As a carpenter, I have a love/hate relationship with caulk guns. My days working in commercial construction taught me the value of a good one, but I still have a pile of the cheap blue metal guns kicking around, purchased out of convenience or desperation. Recently I added the Irion XP-Delta caulk gun to my kit and hung the cheap guns in the shop. The Irion is a premium caulk gun for standard 10.5 oz tubes with a switchable trigger thrust ratio of 25:1 or 12:1 and a dripless function that can be switched on or off.
In the hand, the Irion feels like a real tool, the kind you would be unlikely to lend out on the job. The handle and trigger have a grippy rubber coating that is comfortable to hold. A painter colleague called the handle ergonomics “near perfection”. The knobs for the thrust and dripless functions are easy to use but require a second hand to switch, though I have not found this to be an issue during use.
The ability to switch between the 25:1 and 12:1 thrust ratio is what makes the XP-Delta worth the money, especially if you frequently use adhesives or work in cold climates. For a controlled test, I used Dap DynaFlex caulk and PL MAX Premium under both cold conditions – overnight in my truck with low temps in the 20s – and summer conditions – each tube heated to 115 degrees in a water bath using my wife’s immersion circulator.
In the cold test the XP-Delta pushed both materials with ease at the 25:1 setting. At the 12:1 setting, the XP-Delta struggled with the PL, and while it did push the DynaFlex it required a great effort to squeeze the trigger. The dripless function performed well on the cold test as expected.
The XP-Delta performed equally as well in the summer-time condition test. At 12:1, the PL MAX pushed fine, but at 25:1 the XP-Delta pushed it like it was room-temperature butter...truly a joy to use if you find yourself using copious amounts of polyurethane adhesives. The same was true of the DynaFlex at 12:1, but the 25:1 was too much power for laying a controlled bead. The dripless function worked well again and I was able to lay consistent 6” beads of PL MAX with no drips. I was unable to develop the touch to caulk trim using the dripless function with the heated DynaFlex.
Overall the Irion XP-Delta far out performs the other standard caulk guns in my tool kit and has a spot in my “not for rent” tool box, as it should for being a premium tool at a premium price. www.irion-america.com. $41.99 at windowanddoorparts.us.
