The AR-15 platform is an incredibly versatile firearm, able to be adjusted and customized to meet almost any mission and fit just about any shooter. But in order to make all that customization possible — and even just to maintain the gun — you need a veritable crate of specialized tools. There have been some attempts in the past to create “one tool to rule them all,” giving you all the gadgets you need to fix your gun in the field (like the Leatherman MUT), but I always find that there’s something missing when I need it the most. I haven’t run into that problem with the MultiTasker Series 3 . . .
Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the MultiTasker. I’ve had a Leatherman MUT in my range bag ever since I reviewed it two years ago, and that was really the only firearms-specific multitool I knew of. That changed thanks to Kevin Brittingham, who brought a couple of the tools with him on our hunting trip a few weeks back. You may have heard about it, thanks to Tyler’s epic chronicling of the event. Anyway, I never thought I would get a chance to test out the tool so completely and so quickly.
I found myself in an odd position — sideways in a drainage ditch. I had been speeding back to where Tyler was with some gear to help butcher the deer I had just shot, and a small geographic feature had thrown a major wrench in plans plans. While I was concerned about the ATV, what worried me even more was watching as my 300 BLK AR-15, a registered SBR with silencer attached, was thrown sideways out of the vehicle before the entire vehicle crashed down on top of it.
I crawled out of the wreckage in time to see Tyler sprinting (rather impressively) towards me, and did my best interpretation of an “I’m OK, sorry about wrecking your shit” wave in his direction to try and get him to slow down. I then reached under the vehicle and retrieved my muddy and damaged AR-15 rifle.
The remainder of that night was filled with feats of engineering rescuing the ATV, feats of bravery putting out the garlic bread fire, and feats of ingenuity breaking into Tyler’s truck. And, on my part, continued feats of idiocy. Early the next morning, I set to work fixing my rifle and found that for every problem, the MultiTasker had a solution.
The most obvious problem was that the stock was bent. The castle nut had come loose and allowed it to rotate out of position. Normally I would have been completely out of luck, since fastening down the castle nut on the stock requires a castle nut wrench — a normally large and unwieldy tool that I don’t carry on an everyday basis. But I was in luck — the MultiTasker had me covered.
The MultiTasker is set up like a conventional multitool. On the outside, there are three fold-out tools on either side. One side sports a combination screwdriver and castle nut wrench, as well as wrenches for two sizes of nuts (the two most commonly used on scopes), and a magnetic hex driver with a front sight tool installed.
On my rifle, I used the castle nut wrench to successfully put the stock back in the correct position, then checked the nuts on my scope mount using the other wrench on that side. I didn’t use the hex driver, but it’s nice to know that I can just carry around a small pouch full of common hex bits and use them with this tool. On the MUT, it uses a proprietary set of bits that seem to never fit what I need them to do.
The other side of the Series 3 has more familiar gun-related tools. There’s a locking knife for all your cutting needs, naturally. Below that is a punch, useful for drifting out roll pins or convincing a stubborn takedown pin that it really does want to come out of its hole. If you unscrew the punch, there’s a male attachment point for a cleaning rod underneath. The last item is a carbon scraper, which is equally useful as a stuck bolt extractor tool.
When you open up the inside of the tool, there’s a set of needle nose pliers ready to assist. Also featured: embedded wire cutters with replaceable blades, handy for the baling wire frequently used to keep AK-47 rifles running.
In my case, there wasn’t a single problem on my rifle that the MultiTasker couldn’t fix. In fact, I can objectively state that it did a better job than the Leatherman MUT. However, there’s one place where the MultiTasker falls short.
The MultiTasker is an absolute beast, and that translates into the overall aesthetics as well. The Leatherman MUT might be light a couple tools, but there’s no doubt that it’s the sleeker package. Where the MUT feels smooth and well polished, the MultiTasker is rough and jagged. Where the MUT looks slick and clean, the MultiTasker looks like someone haphazardly bolted a bunch of tools together and called it a day. Where the MUT has alternate attachment points (like a pocket clip and loop clip), the MultiTasker only has a pocket clip. Both are about the same price and the MUT weighs a couple of ounces less than the Series 3.
In the end, I prefer functionality over style. If the MUT had a castle nut wrench on it then we might have a closer race, but the MultiTasker simply has a more functional set of tools and a better overall design. It might not be as highly polished as the MUT, but at the end of the day what really matters is whether it does what you need it to do. In my case, it took a broken and beat-up AR-15 and returned it to working order in only a few minutes. To me, that’s impressive.
