The 10 Best Nail Guns For Concrete

Contractors who want to pin into concrete and steel without gas, powder or an air hose can reach for the Metabo HPT NC1840DA. An air spring stores the energy for each shot, and the kit includes a charger, a bag and a battery rated for up to 500 pins per charge. It has a lifetime warranty and a dry-fire lockout. It's heavy, it won't take longer pins, and it's too new for much owner feedback.

For regular concrete work, the Hilti DX 2 is a compact powder-actuated tool, the kind most contractors call a powder gun. Each shot fires a small cartridge, fed from a strip, that drives a piston against the pin with a lot of force, and you pick the power by the cartridge strength. It comes in a case with spare parts, plus two years of repair service. It's loud, it kicks, and federal workplace rules require training on the specific tool.

Steel-stud framers, drywall crews and electricians will like the open design of the Bosch GNB18V-12N, a cordless air-spring nailer that accepts other brands' pins, so you aren't tied to one supplier. It comes with a strip magazine and a single-shot nose for one-off fastenings, plus a depth switch and a display for battery and fault status. The warranty runs five years. It's sold bare, so you'll need a Bosch battery and charger, and it's tiring to hold overhead.

Crews fastening metal track to concrete all day often carry a gas nailer like the Hilti GX 3. A small fuel can powers each shot and nails feed from a long curved magazine, so there's no powder, battery or hose, and no operator certification is needed. It suits light-duty work on concrete, masonry and steel. You'll keep buying gas cans and Hilti nails, and this import's manual and warranty can differ from U.S. stock.

For lots of furring strips or plywood on block or fresh concrete, the meite ST64E is a low-cost air T-nailer for the job. It runs on a regular compressor, takes any brand of the common T-nails and ships with a box of them. A window shows when to reload, and a safety lock stops it from firing unless the nose is pressed to the work. It can bend nails or leave them sticking up in hard, cured concrete.

Setting a handful of pins, like a basement sill plate, is the job for the Ramset HammerShot. You load a small powder charge and a pin, hold the tool square and hit the end with a hammer, which fires the charge and pushes a piston against the pin. Every shot takes a fresh load and pin, so it suits small jobs, and the bang and flying chips call for eye and ear protection.

Air does the work in the Freeman PSSCP, a single-pin nailer that drives the same washered pins a powder tool uses, without powder or certification. It takes Ramset and Hilti pins, runs on an ordinary compressor and loads one pin at a time. A hard case and a seven-year warranty come with it. The catch is the base: it works best in concrete poured within the past few weeks, so expect weaker results in older, cured slabs.

From the company behind Ramset comes the ITW 40088, a basic trigger-fired powder tool for occasional sill plates, furring and track on concrete, masonry or steel. You squeeze a trigger instead of swinging a hammer, the handle is shaped to cut down noise, and a slide ejects the spent load. Loads and pins aren't included, and no pin range is given, so check the manual before buying supplies. It's loud, it kicks, and federal workplace rules require training on it.

On sale since 2014, a long run for a budget concrete nailer, the Air Locker CN64A3 drives T-nails through furring strips, wire lath, drywall track and plywood. A switch picks one nail per trigger pull or rapid contact firing, the magazine loads from the side, and the nosepiece pops off to clear jams. The driver is forged steel. Nails don't always sink flush in hard concrete, and it needs a compressor.

Very high air pressure lets the Max HN120, a professional pinner, do a powder tool's job, driving collated pins through wood plates or drywall track into concrete or steel. It has a trigger lock, a swivel air fitting that resists tangles and a carrying case, plus a five-year warranty. It's a system purchase, though: it needs a special high-pressure compressor and works only with Max pins, so it fits mainly crews already on Max gear.