Are battery powered brad and finish nailers now better than the pneumatic ones?

[Jim Becker]

Based on Steve's comments above, Milwaukee's system seems to work well.

[Warren Lake]

good info steve and that you have a volume of them. ive been switching from Makita to Milwaukee to have just one battery type.

I stepped on an air line doing my roof putting my foot back behind me. It rolled and I went down. Good thing I had my own mcgiver harness set up so I just went down on the roof and no where else. Worst thing was that maybe a neighbour saw me but I popped back up like Kramer and just kept going. Those particular lines that are great in my shop are lousey in cold weather so had to get some of the super flexible ones for cold weather work. Be nice even more than other places to have fewer lines of any kind while roofing.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I've never used the Milwaukee brad nailer, only Ryobi and DeWalt. Neither have issues sinking 2 inch brads into softwood including MDF trim which is a bit harder. I don't remember using them in hardwood. I have a Milwaukee cordless framing nailer and I am impressed with it's adjustment for depth. If they have something similar on the finish nailers it is a plus. But I don't see it as a big plus unless you often try to nail really soft or really hard things with it. I haven't wanted to adjust depth putting up trim with my Ryobi. I also would be hesitant to use in really hard materials because the brads bend pretty easily. That is a problem sometimes (like nailing into a knot or with wild grain) but I doubt that it varies between nailers. I keep diagonal cutting pliers handy and a nail set to drive errant brads below the surface where they can be puttied over. Using a 16 or 15 gauge would help with this but it would also mean a lot of big voids to fill with filler. I prefer to just deal with the occasional wandering brad. I use the bigger finish nailers when I need 2.5 inch length or for something like the starter rows putting in hardwood flooring where it takes a stout nail to deal with the flooring's tendency to refuse to be straight.

The brad nailer has the same depth control, just a little smaller. Works well! 18g brads still behave silly sometimes, don't get rid of the side cutters, but you will be pleasantly surprised at the consistent power. You know how a air brad gun on a long, small hose lags a little as its recharging, or short drives if you fire it before it's up to pressure, probably an elapsed time of half a second? The milwaukee doesn't do that.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

"My air power ones are lighter, smaller, cheaper, and more powerful."

Appreciate all of the input. Certainly people have preferences --- dealing with an attached hose and the noice of a compressor vs the weight of a battery and the need to charge, and there are issues of money if you already own pneumatic.

My concern was that I would not want to buy a Milwaukee and have it not be as powerful. Perhaps the Milwaukee is a better gun than the DeWalt that you did not find as powerful as your shop pneumatic guns?

For me it is simple. I want to pull the trigger and have the nail drive every time, not most of the time. I want no double fire. I want the nail to go into the wood, including hardwoods to the depth I desire. I want reliability. If the new Milwaukee does that as well or better than the old Secco's, then for me, that works. I am about to work on trim and if and only if the new Milwaukee works as well or better than the old Senco, I am in.

The Milwaukee and Dewalt are different generation tech. I like Dewalt tools generally, but I gave away the dewalt nailers we tried. They are fine for someone I suppose, but too slow, huge ramp up, not as powerful, heavier, basically can't compete on any level except battery tech. Dewalt has better batteries than Milwaukee, but not nailers.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

good info steve and that you have a volume of them. ive been switching from Makita to Milwaukee to have just one battery type.

I stepped on an air line doing my roof putting my foot back behind me. It rolled and I went down. Good thing I had my own mcgiver harness set up so I just went down on the roof and no where else. Worst thing was that maybe a neighbour saw me but I popped back up like Kramer and just kept going. Those particular lines that are great in my shop are lousey in cold weather so had to get some of the super flexible ones for cold weather work. Be nice even more than other places to have fewer lines of any kind while roofing.

Yikes Warren!! I've personally never taken that ride, but I suspect when I do, an airhose will be involved too. I'm hoping to see a Milwaukee roofing gun someday, no luck yet...

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Based on Steve's comments above, Milwaukee's system seems to work well.

Hi Jim, this is a good opportunity to campaign for like buttons

[Warren Lake]

Steve it was okay, I had more and more trouble with heights as i got older. I made my own way which was the proper roofer rope grab and ran that belt through my blaakladder pants. I ran with basically no slack. It would slow a roofer down too much but it took away the panic feel i had and then just do the work. To walk needing slack I just held the rope grab open. Roofers would laugh as both I did bungalows this one 5/12 pitch. with that I could work right at the edge of the roof and be fine.

