GMC ALN18V Strike Allnailer: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead
GMC's cordless multi-nailer, gone with the brand in 2008. Why combination nailers compromise, and what to buy now.
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The ALN18V Strike Allnailer was GMC’s 18V cordless combination nailer — one tool meant to fire brads, staples and pins. GMC Australia went into receivership in 2008 and both the tool and its batteries are long gone.
Why combination nailers disappoint
A nailer’s magazine, driver blade and nose are all sized to one fastener. A tool that accepts several is compromised at each: the nose is wider than a brad nailer’s, so it cannot reach into a corner; the driver has to suit the largest fastener, so the smallest ones drive inconsistently.
Solenoid-driven cordless nailers of that era had a further limit. They drove a brad into pine well enough and stalled in anything hard, because the energy available from a coil is a fraction of what a compressed spring or gas charge delivers.
The battery problem
This is what actually decides the question. An 18V NiCd pack from a brand that stopped trading in 2008 is not replaceable with anything sold today. Even if the tool works, it works until the pack dies, and then it is scrap. Do not spend money repairing one.
What a brad nailer should do
Consistent depth in hardwood, not just pine. Test it in whatever you actually build with.
A nose you can see past. Trim work is about placing the fastener, and a bulky nose means guessing.
No-mar tip and dry-fire lockout. The first saves the moulding, the second saves the workpiece when the magazine empties mid-run.
What to buy
The Bostitch BTFP12233, linked below, is a pneumatic 18-gauge brad nailer that does one thing. Its nose is genuinely narrow, and it has both the no-mar tip and the dry-fire lockout. It needs a compressor and a hose, which is the honest trade for driving the same depth on the hundredth nail as on the first.
If you want cordless, buy a dedicated cordless brad nailer on a current battery platform — not a do-everything tool.