If you are browsing around the market for a good nail gun, you may find yourself confused. There are so many choices out there and you don’t want to make the wrong one – nail guns are expensive. It’s a good idea to have a bit of knowledge about what to look for first so you don’t make any mistakes with your purchase.

The first question to ask is why you are actually buying a nail gun. You should know the type of project you expect to use the nail gun on. There are specialized nail guns for pretty much any project you can imagine.

When it comes to nail guns, there are two choices: coil and stick nail guns. The major distinction here is that coil style magazines will hold long flexible nail strips containing between 100 to 300 nails. Stick magazines will hold nail strips of 20 to 40. As to what sort of nail gun you want, it depends. The coil nailer holds more nails and doesn’t have the stick poking out. This means coil nailers are a bit more portable and easier to use for larger projects. Furthermore, coil nail guns use standardized nails. The disadvantage here is that coil nail guns are significantly more expensive than stick nail guns.

You can use nail guns for variety of purposes: roofing, framing, flooring, finishing, etc.  Each type of application will require a special nailer. You can get roofing nailers, framing nailers, flooring nailers, and finishing nailers. Each is designed for a specific application. Some nailers can be used for multiple types of jobs – you might be able to use a finishing nailer as a light framing nailer if you need to, but some nailers can’t. You will have to read the manual to find out.

The next thing you want to look at is what powers the nailer. Do you want a pneumatic nailer (air driver nailer) or a cordless nailer which is powered by gas explosions? The pneumatic nail gun will require you to have an air compressor. This can add to the cost and makes the gun less maneuverable. If you require mobility, than you might want to look at getting a cordless (gas) nailer which is powered by little gas canisters.

You also need to consider about the type of nail triggers a nailer will have. You can have the bump fire which shoots the nail in after you bump the nail gun, or you have the one-for-one trigger where a trigger pull equals a nail release and then you have the squeeze and release which can drive in multiple nails.