Driving nails into concrete

[therage!]

Guys,

I'm using a powder actuated hammer to drive 2x4's into concrete for my sub-floor and the 2 1/2" masonry nails usually don't go in all the way. They stick out and are hard to nail in flush even using a mallet. 2" nails don't seem to go in far enough and I can't find 2 1/4" nails anywhere.

Would one of them trigger hammers work better than the one I borrowed which is triggered by hitting it with a hammer?

[frederic]

Originally Posted by therage!

Would one of them trigger hammers work better than the one I borrowed which is triggered by hitting it with a hammer?

I had the same issue in my garage while trying to nail down my workbenches to prevent movement with all the machinery. I simply went up a size over the recommended charge size, and bam, the nails went all the way in. They have charges for driving nails significantly larger than the ones you're using.

[therage!]

Originally Posted by frederic

I had the same issue in my garage while trying to nail down my workbenches to prevent movement with all the machinery. I simply went up a size over the recommended charge size, and bam, the nails went all the way in. They have charges for driving nails significantly larger than the ones you're using.

Thanks!

I'm usng a #4 load remington. The yellow one's that are .22 cal. Where can I find higher loads, they don't have them at Lowes.

[DDev]

Lowe's should have a variety of different charges. They are color coded, and I can't remember the sequence of the colors but there should be a chart at Lowe's that shows what the different color codes represent. Just find one that is up the scale from what you've got.

Darryl.....

[knightfly]

IIRC, purple loads are the next step up from yellow... Steve

[bigdaddyd]

You can also fire them twice with the weaker loads. Of course, More Power is always more fun.

Something nice about that smell of gunpowder. Kinda... scary.....

D

[Cudmasters Los]

Are you making sure that you are nailing between the blocks, the seam? If they are not blocks then you are going to have to buy a masonary drill bit, and concrete screws, they are blue and they are at lowes. These actually work better than the gun, but make sure of the first note.