Cordless 16G Nail Guns

I’m after a 16G nail gun. Someone I work with advised me to go Paslode so I bought a used Paslode IM250 off eBay (2nd hand) but it looks like the firing pin wasn’t working correctly as it was staying permenantly out unless I manually put it back in.
I’m starting to create a few items out of pallet wood at home on an evening but don’t really want to fork out for something new as everything looks £400+

I have recently bought a Makita Flip saw and a Makita Sander (Cordless) so could buy a Makita nail gun – but they are pretty pricey but at least the batteries are interchangeable.

So do I try another Paslode Gas/Battery? Do I go for the Makita nail gun? Or do I look at other makes/models?

Need it to fire 16Gauge, did look at a compressor but the noise of the compressor probably wouldn’t go down that well

Paslodes are kind of flakey I reckon + once you add in the cost of gas they’re more expensive than they look. I have Dwalt and Makita tools already , but I couldnt find a makita first fix 18v nailer (not a problem for you), which would have been my choice. Here’s some options I weighed up vs. the paslode:

Hikoki (AKA Hitachi) – Good reviews, decent price, but more batteries.
Milwaukee – Defo gets the best reviews, but its not cheap, and again more batteries.
Dewalt – Cheapest option, slower to start but the bumpfire speed is ok.

In the end the ability to get a framing and brad nailer for <£500 with moar batteries from Dewalt swung it, but the others would have been fine too. The Paslode came last in my figuring in the end, I’ve had issues with them in the past being unreliable (Gas cannisters not working/batteries going bad) so I would pick any of the above over them now.

I’m happy with my Hitachi

Another happy Hitachi/Hikoki user.  NR1890 and 1850 in daily use.

Paslodes are finicky buggers.

Whether it’s the poor battery contacts, having to keep a gas stuffed down your trousers on a cold day or the regular maintenance. Great when they work. Shite when they don’t.

Had a Dewalt nailer years ago when they first came out. Was great for a while till the firing mechanism died. Borrowed one a while back and it did what it should.

Makita do a couple of 2nd fix nailers, but neither angled magazines. Both are straight.

You can buy adapters so that you can use 18v Makita batteries on 18v Dewalt /Ryobi/ Milwaukee.

Another Hitachi fellow here.

I’ve Hitachi first fix and 16g

If I was buying again I’d buy gasless

i have a 16 and 18 dewalt. no complaints. does the job

For the type of work I’m going to be doing I think il need a straight nailer as won’t be doing too much on the angle.

Il stay away from Paslode. For me it sounds like Dewalt or Makita are the way forward especially for the battery reasons.

Makita seem to do the 16G as a straight nailer – and there is a few on the second hand market.

Dewalt not so much, they are mainly angled that are for sale second hand

Angle nailer is just to do with the angles you can get into. It still fires straight nails.

^ What Trail rat said about angles, but there is an important difference which is price. Dewalt nails from Screwfix as an example are over double for angled vs flat. Thats of course making a 1/2p nail cost say 1p or 1.5p. That might not be an issue for you.

I’ve Hitachi first fix and 16g

If I was buying again I’d buy gasless

and moar batteries…..😉

Great thanks for the advice. What would be the difference between going 16g or 18g. Is 18g more likely to split the wood? (being pallet wood)

Paslodes, I’ve got the 350, and it needs regular cleaning and servicing.
It’d be far cheaper to repair the one you’ve got.
It’s really simple to service them, it’d help to have some circlip pliers, but you can get by with something sharp to remove/refit a circlip. Loads of youtube vids showing you how, Dean Doherty in Ireland has some good ones of Paslode strip downs.
The service kit is around £50 for everything, cheaper kits are available that dont include the donut etc. After changing the internal wearing parts, it should be like new. It’ll certainly need new o rings, possibly a new rubber donut, and possibly the injector for the gas (which is a tiny tube on the 350 and costs £7+) , then just strip it down, and clean everything, especially the exhaust, which gets clogged with carbon.

DeWalt 2nd fix nailer here – primarily because I’m invested in DeWalt battery system, so makes sense to streamline where possible. Have used it for various jobs, most recently battening walls for kitchen backsplash panels. I found the 2nd fix nailer a bit OTT for adding strength to glued joints in ply cabinets, so bought an electric 16g brad nailer from Rutland for that job.

and moar batteries…..😉

Your pure drives dying shortly after makes me think your the issue not my batteries.(And that was my first fix not the brad,)

Is 18g more likely to split the wood? (being pallet wood)

Counter intuitively the higher the number gauge – the thinner the nail. So 18ga nails are thinner than 16ga.

So 18ga won’t be more likely to split wood. They have a little less holding power but that depends on whether you’re also using glue. With longer nails 18ga is a bit more likely to deflect, bend, crumple up etc.

16ga nails will be available in longer lengths – up to 63mm compared to 50mm for 18ga. With angled nails in particular the min lengths for 16ga is still quite long at 32mm (you can get shorter straight ones)  where as you can get much shorted 18ga nails down to about 15mm.

What can be handy is sometimes 18ga nailers are configured so they can fire both brads and type-90 staples as well which give more versatility, but that seems to be more the case for the air fed guns rather than cordless. If you are fixing thinner materials – say 6mm or 4mm ply brads have very little holding power on the plywood and a staple gives a much better fix

Theres lots of choice out there now for cordless 16ga – however  Dewalt stands apart from the others – they  were the only player for cordless for a long time and they have a  clever but mechanically very simple firing system – reliable and cheap and easy to fix if it does go wrong. In the last 15 years the only repair/ maintenance  I’ve had to make is to replace a little rubber band.  Their patents mean competitors have to make mechancally  quite complex machines to do the same job (with the exception with some models  of Bosch who I think licensed the Dewalt design)

I like the makita 18ga nailers as they are very compact and easy to use in awkward small spaces. The dewalt 16ga is a great workhorse and I get through 100s of 1000s of brads but it’s big and pretty heavy in comparison.

You’re not that tied to a battery brand you’ve already got as there are lots of adaptor plates about now – my pal uses a milwaulkie nailer with dewalt batteries for instance

I know you said no compressor but in a previous life I looked after a large fleet of Stanley Bostitch pneumatic nailers and they were hard bastards and put up with Rochdale’s finest firing them at each other and the occasional window frame day in day out.

Stick the compressor in an foam egg box lined enclosure if noise is an issue. You can always run other air tools, paint sprayer , glue pots etc

I’m starting to create a few items out of pallet wood at home on an evening but don’t really want to fork out for something new as everything looks £400+

Incase I wasn’t clear – £500 gets you both dewalts + batteries + charger. You could easily auction the brand new framing nailer for a clear £200+ on ebay, leaving you 10ah of batteries + roller box + the nailer for <£300.