10 Best Nail Guns 2024 in the US

If you do woodworking or carpentry, either on a professional basis or as a hobbyist, you’ll undoubtedly have to use nails. Using a hammer can help you take out some frustration–but it can also cause frustration if you hit your fingers on occasion, or if nails get bent or don’t go in exactly the right way. A nail gun is an inexpensive tool that can save you a lot of that frustration.

A nail gun uses either compressed air or an electric motor to propel nails into wood. They can drive in hundreds of nails efficiently and accurately, saving you lots of effort. There are nail guns for delicate woodworking, as well as more powerful guns for heavy construction. Some also can take rows of staples, for jobs that call for staples instead of nails.

We’ll go through some of the features of the most popular nail guns on the Best Reviews Guide list. Besides being efficient and giving you perfectly uniform results, they also have important safety features to make woodworking easy and worry-free!

Looking at the Best Reviews Guide list of nail guns, you’ll see that they’re powered in a number of ways:

• Pneumatic nail guns: These use an air compressor that drives high-pressure air through a hose, or a gas cartridge, to propel the nails. An example is the Wen 61721 18-Gauge Pneumatic Brad Nailer. It has a ¼” air inlet fitting to which you attach the hose, and it can drive in nails at a force ranging from 60 to 115 psi. (If the air pressure is a bit low, you’ll notice that it won’t drive the nails to the correct depth.)

Wen 61721 18-Gauge Pneumatic Brad Nailer

• Corded nail guns: These use a power cord, which you plug into an electrical outlet. An example is the Stanley Nail Gun and Electric Stapler (Model No. TRE550Z). It has a dual-power lever, where you can use the high power level for hard materials, and the low power level for driving nails into soft materials.

Stanley Nail Gun and Electric Stapler

• Cordless nail guns: These will typically be powered by lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. They have the advantage of allowing you to insert nails even if you don’t have access to an electrical outlet. You also don’t need accessories such as an air compressor. An example is the Porter-Cable Cordless Brad Nailer Kit (Model No. PCC790LA).

Porter-Cable Cordless Brad Nailer Kit

We can also distinguish between the types of nails that they fire:

There are nail guns for delicate woodworking and upholstery:

• Brad nail gun: which uses small, thin “brad” nails. These are for attaching thin moldings and delicate woodworking projects.

• Finish nail gun: These are for trim, molding, and cabinetry. An example is the Dewalt Brad Nailer (Model No. DWFP12231) (although it’s also suitable for brad nails).

Dewalt Brad Nailer

• Staple gun: Many nail guns are 2-in-1 devices that can also drive in staples. These are used to attach upholstery on furniture or to affix insulating material. An example is the NuMax Pneumatic 2-in-1 18-Gauge Brad Nailer/Stapler.

NuMax Pneumatic 2-in-1 18-Gauge Brad Nailer/Stapler

And then there are nail guns for heavy construction:

• Framing nail gun: This employs thick framing nails that range from 2.87-3.33 mm in thickness. An example is the NuMax Pneumatic 21-Degree 3.5” Framing Nailer.

• Roofing nail gun: This is for attaching roofing materials, such as shingles. It takes 11 gauge nails. An example is the 3-Plus 11-Gauge Roofing Nailer.

• Flooring nail gun: This is for attaching sections of hardwood floors. An example is the Arrow 4-in-1 Pneumatic 18 Gauge Flooring Stapler/Nailer.

We went over some customers’ impressions of the nail gun that they bought:

• Lengths of nails: Take note of the lengths of nails that a particular nail gun can fire. The Wen Pneumatic Brad Nailer takes nails from ⅜” to 2”, while the Stanley Nail Gun and Electric Stapler takes only ½”, 9/16”, and ⅝” brad nails.

• No-mar safety tip: There are nail guns with a no-mar safety tip. This ensures that the nail gun won’t damage the work surface.

• Problems with loading staples: You load nails into a nail gun by using a special holder that slides into a slot in the rack assembly. The nails are held in place by means of a spring mechanism. But some customers who bought a nail gun/stapler said that you sometimes have to break up a card of staples into little sections to get them inside the gun.

Here are some features and tips when choosing a nail gun:

• Narrow nose: You’d prefer a nail gun with a narrow nose design. It allows you to get a better look at the surface where you are inserting the nails. A narrow nose design also allows you easy access in tight spots.

• Low and high power: Some nail guns allow you to adjust the power at which the nail is propelled forward. If it has a low and high setting, you use the low setting on soft wood and the high setting on hard wood.

• Quick release of jammed nails: Many nail guns will allow you to open up the nose of the tool to extract any jammed nails. This is especially useful if this feature is “toolless”--that you don’t need any particular tool to free it up.

• Safety features: Unfortunately, nail guns are involved in around 37,000 emergency room visits every year. One problematic feature is the automatic or contact trip trigger, where the nail gun expels a nail when you press the nose of the nail gun onto a surface and press the trigger. It lets you fire nails more quickly, but it can also lead to shooting nails unexpectedly. This should only be used by experienced carpenters.

Safer nail guns use a single-shot or full-sequential trigger. They require you to fire a nail in stages:

1. You first press the safety tip on the surface of the wood. Pressing the trigger without the safety tip being pressed down doesn’t release a nail.

2. You then press the trigger, and a nail is released.

3. In order to fire another nail, you have to release the trigger and take the nose of the nail gun off the surface.

4. You must lift up and relocate the nail gun’s safety tip and press the trigger another time to release another nail. This delay slows you down but prevents accidentally shooting off a nail.

In addition, it’s recommended to wear safety glasses when using a nail gun. Also, be prepared to experience some recoil when using a nail gun (much like using a firearm). And remove your finger from the trigger immediately after firing, so as to avoid shooting another nail accidentally.

Final Verdict

We reviewed some of the different types of nail guns, with the most popular for hobbyists being nail guns for finishing and brad nails. Consider the types of woodworking jobs you have to perform on a regular basis and select a nail gun that uses the appropriate lengths and gauges of nails. Also, take into account the various safety features that nail guns are equipped with nowadays.