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A nail gun or nailgun is a type of tool used to drive nails into wood or some other kind of material. It is usually driven by electromagnetism, compressed air or a small explosive charge. Smaller nail guns are often called brad nailers. Nail guns have in many ways replaced hammers as tools of choice amongst builders.
For safety, nail guns are designed to be used with the muzzle touching the target; they are short-range and wildly inaccurate if a user tries to use one as a projectile weapon. Explosive powered, or "powder actuated" nailguns fall into two broad categories: direct drive, or high velocity devices; and indirect drive, or low velocity devices. These categories differ in as much as the direct drive nailer uses gas pressure acting directly on the nail to drive it, and the indirect drive system uses gas pressure acting on a heavy piston which drives the nail. Indirect drive nailers are safer because they cannot launch a free-flying projectile even if tampered with or misused, and the lower velocity of the nails are less likely to cause explosive shattering of the work substrate. All kinds of nailguns can be dangerous, so safety precautions similar to those for a firearm are usually recommended for their use.
Either type can, with the right cartridge loads, be very powerful indeed, driving a nail or other fastener into hard concrete, stone, rolled steelwork, or flesh and bone with ease. Perhaps the most famous manufacturer of indirect-drive fastening tools is Hilti of Liechtenstein; in fact the term "Hilti Gun" has become almost generic.
Some areas of the world may require registration, secure storage or other measures to regulate the possession and use of nailguns.
Other uses of term
Various fictional projectile weapons in stories and video games have been called nail guns, most prominently in the Quake series *. When electromagnetically-powered, they sometimes merge into the categories of railguns and coilguns.
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"Nail gun"