Customer Reviews

Factory-Reconditioned Porter-Cable FC350R Clipped Head 2-Inch to 3-1/2-Inch Framing Nailer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this gun in October 2001. My friend used it first to build a huge deck (can you believe that a friend would use your new nail before you even used it once). He went through a box of about 4000 nails installing the deck without a single jam. I have run about another 500 nails of various sizes (2" to 3.5") with the same results. Considering the quality of the gun, I think the the price is very reasonable. The gun is well balanced but is a little tooooo big for my taste. I prefer my FN250 when using smaller nails.

On the plus side, when other guys walk by, the big gun certainly looks macho.

Would I recommend it to you---Yes.

This nailer works really well and has been one of the best tool purchases I have ever made. On my current project, time is an issue and this tool is helping me stay on schedule.
In my area, the Paslode brand of nails are the only ones stocked. As they are 30 degree strips and not the 34 degrees specified by Porter-Cable, they sometimes don't feed so you have to give the feeder spring a flick once in a while. The no feed happens about once every 300 nails. For my project it's an inconvenience I can live with compared to banging nails by hand.
Overall though, I think I've made a good purchase. The re-conditioned unit I bought didn't have a mark on it - would have sworn it was brand new, but it came at a much better price.

You would never know my nailer was a refurbished tool if it didn't come advertised that way. It was ready to use, no adjustments needed. I've been running three inch nails through it pretty hard since it arrived and it has been just great.

I'm working faster and more accurately now than before. The clipped head nails are just fine. They don't have that nice look that a full head has, but hey, it's framing not fine woodworking. Clipped head nails are much more common locally than the full heads and much more affordable. I've heard a rumor that Senco makes an offset full head nail that will feed through a clipped nailer if it's really that important to have that look.

My only complaints about the gun are that they should ship it with both triggers and it is a bit on the heavy side. You won't hear too much griping from me, however, when you consider what I paid for it. I've used better framing nailers, but not for under $200.00.

Buy the PC FC350, but do not buy the factory-refurbished one.

I bought Amazon's refurbished FC350 nailer. Right out of the box it was jumping and kicking and double-firing like a cowboy doing target practice from the back of a bucking bronco. It was scary to use. The erratic monster had powerful kickback, and would jump off the 2x4, and fire another nail at some random nearby location. It did tricks: no nail, 2 nails, half way in. The refurbished FC350 was a sort of Russian-roulette nail gun: a seriously dangerous, out-of-control weapon. On the plus side, I saved 50 bucks.

A few wild and breathless minutes later, I was on my way to Home Depot. I picked up a new FC350A. I disconnected the air hose from the pogo stick of death, and hooked it onto the new nailer. Wow. Night and Day. The shrink-wrapped FC350A is a predictable, powerful, precise dream nailer. It does its job exactly as it should: it loads easily and fires surely. No kickback, one nail at a time if so desired.

The FC350 deserves all the praise it gets here on Amazon. The FC350A is even better, with a redesigned load mechanism and a trigger you can set to single/multi shot. But buy it new, and NOT refurbished.

In the 1/2 hour of trying to use this tool, it was only able to function properly for 5 minutes. I have other Porter Cable products and have no touble with them. This nailer however just kept jamming at the end of slide area. It needs a guide at the end of the track to stop the nails from "bunching up" at the driver head area. It would not drive a nail and then it would drive two at once. This produces a massive recoil that almost dislocates your shoulder. Porter Cable needs to add a spring steel guide to keep the strip nails inline. This should stop the need for the constant unjamming of the feed track & driver assembly.

Purchased this nailer to build my deck. Worked like a charm, never had a problem with the nailer and what a time saver.
Even though the Nailer was Factory-Reconditioned looked like a new nailer!