Gear Review: MultiTasker TWIST

As the years of workshop ownership pass, I’ve found myself in possession of more and more specialty tools. If you’d asked a spry tween named Tyler if he’d ever need a bench-mounted barrel vise, he would have likely cocked his head to the side like a dog who heard a whistle. Similarly, how many MGW sight pushers does one man need? One more than you think you do, apparently. And if you’ve ever attempted to torque down a 51T AAC brake, you know there’s a special socket needed. And I own one. The issue with all those special tools is that they take up a tremendous amount of space, weigh several hundred pounds in total, and as much as I try to tell myself otherwise, they only see usage a few times a year. The MultiTasker’s TWIST, however, is one tool that lives in my range bag. And I’ll likely get a twin for the truck . . .

Long term readers might remember that the name MultiTasker has made its rounds here at TTAG before. Nick reviewed their Series 3 multi-tool two seasons ago. You remember that year? That’s the one where Nick set out to destroy everything he touched over the course of two days at my ranch. Nick (rightly) praised the Series 3 for having every tool necessary to put his AR back together after he subjected it to a harsh lesson in physics. The owner of MultiTasker loved the story so much that he sent me their new TWIST when it came out. Probably for my pain and suffering.

The TWIST is a pocket toolkit roughly the size of a fat pen. It takes up about the same amount of space in a front pocket as those fat pencils the nuns used to hit me with in gradeschool. Above, you can see it next to a .30-06 cartridge for comparison in case you attended a school not run by the sisters.

The end with the clip on it sports this knobby little job which is the perfect tool for adjusting AimPoint Micros for windage and elevation. Marked on the side is the information you need to make sure that the bullets go where you want them to during sight in.

The TWIST securely clips in the pocket of either your shirt or pants, and thanks to the shape that’s bent into the metal, the TWIST isn’t going anywhere unless you want it to. For those who prefer clipless life, it can be removed by unscrewing the Torx head screw holding it in place. But what if you didn’t have a Torx head screwdriver?

That would be a false assumption on your part. Unscrewing the clip end of the TWIST reveals a magnetic 1/4″ hex adapter that can take any of the ten bits that come on the included strip. One of those bits is a #1 Phillips. The rest are variations on the hex theme (3/16″, 9/64″, 1/8″, 7/64″ & 3/32″), Torx (T10 & T15), as well as two slotted bits.

Normally residing in the end of that magnetic hex adapter is an A2 sight post tool. If you’re like me, there’s roughly a dozen of these tools rolling around in range bags, center consoles, and in the dirt at my favorite ranges. Traditionally, they are not where I need them (my hand) when I need them (when I want to adjust my iron sights). The TWIST handles that problem by always having the right bit at the ready.

In trying to follow the thought process of the TWIST, I named the clip end the “Aiming” side of the twist. Between the A2 sight tool, the AimPoint tool, and the various hex bits, I have only found one optic that won’t yield. That’s the Bushnell DMR which uses wide, shallow screws to hold the knobs in place. A nickel works fine for those, but for everything else, the TWIST has had me covered. If you happen to find yourself in need of something outside of the ten bits provided, any home improvement store will have a wide selection of compatible bits to match up with your tool.

As a screwdriver, the TWIST does fine, but it doesn’t allow you to impart much leverage for stubborn screws. Then again, this is a scalpel where the Series 3 multi-tool is more of an axe. For those times when I needed a bit more “oomph” I chucked up one of the bits in my Series 3, and went to town.

Opposite the “Aiming” side is the “Cleaning” side. The end cap there features a recessed male threaded portion that interfaces beautifully with threaded cleaning rods and the like from Otis or others. Should you want to put together a pretty small stuck case extraction kit, you’d be hard pressed to find a more functional handle to mate up with a few lengths of cleaning rod than the TWIST.

Popping the cap off the “Cleaning” side reveals three tool heads nestled comfortably inside the main body of the tool. The cylindrical one is a 3/32″ punch commonly referred to as a GLOCK punch, perfect for disassembling any of Gaston’s wunderguns. The pointy looking one is a fearsome little dental pick, and the trapezoidal shaped one is a handy little carbon scraper.

Each one screws securely to the end of the Cleaning end, and the TWIST transforms into a pretty handy pick, scraper, or punch. I found all three tool heads to be quite robust, and I actually ended up using the carbon scraper quite a bit this year as I spent more and more time shooting a 300 BLK AR with a can on the end. It does a fine job of removing excess carbon along with some stout chemicals and a bit of elbow grease. The punch does punchy things and the dental pick was great at cleaning out small passageways and recovering cleaning patches stuck in dark crevices.

I received the TWIST sometime in the fall of 2015, and it has accompanied me on dozens of shooting trips alone and with others. In that time, I managed to mangle two of the tools. The first is the dental pick and I’m being generous when I say that I mangled it. An unnamed gun industry person attempted to use the pick to free a stuck case from his wildly overgassed AR that had ripped a case head clean off. Surprising no one, it a.) didn’t work and b.) bent the pick.

The other tool was the bit above which I chucked up in the hex driver of the Series 3 whilst trying to free a corroded screw from a scope mount. I was successful, but the hex bit I used to do the job was never quite the same. Still functional, but uglier.

You’ll also notice that most of the bits have some surface corrosion. That’s because I left the TWIST and bits in a bucket during a thunderstorm over the New Year’s weekend. I could tell you that it was a conscious decision, but we’re the Truth About Guns so I couldn’t possibly lie. I totally forgot that I’d left it there until I was packing gear two days (and a lot of rye whiskey) later. Cosmetics aside, the bits have functioned perfectly when used as designed.

Specifications: MultiTasker TWIST

• Included Tools
  • AimPoint adjustment
  • A2 Sight adjustment
  • #1 Phillips
  • Hex (3/16″, 9/64″, 1/8″, 7/64″ & 3/32″)
  • Torx (T10 & T15)
  • Slotted (3/16″ & 3/32″)
  • Dental Pick
  • 3/32″ punch
  • Radial carbon scraper
• Materials: 6063 Aluminum
• Price: $49.99 from our friends at Brownells

Overall * * * * *

I would have knocked a star off for the twisted bit and the broken pick, but the truth is I took those parts well outside their design limits. The TWIST is a tool for delicate work, choosing to leave the bashing and thrashing to the much large Series 3 MultiTool. I’m a bit of a gear whore when it comes to my workshop, but I try to keep it pretty lightweight for trips to the range. As such, to cut down on clutter, very few tools make the journey with me. The TWIST is on my checklist every time for good reason. It’s wildly functional while still able to pass as a fat pen in my shirt pocket. At $50, it isn’t the cheapest tool I’ve found, but it provides a lot of bang for the buck. Nearly nine months of ownership and it is a little rusty and scuffed, but it has yet to disappoint me.