Issues with Milwaukee's service department on nail guns?

[Bert McMahan]

I have a Gen 2 18 gage brad nailer (couple years old) that's consistently jamming on nails longer than 1". 1" and under, it shoots fine, but 1.5" or 2" nails jam every 5th nail or so. I've tried both Porter Cable and Senco nails; both jam *very* frequently.

I submitted a warranty claim to Milwaukee and they accepted it right away. I sent it in and got it back with a note that the nail pusher assembly spring needed adjustment and that they tweaked it. I tried it and it still jams with longer nails. I contacted them and sent it in again; this time, they looked at it for a day and sent it back to me with notes that the piston assembly had low pressure and they replaced it. (I found that hard to believe, as when it DID sink nails it was doing it totally fine.) I tried it after receiving it a second time and guess what, still jammed after 4x 2" nails.

It's like they're not testing it. Best as I can tell there's something wrong with the striker guide/nail guide area, as the striker will go over and around a nail, sometimes double feeding. It seems like that whole area is just too loose and the striker isn't guided well enough to push the nail through which makes it slip over the nail.

I'm hesitant to send it in again because it takes a couple weeks and they don't seem to be addressing the problem. I've heard great things about their service department, and they've been good to work with (prompt response, quick shipping, no hassles, etc) but they're just not testing the dang nail gun!

I have a local authorized dealer near me, but they're not exactly close by and it's not easy to get there during their opening hours, but I think that's my next bet unless someone can tell me a trick to getting the actual repair center to look at the gun again.

[Frederick Skelly]

I understand your frustration. But if they havent given up on helping you, I would keep pressing them to fix it. Or start telling them you want a replacement rather than a repair.

Wonder if you could mail the tool to your service center - tell them it's coming and ship at your convenience instead of driving over?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Are you sure you don't have a nail issue? Nailers are particular about what they feed, and if you and the service department are using different nails to test, you will get different results. Senco nails are our default 18g brand though, you should be getting far better results. Have you tried a new batch? Do you get more misfires as the clip runs out? It's very possible that the tech isn't seeing the issue yet. You'll probably get a new gun, keep on them.

[Tom M King]

The only gun fasteners I like that aren't Senco are Grex stainless 23 ga. pins. I would probably be using Senco for those if I could find any.

[Richard Coers]

I agree, try some different brand brads.

[Bert McMahan]

Any brand recommendations? Home Depot carries Dewalt and Porter Cable. PC jams, and I've heard others say Dewalt jams. I ordered Sencos online and they jam. And again, it's only the longer nails. What's another brand to try?

[Richard Coers]

Any brand recommendations? Home Depot carries Dewalt and Porter Cable. PC jams, and I've heard others say Dewalt jams. I ordered Sencos online and they jam. And again, it's only the longer nails. What's another brand to try?

Tom suggested Senco or Grex, and according to Google, Ace Hardware sells Senco. Dewalt and PC probably come from the same factory in China. According to Senco, more than 80% of their fasteners are made in Cincinnati, Ohio.

[Bert McMahan]

I have already tried Senco's and they jam. I'll see if I can find Grex but I haven't heard of them before (not that that means much!)

[Tom M King]

Sounds like it's not the fastener. I would expect the end of the driver is a little too small, or tapered, and there is enough room for it to get past the head of the brad.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Mine shoot bostich and senco fine. Try the bostich if you can? Does your gun have the grooves in the mag for the nail heads? If it does, make sure you have the heads in that, the nails might not be touching the bottom of the mag when in the groove. I don't remember if the Milwaukees here have them and I'm too lazy to go find one, but I remember that being a problem in one of the guns. Might have been a Senco air gun though.

[Jonathan Jung]

I was having a similar issue and found that the magazine wasn't holding certain lengths of nails tight to the edge of the rail. The nails were slightly underlength for the predetermined size spacings running down the magazine. So the nails would feed wonky and jam regularly. Ironic, since both the gun and nails were Metabo...

[Lee Schierer]

I would send it back to them with a jam still in the nailer along with some of the nails, so they can see the exact problem you are having. Put a tag on it to say please test before returning.

[Justin Rapp]

I use Paslode nails in my dewalt 16 gauge and it works fine. I have a porter cable brad nailer and use PC brand nails. however I see the quality of the Paslode is better but I never ran out of my first packs of brads since I don't use it much. When I do run out of the brads, i'll switch to Paslode. They just for some reason seem better quality.

btw - I get Paslode at home depot - you may be able to ship to store for pickup or try a local lumber yard.

[Bert McMahan]

Small update (didn't do much over Christmas)- I got a pack of Grex at Woodcraft and loaded up some 2" nails. Firing individually (not bump firing) it jammed on the 10th nail.

I also called my local but somewhat inconvenient tool center, and they said Milwaukee won't let them work on the nailers. They can't even get parts for them.

So... back to the warranty department it goes! I'll let you know how it goes this time but I don't have high hopes.

[Bert McMahan]

Nice positive update to round out the story. I sent it in a third time and included a note about testing with 2" nails like you guys mentioned. I also included a picture of an area that looked worn out. I got the nail gun back again and they wound up swapping it out for me! It looks basically brand new (though it could be a refurb). I fired a bunch of 2" nails out of it and got zero jams, so all in all they made it right for me without any hassles other than needing to send it in three times (hah).

So, positive experience all around!