount of abuse and gases. The position and taper of this part of the bolt also leads to heavy carbon buildup and takes a good amount of swearing, scrapping and more swearing to clean properly. The Dagger features a very pronounced carbon scraper which helps reduce some of the scrapping and swearing, and will shorten the time it usually takes to clean this area of the bolt. We all know that a clean weapon is a happy weapon.

Screwdriver at your fingertips

With the rise in popularity of military style optics such as the Aimpoint Micro, the Eotech 500 series, and the Advanced Combat Optical Gun sight (ACOG) the need for a handy screwdriver to help you keep your optics dialed in can’t be over stated. How many times have we gone to shoot and find that either by gremlins or voodoo magic our optics are out of alignment and we have to re-sight in our weapons. For years I have noticed that a flat head screwdriver is one of the most “borrowed” tools at any shooting range and mine never seems to come home with me. The first tool to come up missing exactly when you need it most.

The Dagger Multi Tool features a screwdriver blade that doubles as a case extractor. The tapered screwdriver is arguably the Daggers most noticeable feature. When designed by Dan Barnhart of America Grip, the Dagger was made specifically with the ACOG in mind, but testing has shown that it works equally well in adjusting most brands of optics that use a flat screw slot. During testing I have used it to adjust my Eotech 512, Eotech XPS2, Vortex Strikefire, Vortex SPARC, and several Primary Arms red dot optics, all without a single issue.

Tools often times are over looked by the general public, but someone that works with tools knows their value. Sometimes tools are simple, and they work 99% of the time. That’s how I look at the Dagger by America Grip. All too often, we as shooters get fixated on the latest magazine, optic, or special series rifle and forget the accessories that really can make life at the shooting range better. Having the proper tools on hand to support, repair, and clean any weapon you are shooting on the range is just as important as having the correct ammunition.

Final Evaluations:

The Dagger is a great piece of gear that is very reasonably priced and at a target MSRP of just $24.95 it costs less than the average large pizza where I live (everything costs more in Alaska). I have been testing my 7.62mm demo models on several AK47 variants and even a few Mosin Nagants I had laying around. I haven’t experienced a single problem to date. The .223 caliber version has also been tested on various brands of AR15’s with barrels ranging from 10.5″ to 20″. In the interest of pseudo science, I tried as many types of weapons in these two calibers that I could find and the Dagger performed as advertised.

If you are a serious shooter or rely on either a 7.62mm or .223 caliber rifle in your daily tasks its worth owning the Dagger. It’s a cheap insurance policy that can be hung on your keychain or clipped to a vest and ready at a moments notice. I assume it will work fine on a M249 Squad Automatic Weapon or a Russian PKM/RPD machine gun. If you have a 7.62mm or .223 caliber machine gun and would like to test the Dagger out, send us a message and we can work something out.

When possible, we also like to highlight and buy our goods from Veteran owned or operated companies. The America Grip Company and their Kydex holster subcontractor BlackGuard Customs are both United States military Veteran owned companies. We thank them both for allowing us a first look and thorough evaluation of their collaborative project.

The production versions of both the clip and kydex sheath models of the Dagger will be marked with either 7.62 or 5.56 as appropriate and feature the America Grip logo and stamping.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any other product we have reviewed please drop us a line using the Comms Check link or comment on any of the posts you see. Thanks for all of your support.

— Rick D