23 gauge nailer. Bostitch or Makita?

[Guy Ashley]

I am looking to purchase a 23gauge nailer and there are only two I can find here in the UK that seem to be what I want.

There is the Bostitch at £120, or I can get a Makita at half price £60.

My 18 and 16 Gauge nailers are Prebena and I am very happy with them. They dont make a 23 gauge so it will have to be one of the other two brands.

Bostitch have an excellent reputation and you get what you pay for is steering me that way, but I cant find any reviews for the Makita 23gauge. It is half the price and so would be more Festool funds if I went that way.

However I have been bitten in the backside before going for the cheap option, so has anyone got the Makita nailer and can they share their views on it please? [unsure]

 

[richard.selwyn]

Guy, I am in the same boat as I have an awful Axminster 23 gauge with no safety at all. I have two Bosch 18 gauge nailers (I bought the second as it has a feature stopping blank firing) having worn out a Senco before that.  They seem pretty reasonable quality, but I really want a Grex, but can't source one in France. I think you would be happy with the Bosch - I tried to buy one at Screwfix when I was last over but they didn't have one in stock, but I see that their price has now shot up to £154 !
Regards,
Richard

 

[Guy Ashley]

Hi Richard

I cannot find a Bosch 23 gauge pin gun but have found the Senco at £142 in VAT. I wont touch Axminster white goods, thats what I have had the poor experience with before.

I was hoping someone may have used the Makita and could give us a clue. If you are interested in a 23 gauge do you want me to see what deal I can get. Shipping to France is expensive but you get back to the UK quite a lot dont you?

 

[Tim Sproul]

I have Grex and Cadex pinners.  Both are superb.  I had Porter Cable and Stanley Bostitch.  Neither was all that.

1 inch is limiting (the PC), even for 23 gauge.  Put 1/2 inch chair rail and 5/8 drywall together with a 1 inch pin........

For my workflow, the rubber nose is key with a pinner.  I'm often working with pine, poplar or mdf trim and those dent very easily.  A small metal nose easily dents those softer materials.  Driving power is also key when working with harder materials - especially if you use a pinner in applying moldings to furniture where you might be trying to pin jatoba moldings into a jatoba case.  I found the Stanley lacking in umpphhhh.

 

[tjbier]

I looked for a month before I bought the Grex, the 2" capacity one.
I looked at the bostich and it looked nice but the 1" pins are just not long enough sometimes, yup didn't want to spend $300 on a little 23ga nail gun but the other ones out there just didn't look the part.
I have never held the Makita (don't know if it's sold here?), but I was very close to buying the Bostich 23ga, that is a nice looking gun, but I didn't care for the safety trigger.  Seemed like I would have fired the gun every time I picked it up.

 

[nickao]

Grex +1

 

[Guy Ashley]

I have Grex and Cadex pinners.  Both are superb.  I had Porter Cable and Stanley Bostitch.  Neither was all that.

1 inch is limiting (the PC), even for 23 gauge.  Put 1/2 inch chair rail and 5/8 drywall together with a 1 inch pin........

For my workflow, the rubber nose is key with a pinner.  I'm often working with pine, poplar or mdf trim and those dent very easily.  A small metal nose easily dents those softer materials.  Driving power is also key when working with harder materials - especially if you use a pinner in applying moldings to furniture where you might be trying to pin jatoba moldings into a jatoba case.  I found the Stanley lacking in umpphhhh.

Thanks Tim

I cant source the Grex or Cadex over here but I have found a Senco 23 g pin gun for £142  [eek] [eek]

I do a lot of 10/12mm (oops 1/2") trim with oak, cherry and recently black walnut so as you put it "umpphhhh" is a must have.

Any of you guys used the Senco?

 

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I have Grex and Cadex pinners.  Both are superb.  I had Porter Cable and Stanley Bostitch.  Neither was all that.

1 inch is limiting (the PC), even for 23 gauge.  Put 1/2 inch chair rail and 5/8 drywall together with a 1 inch pin........

For my workflow, the rubber nose is key with a pinner.  I'm often working with pine, poplar or mdf trim and those dent very easily.  A small metal nose easily dents those softer materials.  Driving power is also key when working with harder materials - especially if you use a pinner in applying moldings to furniture where you might be trying to pin jatoba moldings into a jatoba case.  I found the Stanley lacking in umpphhhh.

