For framing I recommend the Hitachi NR83-A2. It has a tooless depth adjustment and is sturdy and very reliable. I own 10 of these gems, with the oldest being 20 years old. Parts are readily available for all. Worth a look.

 

[76supercab2]What about the Bostitch brand?

These are very good also but until lately you had to wait for a salesman to pick the gun up and take them to be serviced in my area they would give you a loaner if they had one but now we can get the parts.

 

I just got through using Porter Cable full head framer, 18 gauge finish, and flooring cleat nailers in the past year. No problems at all except just a few jams on the flooring cleat nailer.

I am going to be selling the cleat nailer for about $375 (paid $410 brand new). I only installed about 200 square feet of oak flooring with it, so it is practically brand new still.

Which is best? Sounds like you probably can't go wrong wiwth the Hitachi line, which is what I would do if I were starting over. Another brand, though, that is beginning to hit the market is Festool. A life-long woodworking supplier where I used to live gave me the low down on the situation with Porter Cable/DeWalt/Black and Decker. Essentially, they are all one company, but are run as three independent companies under one management team. Neither side knows anything of theothers. Even within the Porter Cable team, there are two divisions... the one that supports the home centers like Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and the other that supports independent dealers. neither of these two divisions within Porter Cable can find out anything regarding their own internal "costs" from the other side... they can't even find out what the sales prices are for each other's divisions. Therefore, the independent dealers are typically getting left with higher purchase prices due to "bundling" sales techniques. in other words, they can't get close to the Home Depot consumer sales price unless they purchase a full pallet of guns, which is far too many guns for most smaller dealers.

Furthermore, this same local dealer I was speaking with says that the original manufacturing plants that made the older Porter Cable guns are no longer in use, and all the manufacturing has been consolidated into the DeWalt dividional facitlities. I'm not sure about the true accuracy of that last statement, but I've seen similar manufacturing consolidations in many other industries in the past 20 years.

All in all, I would not go back to Porter Cable, as it seems that the comany management strategies seem to be on a path of imminent internal collapse. The Hitachi tools are a little more expensive than the PC's, and the Festools are even moreso. I have no personal experience with the Festool line, but the Hitachi as been around a while. A nail gun is something you probably will keep for years. Go with Hitachi.

BTW.... let me know if you are interested in the porter Cable cleat nailer, unless you're not doing any hardwood floor installations.