Best Rivet Guns in Australia (2026)

Which rivet gun is right for an Australian home?

A rivet gun is one of those tools you ignore until a downpipe bracket, a trailer guard, a flyscreen frame or a bit of Colorbond flashing needs a permanent fix that a screw will not hold. Then you realise a $30 hand riveter does in ten seconds what an afternoon of fiddling with self-tappers cannot. Most home jobs need a simple hand (lever) riveter that sets blind pop rivets from 2.4mm to 4.8mm. A smaller group of jobs, like fastening a threaded boss into thin steel so you can bolt something on later, needs a rivet nut tool instead. This guide separates the two so you buy the right one the first time.

We looked at the rivet guns Australians can actually get delivered right now, weighed the star ratings and review counts against price, and picked seven across every budget and use case. Prices, ratings and stock were captured fresh at the time of writing because Amazon stock on hand tools moves quickly. Every pick below is a real tool you can buy today, not a discontinued listing.

What is the best rivet gun in Australia right now?

For most people the answer is a good 13 inch (33cm) hand riveter with a compound hinge, because the extra leverage means you can set a 4.8mm stainless rivet without your hand cramping. Our three headline picks are the GEARWRENCH 13 inch Heavy Duty Hand Riveter as the all-rounder, the Astro Pneumatic 1423 13 inch Hand Riveter for thicker material, and the LIBRATON Heavy Duty Rivet Gun Kit as the budget starter that gets you going for under $25. The GEARWRENCH is the highest-rated hand riveter of our picks and the double compound hinge is the reason. The Astro has the biggest blind-rivet capacity of our picks. The LIBRATON is both the cheapest and the most-reviewed pick here, which is a rare combination.

Compare the best rivet guns at a glance

Here are all seven picks side by side. Tap any name to see the current price and reviews on Amazon Australia. The "From" column is a snapshot and can move, so treat it as a guide rather than a locked figure.

How we evaluated these rivet guns

NestPath does not run a workshop, so we do not claim to have bench-pressed every tool. What we do is study the market the way a careful buyer would, then narrow it down.

• Star ratings and review counts pulled fresh from Amazon Australia, with a real threshold: a headline pick needs a solid volume of reviews, not a handful.
• Stock and buy-box price checked live so nothing here is a dead or grey-import listing at a silly markup.
• Fit for the job: every pick sets the fastener its listing describes, and we separated blind-rivet guns from threaded rivnut tools so the two never get confused.
• Value across budgets, so there is a genuine sub-$30 option and a genuine do-everything option rather than seven near-identical tools.

Best all-round rivet gun: GEARWRENCH 13" Hand Riveter

If you want one tool that quietly handles most household riveting for years, the GEARWRENCH 13 inch hand riveter is the one we would put in the drawer. The double compound hinge multiplies your squeeze so a 4.8mm rivet in aluminium, mild steel or stainless goes in with far less grip force than a cheap short-arm tool needs, which matters when you are up a ladder doing gutter brackets and cannot get both hands to it. At 4.6 stars it is the highest-rated hand riveter of our picks, and the reviews that exist repeat the same thing: it feels like a proper tool rather than a throwaway.

It ships with four interchangeable nosepieces covering the common sizes up to 4.8mm, and the jaws are the serviceable kind you can clean and re-oil rather than a sealed unit. The 33cm (13 inch) handles give real leverage without being so long they are awkward in a tight cavity. For a first-home owner building a single tool kit that will outlast the house move, this is the sensible middle of the range: not the cheapest, but the one you will not need to replace. If you are also pulling together a starter kit, our guide to the best cordless drills covers the drill you will use to open the holes first.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Its review count is the smallest of our picks, so you are trusting the brand and the mechanism more than a huge crowd. The nosepieces store on the tool but are easy to misplace once you swap them out, so keep the little pouch. And like every hand riveter, the very largest 4.8mm stainless rivets still take a firm two-hand squeeze, just less of one than the budget tools demand.

Best for thicker and larger rivets: Astro Pneumatic 1423

The Astro Pneumatic 1423 is the pick for anyone whose jobs creep past what a standard riveter can swallow. It is rated to set rivets up to 6.4mm (1/4 inch), the biggest blind-rivet capacity of our picks, which puts trailer work, heavier bracketry and thicker steel on the table. It is a long-arm 33cm (13 inch) two-hand tool, and with 4.5 stars across more than 2,700 ratings it is the most battle-proven design in this list.

