Anatomy of a killer caulk gun

This here caulk gun, as you can see by its stains and scabs, has shot off its share of acrylic latex.

It's seen so much action because, for four reasons, it's a caulk gun worth keeping around.

Reason number one: that metal prong that it's balanced upon in the foreground.

The prong pokes out dried caulk in old tubes, and breaks the foil seal where a new tube's nozzles meets the barrel.

Without it, you're wasting time looking around for a drywall screw or an old coat hanger.

There are three more reasons you're looking at the Cadillac of caulk guns--to hear them, keep reading.

A quality caulk gun will also have a tip cutter back near the handle. This allows you to squeeze the handle to guillotine a new tube's nozzle.

Don't use it to prep a tube for finish caulking--in that case, you want an 1/8-inch hole, cut with a utility knife at an angle. Use this feature when you're opening up a tube of adhesive, which you can afford to goop out with less precision.

Number three: A one-handed pressure release mechanism. This gun's plunger has a smooth bar, which releases pressure with the push of a button on the side of the handle.

Cheaper ones have detents that ratchet as pressure is applied, and every time you stop you have to reach up with your other hand to physically pull back the plunger. Inevitably, a little curl of caulk oozes out. Sloppy.

Last, there's the open-barrel design, which really helps remove the old tube easily. This gun's only drawback, in fact, is that it's a little bulky in the barrel.

The less barrel, the better. The best are the metal "barrel-less" style, which just have a pair of metal rods on either side.

They weigh less and give you more control. And, as caulk guns go, they're pretty sexy.

More: Why you should load that gun with DAP's new quick-dry kitchen and bath caulk.