Brand

Metabo HPT Roofing Nailers

The brand formerly known as Hitachi. Same NV45AB2, same rubber boot, same reliability — just a green-and-black paint job.

If you bought a Hitachi NV45AB2 in 2017 and a Metabo HPT NV45AB2 in 2024, you'd struggle to tell them apart functionally — and that's the point. When Hitachi Koki spun off from Hitachi in 2017 and rebranded as Metabo HPT in North America, the engineering, factories, and product lineup stayed almost entirely intact. What changed was the name on the box.

The roofing nailer line is anchored by the NV45AB2, a 5.5 lb pneumatic coil gun that's been a fixture on residential re-roof crews for over twenty years. It accepts 15-degree wire collated coil nails from 7/8" to 1-3/4", runs on 70-120 PSI, and ships with the rubber boot and pad covers that Hitachi/Metabo HPT pioneered to protect both the gun and the underlying surface.

Where Metabo HPT shines

+Rubber boot and skid pad protect both the tool and finished surfaces
+Tool-free depth adjust dial that's easy to find with gloves on
+5-year professional warranty — longest in the category
+Side-load magazine with smooth spring action
+Spare parts genuinely interchangeable with old Hitachi units

Things to watch

−No cordless roofing nailer in the current Metabo HPT lineup
−Heavier than Bostitch RN46 by nearly a pound
−Brand recognition still suffers from the Hitachi-to-Metabo HPT transition

The Metabo HPT story

Hitachi Koki was founded in 1948 as the power tool division of Hitachi Ltd., one of Japan's largest industrial conglomerates. The division grew into a global pro-grade power tool brand, particularly strong in pneumatic fastening, framing nailers, and miter saws.

In 2017, KKR (the U.S. private equity firm) acquired Hitachi Koki from its parent company. Under the terms of the divestiture, the new owner was permitted to use the Hitachi brand for two more years before being required to rebrand. Rather than create something new, KKR licensed the established European brand "Metabo" (a German power tool maker also in the KKR portfolio) and combined it with "HPT" — Hitachi Power Tools — for the North American market.

The roofing nailer line continued production at the same facilities in Japan and Vietnam. Internal part numbers, magazine assemblies, and even most service manuals carried over verbatim. For owners of Hitachi-era guns, this is a feature: replacement parts ordered as Metabo HPT components fit twenty-year-old Hitachi nailers without modification.