Is it vital to match collation angle in a gas nailer?

[cjard]

ive just bought a hitachi gas nailer and the advert specs said it fires 34 degree nails. Ive also managed to find packs of bostitch nails for considerably less money than others from tacwise and timco (advertised as compatible with pas lode, bostitch, hitachi and others) but the nail angle of the bostitch nails is advertised as 33 degrees, and I'm wondering if it's vital that the two angles match.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Probably not, but I have to wonder why they were so much cheaper; short-dated gas, perhaps?

 

[cjard]

That's possible, though for the money (11 quid for 2200 nails and 2 cells, versus 30 for 3300 tacwise and 3 cells) I can probably get another couple of fuel cells and still have spent less. Looking at the hitachi nailer it seems near identical to the bostitch, even down to the vent shapes and battery connectors so I strongly suspect it's the same device with a different sticker.

This site shows a nice pic of it alongside the bostitch..
http://www.prestonhardware.com/3_1_2_CH_FRAMING_NAILER_GAS_p/8774366.htm

I did find a few other sites claiming 30-34 for the bostitch nailer, and even a few claiming 33 for the hitachi, mainly usa ones

Ey well, I've ordered it now, if they don't work I'll give them to my brother for use in his bostitch and I'll use his tacwise ones

 

[big-all]

my thought are the nails need to be within tolerances as in 33degrees will place a nail 100% level with the firing pin and be pushed in a strait line
say 31 degrees the point off the nail will hit the correct point but the head will be slightly away from the front of the machine off centre off the firing pin longer the nail the greater off centre

 

[mcluma]

The difference in 33* and 34* is not enough to worry about. There's more slop than that between the nail and the magazine. Usually the box of nails will list the brand and model nailers that they will fit.