An excellent tool that can handle most projects I would ever throw at it.
Right off the bat, I can’t claim to have much experience with framing nailers, nail guns yes, but framing nailers specifically, no. Believe me, I have the utmost respect for those who do framing as a profession. It’s physically demanding work and wears on the body quickly over time.
Despite my lack of overall experience with this tool, I certainly learned a lot in using it and look forward to working more with it in the future as it does offer an efficient and time saving solution over the traditional impact driver and screws, I’ve tended to use in past projects.
Manufacturer: Milwaukee
Model options: Tool only ($598.00); with battery & charger ($728.00)
Warranty: 3 year limited
Source: Where to buy
Milwaukee has always been an industry leader in high quality tools, and the M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer is no different. With a 3-year warranty on both the tool and the battery, the typical limited usage DIY’er would likely get a lifetime out of this tool. However, it is constructed with the daily, multi-hour usage in mind. You truly do notice the quality right away, as soon as you pick the nailer up. You can feel the quality and built-in durability right from the start.
Naturally, the first big bonus of a battery powered framing nailer, is that itself, the obvious flexibility of the battery allows for ease of movement, transportation, and simplicity. No need for hoses, no need for air compressors, and no issues with being tethered to something as you work. However, in its own light it does add weight, which at the end of a full day of usage you’ll be feeling it. Mind you, if this is something you use every day all day, you’ll certainly build up an amount of tolerance. But therein of itself is one of the limitations; using a battery powered tool all day everyday will ultimately shorten the tool’s lifespan and create a need for you to have fully charged batteries close at hand, which can be a challenge depending on the jobsite. However, for your weekend warriors and DIY’ers, battery powered is the way to go.
The standard 5.0 Ah battery that comes with the tool is claimed to fire up to 700 nails on one charge in ideal conditions. Using the Crisp-Air 2 ⅜ nails, the total number we were able to fire was 629 on one charge, which is quite respectable, especially considering it was done during a day over 30 degrees Celsius outside.
After testing I wanted to see what others had found with the same nailer, and results were consistent across the board.
For features, one of the wonderful things about framing nailers is the overall simplicity, which in my mind, means less things that can go wrong. First off, the No-Mar tip Cover allows for excellent accuracy and keeps the nailer from slipping around, which is very handy especially when bump firing.
Which is the next and likely one of the best features, Single vs. Bump firing. The M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer has two firing modes, when first powered on, it defaults to Single fire mode, which for the most accuracy and when doing small quantities is ideal. However, in situations where speed is more important than fine accuracy you can switch to bump mode which will allow for rapid firing of up to 3 nails per second.
As with many framing nailers, the depth setting is likely the most used of any feature and the M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer makes doing so a breeze. The all-metal depth adjustment dial is easy to access (including wearing gloves) and can fine adjust your nail depths with excellent precision.
Other features include both a belt and rafter hook, which honestly comes in more easily than you’d ever expect!
If I had any complaint, it would be the nail magazine capacity, only one clip of nails can fit in the magazine at any time. There is an available Extended Capacity Magazine ($148.00) which allows for up to two slips of nails if you need that extra capacity. As mentioned above, when doing small home projects, having to reload slips would likely be minimal, but for large projects the magazine extension makes life a lot easier and means far fewer times having to stop and reload.
Speaking of nails, while I used 2 ⅜” nails, the M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer can accommodate from 2” to 3.5” nails which covers essentially all framing needs.
Pros:
Overall, I found the M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer to be an excellent tool for someone like me. The flexibility of being cordless, combined with the power it holds and number of nails it can drive on a single charge would handle most projects I would ever throw at it. The quality of Milwaukee products remains high and this is a tool that will serve well for many years.
