Known more for making power tools, Bosch recently jumped into the pneumatic-nailer business, and the three nailers we tested—finish, brad, and narrow-crown stapler—proved nimble and drove fasteners we
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ll. All three feature bodies smaller than comparable nailers we’ve used, making them lighter (by a half-pound) without sacrificing power. They all switch from single shot to sequential fire with the flip of a switch. Each has dry-fire lockout when it’s out of fasteners (to prevent damage to the drive pin), tool-free depth adjustment, a narrow nose with removable no-mar tip (that stores on the tool when not in use), and front-hinged access gate to clear jammed nails.
Although they performed like champs, we had minor problems loading fasteners. The finish nailer’s rear-loading magazine proved awkward to use, and the stapler’s top-loading magazine seemed flimsy and not on par with the rest of the tool. The brad nailer's side-load magazine was the easiest to use among the trio. Bosch does not make fasteners, but we used nails and staples from four other companies with no glitches.