Cadex CP23.30 23 Gauge Pinner - Review

It's a habit of ours to loudly announce to anyone who will listen that Cadex's 23 gauge pinner (the CPB23.50) is one of the best tools we've ever used. It's like the Fein MultiMaster of nail guns in that every aspect of it just reeks of quality. We recently heard that Cadex added another pinner, the CP23.30, to their line (their third pinner) and we were pretty excited when they sent one our way for a review.

So here's where the new gun fits into the Cadex pinner family tree (this gets a little confusing): The 23.50, the one that we love, has a pin capacity of up to 2" and it can also shoot slight-headed brads as well as pins. Cadex has another gun that can handle both pins and brads (the 23.35) but this one only has a fastener capacity of up to 1-3/16". This pinner and the aforementioned 23.50 also have a number of other features that set them over the top (muffler, blow gun, etc). The new gun, the one being reviewed here, the 23.30, shoots only pins and...well...that's about all the tool does. It's basically Cadex saying, "OK, how minimal can we go and still deliver quality at a good price." Literally, everything unnecessary has been removed from the tool. Even the trigger.

Most pinners have a second safety trigger that nests under the main trigger. To operate, first pull the secondary trigger to release the safety and then you're free to pull the main trigger to shoot the nail. The 23.30 works slightly differently. Instead of a second trigger there is a little toggle piece that sits directly behind the trigger which prohibits it from being pulled. With a little tap of the forefinger, the stop on the toggle shifts to the side and frees up the trigger. Unlike the double trigger, the toggle does not automatically reset to the safety position, but another tap of the thumb puts it back in place.

There are other pinners out there that have this single trigger set-up, but this was the first time we had any hands on experience with it. We were initially skeptical due to safety reasons, but once we got used to it, we started to not even notice that we were flipping the safety toggle back into position when we were setting the gun down.

The 23.30 has a pin capacity of 1/2" to 1-3/16" which is more than a lot of the $100 pinners out there, most of which only seem to go to the 1" mark. We had no problem shooting some 1-3/16" pins into oak. This new little Cadex is plenty powerful.

The bottom line here is that the Cadex 23.30 is another solid gun from Cadex. Does it have a muffler, a blowgun, or an adjustable exhaust? No. Does it have a case? No. Does it have a larger pin capability than most guns in its price range? Yes. Does it offer the essentials at Cadex-level quality? Yup. Do we recommend it? Absolutely.

At Amazon.com

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Posted by Doug Mahoney at December 29, 2010 9:35 AM

I was recently in the market for a 23 gauge pinner for some stain grade trim work and did a lot of research on my options. I considered the Cadex you're reviewing and while a 2" 23g pin seemed almost crazy, I've never regretted going with the tools that give me more flexibility. I wanted something with dry fire lockout (a window on the left side of the gun doesn't do much good when you're left handed). But the good options out there were pretty limited the high end Cadex and Grex pinners seemed to be the only options. And while Cadex had a great reputation for quality their customer service was reportedly pretty bad. The Grex pinner seemed good but expensive and unable to fire slight head brads. My research brought me around to this Fasco pinner. The fit and finish is excellent, machining is top notch, and it hasn't failed to sink a pin yet. I've been really really impressed with it. It has all the features of the Grex AND it can fire slight head brads (the Amazon listing calls both the Cadex and the Fasco headless pinners but if you look at both of their documentation they are both capable of using slight head brads). The only feature it doesn't have is the built in blow gun. My only complaint is that the Fasco's manual is pretty bad but it functions like most other 23g pinners on the market. The blow molded case is kinda cheap but the gun itself is awesome.

Posted by: Ethan at December 29, 2010 10:18 AM