MultiTasker Series 3
Length: 4.1″ (closed)
Blade: 3″
Weight: 13 oz.
Price: $179.95 MSRP
Ratings (out of five):
Usability: * * * * *
It has every tool you need to build, maintain, and fix the AR-15 rifle.
Reliability: * * * * *
It’s solidly built with a tough-as-nails finish.
Overall Rating: * * * * *
The only thing I could ding this for would be the style and packaging, but really I don’t care. Functionality over style, any day of the week.
Good stuff Nick. I’ve just come to realize there isn’t just one tool that’s going to cover everything for us gun people.
Choke tube wrench? Back to a Gerber Myth.
My tool bag that now goes on every outing has Allen wrenches, torx wrenches, choke tube wrench as well as two different multi tools, Otis cleaning kit, and a steel multi-piece, cleaning rod.
One is made in America, the other in China. To me, that is the decision point right there.
Check Leatherman’s political stance. Not especially gun friendly.
Can’t blame them. The knife companies have been butt-hurt over being relegated to 2nd choice for self defense ever since the invention of gun powder and the founding of Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta in the 1500’s.
I can’t buy Leatherman since Tim Leatherman supports the gun banners.
Wow Jeff, you absolutely ruined my day! I have been a Leatherman owner and fan since their inception, but I never knew that Tim Leatherman supported the gun banners. I never knowingly support companies who don’t support my rights. I’ll never own or carry a Leatherman again. What a disappointment……
I’m pretty sure that rumor started on an internet forum.
Tim may have been against the Bush administration, because of their failure to engage proper environmental protection practices, but that doesn’t automatically cause him to hate gun ownership in general.
Lesser of two evils.
Good review.
While I’ve been in a crash 4 wheeler, I’ve never been in an overturned on top of an AR-15 crash.
I may pick one up one of these, but I do like how well the MUT works as a knife and saw. It’s been my experience with multi-tools that the knife, screwdriver, pliers, and wire cutters are the parts most often used. A castle nut wrench can be its own dedicated tool, but would certainly be handy in something like this.
I was all set to buy the Series 3 for X-mas until I discovered it’s made overseas. At that price, it should be made in the USA. I’ll get the MUT and risk not having a castle nut wrench. Perhaps Leatherman will add a new model with the wrench in the future.
If the Castle Nut was properly staked, how did it come undone?
And if it was properly staked and came undone, how do you get enough torque with that small wrench to correctly tighten it?
Anywhere my AR goes, a small toolkit goes, including a tools for the castle nut. That looks like it weighs almost as much as a standard tool.
China? Something like 80-90 % of our legal drugs come from China/India.
Facebook is pushing immigration to keep tech wages down, and wants immigrants, anyone use Facebook?
Anyone use pens, wiper blades, compressors for a/c (house and cars), blah, blah, blah.
Look at where everything is made that you buy for the next week. Look at apple juice, small oranges.
Any of you use smartphones? Apple smartphones made by people who are fired at 25 years age due to carpel tunnel syndrome due to repetive, unrelenting work we don’t want to do for s$&t wages.
Anyone own a VW? Some of their transmissions are made by a company named Japco. Guess where they are from.
Is your tax return somewhat complicated? Many are done overseas.
Ever need radiology? Many are done in India, same day service.
Etc, etc, etc.
Would I sound cheap if I said $179 is too much to pay for that? In all my years of hunting I’ve never had a trip ruined by a broken gun. Or anyone in my group. I think I’ll just take my chances…no guarantee that thing will fix what’s broke anyway.
MUT still wins hands down. Way more function, and almost 1/2 the price. Oh, and ‘murica.
Just checked prices again, and wow…I can’t believe I got my MUT for $75, and they’re going for $110-175 now. Lucky me.
Awesome story! The multitasker is by far a superior product compared to the Mut! I’ve had my series3 for about two weeks now and I don’t know how I made this far without it. I haven’t had to use the castle nut wrench like you have but if I have an accident like yours I’ll be happy I have my trusty series3 with me. The build quality beats the weatherman hands down. I don’t go to the range without my multitasker and most days it’s in my EDC bag in the trunk. Great read brother.