Milwaukee M18 Fuel Fencing Stapler Saves Massive Amounts Of Time
The process of hammering staples into a long path of barbed wire fence leaves much to be desired. The same goes for electricians securing ground wire and ground wire molding to poles and crossarms. The Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler (2843) shows a lot of promise in making those tasks much easier. Our resident horse rancher, Luke Smith, gave this tool a good run on his property in Georgia. His goal? Compare this Milwaukee cordless stapler to other fencing staplers he’s used in the past and see if it proved a good value.
Pros
- Quick stapling
- Battery negates need for gas cartridges
- Drives 9-gauge staples
- Easy reloading
- Dry fire lockout
- Easy jam-clearing
- Tether loop (for linemen)
Cons
- Weighs around 11.5 pounds with staples and battery
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler Design Notes
Size and Weight
We couldn’t help but note the unique shape and design which differs from the Milwaukee cordless framing nailer . The handle feels comfortable, letting you work with or without gloves (even the thick leather ones linemen wear). We worked with it bare-handed for this test.
Expect some weight with this tool. It weighs a little less than 10 pounds on its own. Add a compact 3.0Ah High Output battery and you raise that to 11.2 pounds. With a full magazine of galvanized Milwaukee staples, you top 11.5 pounds.
Before you let that throw you, we spent quite a lot of time handling the tool before taking it out on the jobsite. We like the ergonomics. The Milwaukee 2843 has good balance when carried, when positioning the tool, and as you fire staples.
Fencing Staple Compatibility
Be aware that Milwaukee Tool forces you to use their staples with this nailer. These staples feature a diamond-shaped crown they designed to allow the nailer to drive them consistently. Having used several different cordless staplers before, proprietary staples don’t surprise us.
You can buy the Milwaukee 9-gauge staples in 1-1/2, 1-3/4, and 2-inch lengths. Use the side-mounted thumbwheel near the nose to adjust the firing depth as needed.
The staples are hot-dipped galvanized and have barbed and coated divergent legs. The top features that unique diamond crown design, and you can only use them with the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler.
A box of 960 staples costs between $89 and $109. You can find them online at Home Depot (we hope to eventually find them in-store in rural areas). That comes to a bit less than what you might expect to pay for the fuel/staple kit the Stockade ST400I uses but a little more than what we see DeWalt charging for their fencing staples .
Loading Milwaukee Fencing Staples
The tool of this magazine holds as many as 45 staples and we found them easy to load. You drop the pusher down until it locks in place and then slide the staples across the back of the magazine. Finally, you release the pusher. The exposed design makes this process simpler than most.
Jam Clearing
Milwaukee includes a convenient way to clear jams. First, drop the pusher to take the tension off the staples. Then, just above the nosepiece, you can flip up the latch (without a tool) to expose the firing path. This lets you easily remove blocked staples and clear any jams.
Additional Highlights
- Electronic power button
- Temperature and low battery indicator
- Heavy-duty belt hook/fence hanger
- Lockout button to prevent accidental firing
- LED light
Using the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler Performance
It’s worth noting that the Milwaukee stapler fires larger 9-gauge staples. Many staplers fire the lighter-weight 10-gauge staples. We’ve only seen a couple of other successful 9-gauge models including the aforementioned Stockade ST400i and the DeWalt cordless fencing stapler.
As you might expect, the Milwaukee 2843 uses a brushless motor to maximize runtime and power. Milwaukee gave us an estimate that you can fire as many as 600 staples using a single compact 3.0Ah High Output battery. On the ranch, that equated to all-day runtime—and we didn’t have to go for a larger, heavier battery pack to get our work done (or even carry a spare!).
Milwaukee claims you get a 6X speed boost over manually hammering staples into a post. Based on our testing, it’s at least that fast. On top of speed, it also provides plenty of power—which you need if you plan to fire staples into those tough-as-nails utility poles.
Luke and I got to work on some wire fencing used to create new paddocks for the horses. The Milwaukee 2843 drove staples deep as quickly as we could get the nose set. As we moved from one post to the next, the tool kept up the pace.
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler Pricing
Look for the Milwaukee 2843 to retail for $599 as a bare tool and $799 as a kit with two 3.0Ah High Output batteries and a charger. Milwaukee includes a 5-year warranty.
The Bottom Line
While a tad heavy, we still found the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Utility Fencing Stapler easy to use. It dramatically increased our productivity over manual stapling to the point that the weight became negligible over time. We literally saved hours on our big fencing job compared to the old way of doing it. If you want to quickly and easily drive 9-gauge staples without having to worry about fuel, this may be one of the easiest recommendations we can make.