Thanks Tim

I cant source the Grex or Cadex over here but I have found a Senco 23 g pin gun for £142  [eek] [eek]

I do a lot of 10/12mm (oops 1/2") trim with oak, cherry and recently black walnut so as you put it "umpphhhh" is a must have.

Any of you guys used the Senco?

 

What about the Omer? 

 

[PeterK]

I have a Senco pinner and it has been flawless. Really like it and had it about 4 years. Don't know if they have changed but at that time, none of the 23 guage pinners had a safety and mine will fire if trigger is pulled. Have not had an accident as I am aware of it and treat it like a firearm but it could quite easily fire if picked up with finger on trigger.

 

[ajones]

Hi I have the bostitch its perfect love it, the only makita gun I have is a stapler. I doubt makita makes air tools they are probably made by someone else...

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I doubt makita makes air tools they are probably made by someone else...

They do make their own, in Japan.  They're not terribly popular in the U.S., but they've been making a variety of nail and staple guns for many years.  Some have done very well in the magazine tests.

 

[GaryLaroff]

I've used a number of the 23 gauge pin nailers, but for holding small stacks of veneer for marquetry and for pinning parts being glued on period furniture reproductions, not for construction work, so except for not wanting to dent the wood, my needs might not match yours.

The pin nailer that became the Senco before it became Senco gray, through 2002, was red and grey and carried a name starting with "A".  It wasn't available when I bought mine in 2003 so I bought the Porter-Cable.  That pre-Senco was borderline acceptable.  The PC is acceptable for short pins, can't handle long pins and can be difficult to set regarding how deep it drives the pins.  For temporary pinnings I like to leave 1/4 inch (6mm) outside the stack of veneer.  The PC and Senco aren't reliable in this regard.

The Grex are made in various Chinese factories and one of their models has been rated quite highly.  But, there is a European pin nailer that is much nicer than the Grex.

The one I used in a few shops and classes that I feel far exceeds the capabilities of the PC, Senco and Grex is an expensive pin nailer made in Italy.  I can't remember the name, but someday I plan to own one.  The units shipped to the U.S. are colored green.  I've used these here and there since 2002 and they have always seemed superior to the others for the type of work I do.  It was easy to set the depth of the pin and they didn't mar my work.  I seem to remember it could handle 2-inch (51 mm) pins.

Since this pin nailer is of Continental origin and not an electrical device, you might be able to find it in the UK.

Gary Laroff

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Gary,

You mean Accuset? It was the homeowner line of Senco's.  Pretty cheap and got good ratings.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Senco makes industrial versions like the LS1.  I used to use them at cabinet shop I had worked for. I've been using their FP11 since 2007 and I like it and no problems.  I believe it was FWW magazine that did several tests on them over the years.  See if you can find those tests on the taunton.com website under FWW magazine.

 

[GaryLaroff]

Ken,

Thanks.  Yes, the Accuset was nice and was the one I intended to buy, but stores had unloaded the remaining stock of them in early 2003 for bargain prices, so none were left when I bought my PC PIN-100.

I thought the Italian pin nailer was out of my price range and that I might not use it much, but that is the one I should have bought.  I'm probably not the only person on this board who covets expensive green and black European-made tools.

Gary

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I have a grex p650.  It is an awesome nail gun.

 

[RonMiller]

Ditto on the Grex 650. amazing.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Gary,

Is it the Nikle NS2340 you were thinking of.  Also Max makes a decent pin nailer.  Like previously stated Grex pin nailers also.

The test was actually in Fine Homebuilding magazine issue 186 April/May 2007.

www.nikletoolsasia.com
Nikle's website changed, possibly ownership did as well now that it says Asia (India specifically)

www.grexusa.com
www.maxusacorp.com

 

[GaryLaroff]

Ken,

Thanks for the response.  I received a PM on this and then looked it up to confirm.  The really nice green and black Italian pin nailers are by Omer and are the Omer B6.35 and B6.50.  They are still hand made in Italy.  They seem to differ on the length of pin they can shoot.  The Omer B6.50 goes up to 2 inches.

But since they don't come with a plastic case, you might have to put them in a Systainer.

Gary

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Thanks for the info.  Never heard of Omer unless this is the Italian brother, Omer Simpson.  [big grin]

Looked them up on the web.  O.M.E.R. also known as omersub (spearfishing and diving equiptment) is part of a group collectively known as Beta Tools out of Milan, Italy.  Going to beta-tools.com still provides nothing on these nail guns.  I only found distributors info who sell them.