# Best Practices for Framing Nail size



## Kingfisher

a 16d is 3 1/2" a 12d is 3" lot of framers use 3" but I still prefer a 3 1/2" the .131 is the standard I'm use to for guns now days the coil guns use even smaller. IMO get a stick nailer that uses full round head paper collated nails and you'll be fine for any projects.


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## jogr

Use ESR-1539 to determine the correct number and size of nails.


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## Kingfisher

you actually use those tables? Thats a little over kill for a DIY site LOL any .131 or larger nail will work fine IMO


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## Ron6519

Just a heads up. 16D is 3 1/2", 12 D is 3 1/4" and 10D is 3". I can walk into any Home Depot and find 16D nails. Are you referring to 16D nails with full heads? If you've found a few nail guns that accept the 16D nails, what's the issue? You only need one to do the job. You should find out whether your locality has restrictions on these nails. Some places do not allow you to use the clipped head nails anymore.
Ron


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## jogr

Kingfisher said:


> you actually use those tables? Thats a little over kill for a DIY site LOL any .131 or larger nail will work fine IMO


LOL, Well sometimes yes, sometimes no. By now I just kind of remember what to use for different things. But switching over from hand nailing to gun nailing the tables came in handy. Another nice thing about using them is that you can pull it out if an inspector starts questioning something though around here they rarely question HO framing.


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## jogr

And speaking of 16D hand nails. Don't forget there are 16D common, 16D box and 16D sinkers - all different sizes. And most of the guys at HD don't know the difference. And most HDs don't carry 50lb boxes of all three sizes. So if you go in to HD for a box of 16Ds you better look carefully to see if you are getting what you want.

Combine that with the 16D nail gun nails that seem to be a variety of sizes and it just becomes easier to use the diameter and length and the ESR.


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## Kingfisher

Ron you right  my bad 12d is 3 1/4" also don't forget a 16d spiral/ring shank siding nail LOL


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