Dewalt 20V Atomic 23 GA Pin Nailer, DCN623

DEWALT ATOMIC Compact Series 23 GA Pin Nailer, DCN623 Review

The Dewalt 20v pin nailer is one of the newest cordless releases to come out of Dewalt for carpenters.

We were excited to see Dewalt continuing to add to their finish nailer line up, and hope this is the start of a Gen 2 update on their finish and brad nailers.

Pin nailers shoots thin, headless 23-gauge nails which is the smallest fastener available, the most notable feature or a pin nail is that it has no nail head.

Because of this, pin nails leave a tiny and barely visible mark on the wood. This is huge when dealing with prefinished molding and small trim parts or returns, for me that translates mostly to finished kitchen cabinetry and molding returns.

First Impression

The Dewalt 20v pin nailer is larger and heavier than I had hoped. It measures approximately 3” x 8”: and weighs 4 lbs. It’s also little top heavy compared to the Milwaukee M12 pin nailer which we’ve been using for some time. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Dewalt only weighs1 lb. more than the M12 pin nailer, I would have thought it weighed more based on the size difference.

Dewalt followed the design form of most pin nailers by designing a non-retractable, contactless tip with a secondary safety-interlock trigger system. The result is that a pin nailer has a better line of sight and does not have to push against the workpiece to fire a pin nail.

Dewalt Pin Nailer Capacity

The Dewalt 20v pin nailer has a brushless motor and is capable of driving 23 Ga. pin nails from 5/8-In. up to 1-1/2-In. in length. The nailer magazine holds 110 fasteners.

Runtime

Dewalt advertises that this pin nailer will shoot an average of 2,000 nails per charge on a 2.0 Ah battery. That’s more than enough runtime to last a month or more.

Dry Fire Lockout:

The Dewalt 20v pin nailer has a 10-fastener, dry fire locks out feature that I really like. When the nailer locks out two red colored LED indicator light up to inform you when it’s time to reload. There is a spring-loaded button at the top of the magazine that activates this feature once the nail strip passes over it and reached 10 pins.

An additional trigger safety was added in case a user continues to hold the safety trigger down for longer than 10-seconds. In this situation, the dry-fire lockout LED will blink red and lock to tool from firing, until the trigger is released and repressed.

I think this is a good feature – as I cant tell you how many times I’ve seen guys walking around with they’re fingers on nail gun triggers.

Depth Adjustment:
The depth adjustment knob on the Dewalt 20v pin nailer works well and is responsive. Turning the knob to the right sets the pins deeper, and to the left, shallower.
What I don’t like is that the depth adjustment can’t be adjusted quickly on the fly. You must readjust your grip on the tool and open the “nose cover” to access the knob.
Tool Free Jamb Release
Everyone like tool free adjustments on their tools, and this pin nailer has a bunch.
While playing with the tool free release procedure I noticed a red colored “rubber-band like” connection holding parts together. I must question the durability /longevity of this considering these tools store in vehicles outside in all types of weather. I guess time will tell on that.

No Mar Tip and line of sight
The line of sight on this pin nailer is outstanding. To accurately place a nail EXACTLY where you want it you must align the perpendicular “cross hair” “+” marks on the no-mar tip. I was able to accurately place a pin nail by lining up the top line and either left or right of the side crosshair lines
LED Lights
The two lights on each side of nailer body throw a ton of light and provide a forward and left and a right-side strip of light in front of the tool, eliminating left or right positioning shadows. Thank you, Dewalt, for listening to our frustrations with LED lights only on one side of the tool.
Using The Dewalt 20v Pin Nailer

We took the Dewalt 20v Pin Nailer top our jobsite and used it on some Poplar trim and molding returns to see how it worked and what the guys thought. I also tested it here in the shop on some hardwood Mahogany, Oak and Sapele. The nailer work perfectly.

Improvements

I’d like to see the size and weight on this pin nailer reduced as well as the depth of adjustment knob positioned to be quicker to use.

Price

ACME Tools lists the Dewalt 20v pin nailer for $249.00 as a bare unit (DCN623B) and $300 for a kit with a 2.0 Ah battery and charger (DCN623D1)

Overall Impression

The Dewalt 20v pin nailer is easy to use and is a super nice tool. Its certainly a welcomed addition to DeWalt’s finish carpentry cordless line up. This nailer will find its way into my crews van and we’ll be sure to do a look back in 12-24 months.

