Pelikan Rollerball Refills for R400, R600, and R800

[Arklawboy]

Good evening, folks. Several years ago, I owned a few Pelikan rollerballs but ended up selling them, in part, because I couldn't find a good, reliable refill for them. Either the refills dried up too quickly, provided an inconsistent line, or otherwise just didn't work. I ended up selling the pens and, for the last several years, have primarily used Cross Townsend rollerballs with the glorious porous point refills (blasphemy, I know).

 

I recently acquired a couple of new Pelikan rollerballs and am looking for insight on the best, most reliable refills. The threads I saw on this topic were several years old (please let me know if I am wrong), so I thought it timely to try and gather this information again. Many thanks, and look forward to the replies!

[Ueno808]

I too tired of the refill search so I modified my Pelikan rollerball pens to accept the Pilot G2 gel refill.  The mod also accommodates the Pilot V5 and V7 RT refills.  But the modification requires reaming the nose of the pen with a drill. A bit risky at first but now every one of my Pelikan rollers have a reliable, cost effective and easily sourced refill available in an array of ink colors.

[EricTheRed]

On 7/29/2022 at 1:24 PM, Ueno808 said:

I too tired of the refill search so I modified my Pelikan rollerball pens to accept the Pilot G2 gel refill.  The mod also accommodates the Pilot V5 and V7 RT refills.  But the modification requires reaming the nose of the pen with a drill. A bit risky at first but now every one of my Pelikan rollers have a reliable, cost effective and easily sourced refill available in an array of ink colors.

What size drill bit did you use?

[inkfade]

I have a r405 Stresemann and I use the Ohto C-304P refill. You can get it in multiple colors and sizes, and it's smooth and consistent. I use this refill in my Pelikan rollerball, Faber-Castell Loom rollerball, and Lamy 2000 rollerball (though with the Lamy I have to stuff a bit of paper in the back to fill a gap so it fits properly). I'd highly recommend this refill, I love it. I get mine from Jet Pens.

[Arklawboy]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:43 AM, inkfade said:

I have a r405 Stresemann and I use the Ohto C-304P refill. You can get it in multiple colors and sizes, and it's smooth and consistent.

Many thanks for this suggestion; I will definitely give those a shot. 

 

Since my original post, and on the recommendation of a pen retailer, I tried Schmidt refills, a Visconti refill, a Faber-Castell refill, and (on a personal whim) an Aurora refill. None worked in any of the Pelikan rollerballs. Although the refills fit pretty well inside the barrels of the pens, the tip of the refills was apparently too wide to completely protrude from the noses of the pens, to the point that they were unusable. I now understand Ueno808's solution of drilling the inside of the nose, although I am reluctant to attempt that. I will, instead, try the Ohto C-304P refill.

 

If that doesn't work, anybody interested in a couple of very gently used Pelikan rollerballs? 😄

[Arklawboy]

The Ohto refills arrived from Jet Pens, and they work exceptionally well. Many thanks for the suggestion!

 

So, at this point, Pelikan and Ohto make refills which will fit inside the R400, R600, and R800 rollerballs. Other suggestions?

[inkfade]

On 9/20/2022 at 12:33 PM, Arklawboy said:

The Ohto refills arrived from Jet Pens, and they work exceptionally well. Many thanks for the suggestion!

 

So, at this point, Pelikan and Ohto make refills which will fit inside the R400, R600, and R800 rollerballs. Other suggestions?

 

Awesome! When I got my Pelikan rollerball and didn't care for the refill inside, I know I tried a bunch of refills I had laying around, but none fit. The Ohto was the first refill I ordered for it after seeing somebody suggest it in some other discussion forum that I forget, and I've been so happy with it (in all my rollerballs) that I stopped looking for anything else. So I have no more suggestions, unfortunately. But the Ohto is an excellent refill and I have never had any issues with skipping or (what I would consider) drying out earlier than expected. I've been very pleased with them. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pelikan 339 black M, works in my blue stripped 400 roller ball. Works well for my wife.

What is wrong with Pelikan's roller ball cartridges?

 

[Arklawboy]

On 10/4/2022 at 11:12 AM, Bo Bo Olson said:

What is wrong with Pelikan's roller ball cartridges?

 

On 7/28/2022 at 9:43 PM, Arklawboy said:

Either the refills dried up too quickly, provided an inconsistent line, or otherwise just didn't work.

I found this to be true across the board - blue, black, fine, medium, etc. These were consistent issues, hence my search for other options. A couple of weeks in, the Ohto refills have been outstanding with none of the issues I experienced from the Pelikan refills.

 

[EricTheRed]

2 hours ago, Arklawboy said:

 

I found this to be true across the board - blue, black, fine, medium, etc. These were consistent issues, hence my search for other options. A couple of weeks in, the Ohto refills have been outstanding with none of the issues I experienced from the Pelikan refills.

 

That has been my experience with the Pelikan rollerball refills I have bought in the USA as well.  Poor, inconsistent flow of ink to the paper.  Maybe the rollerball refills sold in Germany where BO BO lives are superior to the ones exported to the US?  I know the Heineken beer I drank in Germany tasted a lot better than the Heineken labeled beer sold in the USA 🍺 Anyway, thanks for the tip, I will try the OHTO refills in my Pelikan rollerball.

[Bo Bo Olson]

All I know is the the blue stripped 400 sized roller ball my wife is using as of last weeks refill, in the pen was empty has no problems.

 

Are all the Pelikan roller ball cartridges the same size?

 

But in the long run she can try Schmidt if Pelikan don't work. Schmidt is only half price from a Parker ink cartridge refill, so I'd guess Schmidt makes roller balls also.

I hadn't used a roller ball since they came out in the '70/80's. So know nothing.

[jah1138]

If you like gel pens, I've gotten the Uni-Ball Signo UMR-87 gel refill to work very well in my R800 with a very easy modification. I just had to shave a taper into the plastic bit up front so the point would extend through the front as far as I preferred. You can see from the photo that this doesn't have to be particularly neatly done. Just remove a little bit at a time until it until it stops where you want it to!  

 

Uni-ball UMR-87 Signo Gel Pen Refill - 0.7 mm - Black | JetPens

 

What's better is that the UMR line has 4 sizes: 0.28, 0.38. 0.5, and 0.7. The item number reflects the size, e.g. the UMR-87 is 7mm while the UMR-85 is the same refill in 5mm. I've only tried the UMR-87, but I have to assume they're all the same construction and would work in the R800. This is pretty awesome flexibility, and these are very inexpensive refills. The 7mm writes wonderfully. 

 

 

 

[AceNinja]

4 hours ago, jah1138 said:

I've gotten the Uni-Ball Signo UMR-87 gel refill to work very well in my R800 with a very easy modification. I just had to shave a taper into the plastic bit up front so the point would extend through the front as far as I preferred.

So it works for Pelikan Rollerball pens too!  The same trick works for Retro51 rollerball pen also.