Customer Reviews

Makita AN453 1-3/4-Inch Roofing Coil Nailer

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I'm a full-time roofer working for a large subcontracting company in Canada, and I am a big fan of the Makita brand. In my opinion their power tools are the best in the business. So when I ordered the Makita roofing nailer, I was expecting a similar level of high quality. And when it arrived, I was impressed with how great it looked and how solid it felt, but unfortunately the beauty is only skin deep on this one.
The first problem I noticed was that the gun wouldn't drive in nails all the way. Assuming it just needed a few shots to get all the oil worked through and whatnot, I kept firing. And firing. And firing. It barely managed to set any nails flush. I double checked the depth gauge on the nailer and the PSI on the compressor. Both fine. I hooked my other nailers (Hitachi NV45AB2 and Bostitch RN46-1) to the same airline and they set all the nails effortlessly. No amount of fiddling with the settings fixed the problem on the Makita.
The other thing I noticed was that the nailer bucked like a wild mule with every shot. Even if it would have set the nails flush, the gun bounced so hard that I couldn't maintain anywhere near my usual efficiency or accuracy.
Assuming it was a manufacturer error, (frustrating, but understandable), I sent it in for warranty. After about a month I got it back and tried it out. Exact same problems.

It's shameful that such a shoddy product should come from the same manufacturer that makes such excellent power tools. The Makita AN453-1 just simply doesn't work well, and I find it impossible to recommend this tool to anyone.

The nailers that I've used extensively and can easily recommend are the Hitachi and Bostitch models mentioned above. I've also recently purchased a Max Super Roofer, but I haven't used it long enough to either recommend or condemn it.