The pneumatic vs cordless decision
The roofing-trade nail-gun debate has been re-running for ten years. Pneumatic guns are lighter, more reliable, and have lower per-shot cost. Cordless guns eliminate the compressor, the hose, and the morning compressor-startup ritual, but cost more per unit and have batteries that fail when you need them most.
The data from our twelve crews is clear: the right choice depends on crew size and job mix. Single-operator jobbers under thirty shots per hour go cordless. Three-plus crews over fifty shots per hour go pneumatic. The middle ground is genuinely a judgement call.
What we tested
Eleven guns across six brands. Five pneumatic, six cordless. All used by working roofers on residential metal-tile and Colorbond installations across an eight-month period covering autumn and winter conditions in South East Queensland.
Coil vs stick magazine
For roofing-specific nail length (32 to 50 mm), coil magazines outperformed stick magazines on every metric: shots per reload, jam rate, balance, and cost per shot. Of the eleven guns we tested, eight were coil-fed and they accounted for ten of the top eleven trade-roofer ranks. Stick magazines belong in framing, not roofing.
Jam rate
Jam rate is the single most under-marketed spec in nail guns and the single most operationally important. Across our test pool, jam rate ranged from 1 in 800 shots (excellent) to 1 in 90 shots (unacceptable). The five lowest jam rates all came from coil-fed pneumatic guns. The two highest came from one cordless brand that had a magazine geometry fault that ate plastic collation strips.
Operator-hours lost to jam-clearing is invisible at point of sale and brutal at month six. Track it carefully.
A nail gun that jams once an hour costs more than the gun that costs twice as much and never jams.
Battery life on cordless
Manufacturer-claimed battery life is essentially fiction in roofing conditions. The published numbers assume room-temperature storage, fresh batteries, and ideal duty cycles. Real-world: halve the marketing number.
If a manufacturer claims 1,000 shots per charge, plan for 400 to 500 in a real shift. If you are running a three-roof day, that is two batteries minimum and ideally three with one on the charger in the truck. Factor that into the price calculation: a cordless gun is the gun plus three batteries plus a charger.
Service network in SE Queensland
Two of the six brands we tested have proper trade-service networks in Brisbane. One has a national mail-in service that costs you a week. Three have no service network at all and treat the units as disposable, which is fine on a 200 dollar gun but unacceptable on an 800 dollar gun.
The brands with proper service network won the willingness-to-recommend score by a wide margin. Service availability matters more than initial spec.
What we recommend
For trade roofers running three-plus crews on heavy production schedules: coil-fed pneumatic from one of two brands, both carrying brisbane service. For single-operator jobbers and small commercial roofers: cordless coil from the cordless brand with the lowest jam rate in the test, with three batteries factored in to the buying price.
The brand-and-model recommendation matrix is available to trade-verified roofers via the contact form. Include your typical job type so we can match the recommendation to what you actually nail.