framing nailers

drewhart

what is the difference between clipped head and round head nailers? does one just shoot nails with smaller heads? i just buy old houses and fix them to rent. i just have to do light framing when remodeling. which gun do you guys recommend for this type of work. i just bid on a porter cable fr350a round head nailer, is this a good choice?

47_47

Most building codes require a full headed nail. I've got a 350A nailer and have had no problems.

__________________
What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it.

BillyD

Senco is the best I have owned.

amakarevic

can't go wrong with round head. i own a makita and it works great.

daxinarian

A clipped head nailer takes nails where the head is partially clipped off on one side. It allows you to collate the nails right next to each other. With the round head nails, the nails have to be spaced to allow clearance for the nail heads.

drewhart

in what type of situation would you want to put nail right next to each other? also what is the correct way to toe nail a stud to the plates?

daxinarian

Let me clairfy,
Nail guns take collated nails, collated just means that they are held together in a strip somehow.
Nails for a round head nail gun must be spaced out so that the nail heads don't hit each other.
Clipped head nails can have their shanks touching because the part of the nail head that would interfere has been clipped off.
The major advantage of a clipped head nail gun is you can load and drive more nails before you have to re-load. Round head nails have slightly higher holding strength, however the difference is not very significant (IMHO) although I am sure someone has a story about how their entire house collapsed because they used clipped instead of roundheads.