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[DewaltFanboy]

I have both milwaukee and dewalt pin nailers and i really like both of them. I love the 20v dewalt one cause it can shoot forever on 1 charge, m12 nailer however would run out on me and i would have to charge it through out the job. I love the lightweight of the m12 one and how it sounds when it shoots. Just feels good to hear those pops. Both nailers in my opinion are great tools for anyone who does finish carpentry.

[DumbfoundedMadman]

Always appreciate your honest and experienced opinion on tool reviews. Thanks for doing what you do.

[evansexton]

Great review, I was in HD about to buy it the other day but they couldn’t find it, kinda glad I waited to hear about it from you first.

[PSModernKitchens]

We love this more than our DeWalt pneumatic nailer!

[Fpsnut]

Nice to see an addition to battery powered 23 gauge guns. Can't wait to try it. So far we've been using Ryobi and Milwaukee pin nailers. Pretty happy with both. Ryobi is big and ugly but shoots good and it continued to shoot good until it completely broke after about 2 years of use. Milwaukee shoots like a dream for about 4 months until driver tip gets worn, then it won't drive nails all the way in consistently, because I think driver slips off a nail at some point. We're on third Milwaukee gun at this point, shoot amazing but doesn't last under heavy abuse. Because of Nitrogen cylinder inside the gun, Milwaukee will not sell you a driver to replace it yourself and you have to either ship it back to them or take it to a certified service center. Which means downtime when you need pin nailer now, so that's how we end up with a pile of used up Milwaukee guns. I will say, when laying staircases from waterproof luxury vinyl, we put these guns through tremendous abuse. LVP like Christina Collection can be extremely hard for pin nails to punch through and sometimes we also get bent nails because we hit a nail head in the subfloor. Combination of those things put a lot of wear and tear on the driver tip. So driver lasting 4 months laying staircases from hard material will probably last you years if you use it to nail soft woods like trims in finish carpentry.

[Slowhand]

Ease of accuracy is #1 smaller size is nice but mainly for storage. I’ll probably wait a bit a I don’t need a cordless pin nailer my pneumatic is fine but this Dewalt looks like a good tool.

[Bigcee]

Always an honest opinion from you Rob 👍🏽

[gbeast]

I am on the fence on getting the dewalt or the m12. But this in depth review definately helped. You covered something, other 10+ reviewers never mentioned.
I just wish Dewalt comes out with a smaller 12v pin nailer. That would be awesome.

[ThekiBoran]

My biggest concern is how rapid I can shoot nails, how often it jams and how often it fails to fully sink a nail. One other thing is being able to comfortably hold the gun upside down and shoot nails. My 18g Senco is flawless except it feels weird holding it upside down to shoot nails.

[goodtobehandy]

Great review, you nailed it. I was pinned to my seat watching.

[GeeDeeBird]

Isnt it about time to do a 23 gauge pin nailer shootout? Pretty much all of the big players have products out, and how are we to know which is best if you don' t torture them for us? Thanks for what you do!

[paulorobertoborges]

Good evening, can this pinner work with hard wood, does it work well or is it only for soft wood?

[tomprovan]

for my brad nailer dewalt the rubber broke taking the hammer out as it was worn out not good

[dougieranger]

Are DeWalt 18v batteries interchangeable with this gun?
Thanks. 🙏🏼

[is]

Great video. I’ve just ordered the Metabo HPT as Acme tools are offering it at $129 with additional money off depending how much you spend. With the additional discount it’s at $99 so went With that for its outstanding value

[bobandre]

when will DeWalt provide that in the 18g platform?

[rudycockrell]

I’m on the fence between choosing this one or the Milwaukee. I’ve got an m12 changer but not batteries as I don’t own a single m12 tool only m18 ones. On the other hand I have several freaky tools and batteries.

[gregsewell]

So this DeWalt pin nailer is spring-loaded, not pneumatic?

[steventicknor]

I have the crown stapler and I love it but it is big. I am in the Dewalt battery system so this might be in my future.

[rileytaylor]

Looks like a cool tool I may have to get soon