What is a nail gun?
Nail guns are power tools that drive nails of all sizes and types into the materials we would other wise need to use a hammer in general for. They drive nails perfectly and accurately, saving time and money. It may also save a finger or two if you have ever tried driving a nail, and missed, smashing a finger or thumb.
The best way to review these nail guns if we need to decide up front what type of materials you will be working with. What is the project at hand? There are many different types of nail guns that have been designed for various tasks, materials, and users.
What are the different types of nail guns you can buy?
We did a very long and extensive test on the different types of nail guns, what they were used particularly for, and if there were ever a couple different types that can be used together. It would be very expensive to have to buy 15 different types of nail guns if you didn’t have to right?
Framing Nail Guns
These amazing nail guns are produced to do heavy duty work, such as driving 3mm nails into different types of wood such as ply wood, 2×4 posts, floor beams, roof beams, they require a massive amount of power to drive the nails these materials call for. Typically you will need a framing nail gun if you work on decks, building or renovating homes, wood siding, fences, any kind of projects that require a massive amount of heavy duty nails.
The best framing nail gun we tested was the Bostitch LPF21PL 21 Degree 3 1/4 inch low profile framing nail gun. It has the low profile design so you can get into tight spaces like rafters, under floors, or craw spaces. It has a trigger that allows for a single drive, or you can do multiple drives. Tool free depth of drive adjustment is so you can precisely sink fasteners, and has internal air filters to protect the “engine” of the tool, that provides the massive thrust these nails require. It only weighs about 10 pounds, and it is air powered or “pneumatic”.
Siding Nail Guns
Unlike a framing nail gun, these nail guns have a shorter drive, because they are primarily used to put plastic or composite style siding up on homes. They can also be used to place gutter material on to the roof edges. They also have a large “magazine” style nail holder, so you can drive multiple nails at once, to get the job done quicker.
The best siding nail gun we reviewed was the DeWalt DW66C-1R 15 degree 2 1/2 inches siding nail gun. It drives plastic and wire nails for versatility and siding applications. It was super light in weight, and was also a pneumatic powered nail gun. They also provided this tool with high wear components since we know drivers, bumpers and springs in these tools wear out quickly. We had it hooked up to a 6 gallon air compressor and it hardly ever kicked on, meaning it was designed to be efficient and powerful all in one package.
Flooring Nail Guns
Flooring nail guns are mainly used for hardwood floors and they get the job done very quickly. Manual flooring staples or tools, require tons of physical labor to use, that is why it is very beneficial to not only your back, but your pocket as well to use a pneumatic or power flooring nail gun on any given project.
The best flooring nail gun we used was the PowRyte 18 gauge 4 in 1 Hardwood and Flooring Nail Gun and Stapler, because of how it was 1/4 to 5/8 in wood panels, it also drives fasteners and nails at a 45 degree angles. The shoe easily will adjust to a multiple floor thickness, and depth drive adjustments allow for a efficient and precise countersink of the staples and nails. It will drive nails between 3/4” to 2” which is a nice range to have because different types of flooring can be a different thickness.
Finishing Nail Guns
The finishing style nail gun uses larger gauge nails, because these are nails that go into pieces of material that is really thin, delicate. Most use 16, 15 or sometimes 18 gauge nails. These are a very important type of nail guns you should keep handy, because you can make so many different things using them. They are well used on mainly wood items and materials such as:
- Crown Moldings
- Baseboards
- Caskets
- Wooden Furniture
- Bed Frames
- Cabinets
- Shiplap or wooden panels
- Millwork
Also finishing nail guns can be used on different types of decorative trim pieces. The best finish nail gun we reviewed was the Hitachi NT50AE2 Finish or Brad nail gun. The selective actuation feature allows the user to select the bump fire or contact fire modes with just a flip of a switch. It also is super lightweight so you can prolong the use and make a ton of different items if you wished. Elastomer grip style also added a very nice ergonomic grip that I absolutely loved. It also has a very large capacity style magazine, that is loaded from the bottom using 5/8 to 2 inch style nails. You can put up to 100 nails in there at one time. Very convenient!
Palm Nail Guns
We did feel the “palm” style nail gun deserved an honorable mention. They fit very snug into your hand, giving you a very light tool to do heavy duty projects to complete. It can drive 1.5” to 3.5” 16d style nails, and they make models that can handle even bigger. They can fit virtually anywhere to do any job. You can use them on any kind of framing projects, decking, fences, metal connector straps as well. The conventional nails you can buy in big bulk, for using a normal hammer, can be used in the palm style nail guns. The Milwaukee M12 Cordless Palm Nail gun was the best contender after reviewing 4 additional palm style nail guns. It also uses the same M12 battery that the rest of my Milwaukee arsenal uses. Making it very convenient, and a blessing on a couple of occasions.
What powers a nail gun?
After reading the different types of nail guns, you could see that predominantly most nail guns that are sold are air powered by a certain type of cartridge, or an air compressor, that feeds compressed air to a piston style mechanism, causing instant and forceful pressure downward driving the nail. The air compressed style nail guns are the best style for heavy duty jobs and materials. If you know that you will be tackling a project for a long time, you really should try and use the pneumatic nail gun styles. Battery powered nail guns are nice, but you want to get the project or repair done quickly or in a timely manner, you need to use one that is powered by compressed air.
The battery operated style uses the rechargeable battery power of lithium-ion technology and most of the time use a 20v or 18v lithium ion battery. They are quiet, they do not obviously require any additional equipment except the gun and the nails. The battery operated nail guns will give you mobility, and can be used virtually anywhere. Battery technology is catching up, meaning that within time you will be able to get the same longevity and performance as the typical air compressed style nail guns.
What are the different types of triggers on nail guns?
Contact Trigger
You hear this term when speaking in relativity of nail guns in general. Nail guns have whats called a safety contact, which you will press down on to the spot you want to drive the nail into. It is a safety feature added, and when the safety contact and trigger is pressed at the same time, the nail gun actuator will fire, driving the nail into the desired spot the user has intended. This will continuously keep driving nails until the trigger or safety contact is released.
Full Sequential Trigger
Means the sequence has to be completed in order for the nail gun to drive one nail. So you aren’t wasting nails, or damaging your project or self in the process. These styles of triggers are the safest among nail guns.
Single Actuation Trigger
This happens when the trigger (just like contact trigger) is the same process, the trigger and the safety contact must be pressed, however, the key difference here is that you have to just release the trigger to drive another nail, instead of an automatic style firing of nails.
Single Sequential Trigger
Similar to the full sequential, it fires a nail when the safety contact is pushed in, followed by you squeezing the trigger. However, to shoot another nail, you must keep the safety contact pressed down, even if you move to another spot.
Conclusion
When shopping around online or in a store, you need to remember to make sure your nail gun you are purchasing has a depth adjustment, so you can control how deep that nail gun drives the nails. Also make sure your nail gun has a nail size adjustment feature, because this will give you the option to use different sizes of nails, making your nail gun versatile and to be used on different projects, and materials. A carrying case would also be nice, so the nail gun isn’t exposed to dust, debris, or damage when it is not in use.