CH38A Autofeed Cap Staple Hammer Tacker

I am a do-it-yourselfer re-siding my house. After removing the old siding, we needed to apply housewrap. with the Stinger CH38A, my son and I did the whole job in a long afternoon. Not only does the result look better than what I see on most of the new houses being built around here, but the wrap has withstood several severe thunderstorms without so much as a staple coming loose. The Stinger is simple to use and works like a charm. When I considered buying this tool, I was nearly turned off by the reviews, which seemed to be split almost evenly between those who loved it and those who hated it. My experience: yes, if you get in an awkward spot and cannot swing it to hit squarely, it may fail to feed a cap or fail to cut the cap free. For me, that happened maybe 1 out of 50 staples. For a contractor, that may be unacceptable. For me, it wasn't even a nuisance. Generally, the Stinger was as simple to use as a hammer. If you are applying roofing felt or housewrap to your own house, you have to have this tool. For $70, if you threw it away after you were done, it still would have been worth five times what you paid for it.

This tool is a huge time saver. I used it on about 20 square of roofing underlayment and it took both boxes of staples / tab kits. It makes installing roofing underlayment easy and quick, especially when fastening at all of the recommended places, that is crucial for not slipping the underlayment when being walked on with steeper pitches. It takes a little to get used to lifting up with the stapler before moving, rather then pulling in a downward motion . If you don't lift up first you will spool about 10 tabs that will be wasted. One con is the staple and tabs are a little pricey for what they are. I also had two instances of the tab feeder getting jammed through the bottom jaw of the tool fir some reason.

Great tool, especially if you're in a hurry or work alone a lot (as I do). It misfires sometimes, but as others have noted, just hit it square and hard. It's been a huge time saver for me.

I'm a contractor and although I don't do much roofing, I do have occasional need to cap nail something (plastic tarps, roofing underlayment, etc.) I don't use cap nails enough to invest in a cap air nailer, but this little hammer tacker is perfect for me. I've use about 2 rolls of caps so far, and really haven't had any issues. I've used it on white oak beams and standard construction lumber. If you strike the tool firmly on the surface and hit it flat, there's no problem with the tool functioning as designed. A few times (like when I missed the wood under the tarp, or when used at an awkward angle making it hard to hit the surface straight) it did feed a few extra caps, but I view that as "user error" rather than a problem with the tool. It's one of those tools that I wish I'd bought years ago! I love it!

The device was constantly jamming. The staples and caps were inconsistent in coming out. I lost a lot of caps because the staples were not feeding correctly. They refunded my money with no problem. Great company to do business with. I bought the Stinger Stapler and it worked perfect. Same company so I am not sure why the discrepancy in quality, but don't waste your money on the "Hammer" BUY their "Stapler."

Using the tool and getting the auto feed to work takes a little getting used to but over all I am very happy with this tool.

The stapler works well as a stapler. Not so much when it comes to placing plastic washer. Will work for a few in a row then plastic caps either don’t feed or break off two at a time then nothing, because feed arm will not reach and feed washers. Works great as a stapler. I think it’s a quality control issue with the caps themselves not the stapler. Just buy the ring shank nails with the cap attached. They will do the job.

This is a perfect tool, as long as it is utilized within its design parameters. Meaning, one MUST strike flat surface as large as BOTH contact patches 1"x3/4". One is obviously the staple, the second is the separation blade. Look at the bottom and see how it works. If one can not contact surfaces squarely, proper separation will be hindered. Be certain with your striking of the surface, with more force than typical setting staples is needed to cut the plastic. It is easy to rewind plastic if one practices. There are two locking mechanisms, and be sure to tighten spool first. Purchased for basement ceiling application of Reflectix to the joists, on top of r12 foil and subfloor heating. Worked easily, when accuracy was maintained. Miss joist partially with the cutting blade, you pull out the plastic. During the learning curve, loss was 5-8%. Now <3% and this is for ceiling work. Chicken coop will be the next use. Tests of holding chicken wire compared to naked staples...5x stronger. I followed with a 3lb hammer(wide head) to insure setting. None appeared loose but set a little deeper with light contact. I am going to diamond file the cutting edge before chicken wire assault.

If you are using yourself it will last DONT DROP IT Dropped 12-14’ and garbage now

Great for putting up Tyvek

Very disappointed. Difficult to use. Jammed often, eventually had to go back to our original tacker. .

First of all- NO any instruction how to operate,load etc. The cap get stuc, not cut one by one, some cote on 10 cups in air... By me good idea, but not perfect yet.