The heavy-duty sibling of smaller finish and brad nailers, framing nailers are essential if you plan on tackling any kind of structural remodeling to your home. They’re also designed for maximum durability, allowing them to stand up to the rugged environments of busy work sites, and use a long, angled magazine that helps to streamline their body for maximum maneuverability. They’re not suitable for delicate projects or material, but if you’re adding an addition to your home, putting in a deck, or assembling a tool shed, a reliable framing nailer is worth its weight in gold.

What to Consider

Since all framing nailers are going to perform the same task—sinking framing nails—the biggest factor to take into account is their individual power source. While pneumatic nailers have a practically unlimited runtime, it can be a hassle to drag around a compressor and air hose. Paslode models that use a gas fuel cell are more convenient while you work, but you’ll need to keep a supply of cells on hand, and these models are also very expensive. Battery-powered options also allow you to be more mobile, but their high price and limited runtime may not be practical for some users.

How We Selected

Our experiences as residential and commercial carpenters, as well as time spent on a variety of construction projects, have given us a lot of insight into what makes a great framing nailer. We used this experience — in addition to online research and other expert opinions — to populate our list with the most trusted names in framing nailers, like Metabo, Paslode, and Bostitch. It’s worth noting that if you notice a lack of Hitachi products in our picks, that’s because Hitachi nailers are now sold under the Metabo name, and we’ve found no evidence to suggest that the quality of their products has suffered.

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