I wanted a particular roofing nailer and could not get it anymore Think SNF40 Senco funnel tip. I had to settle for Senco offshore but in talking to a guy at Senco US I later got an email him saying he found me the one I had wanted to buy. I said its too late I already had to settle for this new one, I said they told me the funnel tip had issues so what they sold me was better. I guess he must have called them and torn strips off them. They took it back and rolled out the red carpet treatment wise. I ordered the one from the US and landed it was 30 percent cheaper??? Amazing what a level of service, I had no idea he was going to do that but thankful always when I use it. Some old school guys will only hand nail, this gun is almost fool proof in how well it works.

[Rod Wolfy]

For most tasks in my shop, pulling out the cordless Brad nailer for a few shots works great. A lot less cumbersome than dealing with air lines, compressor, etc. However, yesterday I was working on putting wine shelves inside a hutch. The cordless was too big to get in the case. But the light/short/nimble corded bread nailer worked great.

[Jim Becker]

Hi Jim, this is a good opportunity to campaign for like buttons

Yea...need a bit of a software change for that! LOL

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The Milwaukee is great. I think dragging an air hose around is going to soon be a thing of the past, but to be fair, you can’t fire off as many in series with a battery powered gun as you can with an air powered gun. I still would much rather use battery. Just an hour ago I was on a lift 16’ up nailing stud walls in place and was thinking what a pain it would be with an air hose hanging down.

[Joel Gelman]

Nailed.jpg

What got my attention before I started this thread was that a friend brought over his Milwaukee battery powered pin nailer, but commented several times he was not happy with this finish nailer. He never said why. I was at his shop today, and he showed me why. He showed me a board where his old pin nailer drove in nails below the surface but the Milwaukee 2742-20 16 ga finish nailer with a fresh battery at max setting was a bit proud. See attached.

I did some reading, and perhaps that was a Gen 1. Seems like the Gen 2 nailers are way better. I just ordered a 2841-21CTR M18 Fuel 16 Gauge gun. Hope it works out well. My Senco is a 15 gauge. Not sure if Senco nails will work with the Milwaukee if I get a 15 Gauge also or a brad nailer, but either way, I will need to get nails in 16 guage now.

[Bill Dufour]

https://www.amazon.com/J-6901-91-Por...s%2C434&sr=8-2

[Brian Tymchak]

I wanted a 23 ga pin nailer and opted for the Ryobi battery powered since I had recently moved to Ryobi drills. I used it for the first time a couple days ago to assemble some walnut decorative brackets. I was mostly satisfied with not having to manage an air hose, the main reason I went with battery powered. However, one thing that I found was that there seems to no nail depth adjustment like the pneumatic nailers I have. I would have liked to sink the pins just a tad deeper. Wish I had realized that before I bought it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Nailed.jpg

What got my attention before I started this thread was that a friend brought over his Milwaukee battery powered pin nailer, but commented several times he was not happy with this finish nailer. He never said why. I was at his shop today, and he showed me why. He showed me a board where his old pin nailer drove in nails below the surface but the Milwaukee 2742-20 16 ga finish nailer with a fresh battery at max setting was a bit proud. See attached.

I did some reading, and perhaps that was a Gen 1. Seems like the Gen 2 nailers are way better. I just ordered a 2841-21CTR M18 Fuel 16 Gauge gun. Hope it works out well. My Senco is a 15 gauge. Not sure if Senco nails will work with the Milwaukee if I get a 15 Gauge also or a brad nailer, but either way, I will need to get nails in 16 guage now.

His gun needs Milwaukee service, they will fix that.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

The Milwaukee is great. I think dragging an air hose around is going to soon be a thing of the past, but to be fair, you can’t fire off as many in series with a battery powered gun as you can with an air powered gun. I still would much rather use battery. Just an hour ago I was on a lift 16’ up nailing stud walls in place and was thinking what a pain it would be with an air hose hanging down.

I don't think there is any practical speed difference on rapid bump firing. Maybe if you were to just blast away on a board to race or something, but on a normal 3 nail plate to stud situation that requires the gun to be positioned appropriately, there is no difference in speed between an air gun and the Milwaukee in my experience. What is that, something like three nails in a couple seconds for either? And no hose tangling up. Put the air framer on a lightweight hose and the Milwaukee is easily faster. The fact that we're comparing the two techs is a huge milestone for battery guns, this is a huge deal for battery guns to compete with air so favorably.