The trade for that capacity is that it wants two hands and a bit of body weight on the biggest rivets, which is exactly how it should feel: you are moving more metal. Four nosepieces come in the box so you are covered from small trim rivets up to that 1/4 inch ceiling. If your riveting is mostly automotive, on a trailer, or on anything structural rather than flyscreens and light sheet, this is the tool that will not tap out halfway through the job. It is the workhorse of the group and the one tradespeople keep buying, which is why it carries such a deep review history.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It is not the tool for delicate one-handed jobs; the length and leverage that make it strong also make it clumsy inside a narrow frame. The finish is functional rather than pretty. And because it reaches larger rivet sizes than most, it is easy to over-buy here if all you ever set is 3.2mm and 4mm rivets, in which case a lighter tool is friendlier day to day.

Best budget rivet gun: LIBRATON Heavy Duty Rivet Gun Kit

The LIBRATON kit is the answer to "I just need to rivet one thing and I do not want to spend much". It is the cheapest pick here and, remarkably, also the most-reviewed, sitting on 4.4 stars across more than 8,000 ratings. For under $25 you get the riveter, four interchangeable nosepieces covering 2.4mm to 4.8mm, a wrench and a starter pack of rivets, which is genuinely everything a first job needs.

It is a more conventional single-hand style tool, so the biggest 4.8mm rivets take a determined squeeze, but for the flyscreen frames, downpipe clips, letterbox repairs and light sheet-metal fixes that fill a normal weekend it is more than enough. The huge review base is the reassuring part: this is not an untested unknown, it is a tool that thousands of people have bought and kept using. If your relationship with a rivet gun is going to be occasional, buying cheap and keeping it in the drawer is the smart move, and this is the one we would buy to do exactly that.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The included rivets are a starter quantity, so you will buy a proper assortment pack fairly quickly. Without a compound hinge the largest stainless rivets are hard work compared with the GEARWRENCH or Astro. And the finish and jaws are built to a price, so this is a light-duty companion rather than an everyday trade tool.

Best complete kit: KLRStec Professional Rivet Gun Kit

The KLRStec kit is for the buyer who wants to open one box and have nothing left to order. It pairs a solid hand riveter with 120 pop rivets and, unusually, four HSS drill bits so you can drill the holes and set the rivets from the same purchase. At 4.5 stars across almost 2,000 ratings it is a well-liked package, and the drill bits are the detail that separates it from the pack.

Having matched drills in the kit is more useful than it sounds, because getting the hole size right is half of a clean rivet, and a bit that matches the rivet body saves guesswork. Four nosepieces cover the usual 2.4mm to 4.8mm spread. This is a strong first-tool choice for someone who has never riveted and does not yet own a tidy set of small drill bits, since it removes the "what size hole" question that trips up beginners. You still supply the drill itself, but everything downstream of it is in the case.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

You are partly paying for the consumables and drills rather than a fundamentally stronger tool. The 120 rivets are a starter batch. And as with any single-hinge riveter, the top of its size range is a firm squeeze rather than effortless.

Best for threaded inserts: TOPEX 160pc Rivet Nut Gun Kit

The TOPEX rivnut kit does a different job to everything else on this page, and it is the only threaded rivet nut tool of our picks. Instead of setting a solid blind rivet, it crimps a threaded insert (a rivnut) into thin metal so you get a strong machine-thread you can bolt into again and again, which is how you mount things onto Colorbond, box section, chassis rails or any sheet too thin to tap. It handles a wide M3 to M12 range and is the highest-rated of our seven picks at 4.7 stars.

The 160 piece kit gives you a spread of nuts and mandrels to get started, and the chrome-moly hardware is the durable part of the design. If you have ever stripped a self-tapper out of thin steel and wished you had a proper bolt hole there, this is the tool that fixes that problem permanently. It is worth being clear that it will not set ordinary blind pop rivets, so most people will own this alongside a hand riveter rather than instead of one. For anyone doing 4WD accessories, trailer fit-outs or repeat-access panels, it earns its place fast.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It is the priciest pick here, and it is a specialist: buy it for threaded inserts, not general riveting. Swapping mandrels between thread sizes takes a moment and you must match the mandrel to the nut or you will damage threads. And its review base, while excellent in score, is smaller than the big hand-riveter listings.

Best kit with a case: GIANTISAN Pop Rivet Tool Kit

The GIANTISAN kit is the tidy all-in-one for someone who likes their gear boxed and labelled. It bundles the hand riveter with 200 rivets and four drill bits, and it holds a 4.5 star rating across more than 2,100 ratings, so it is a proven package rather than a fringe listing. The generous rivet count is the standout: 200 pieces is enough consumables to get well into a project before you reorder.

Four nosepieces cover the standard 2.4mm to 4.8mm sizes, and the drill bits mean you can go from bare panel to finished rivet with one purchase. It is a close cousin of the KLRStec in concept, and which one you pick often comes down to whichever is in stock and better priced on the day. Because stock on this particular listing can be tight, grab it when you see it rather than assuming it will be there next week. For a first-home garage that is being kitted out from nothing, a case-based kit like this keeps the small parts from vanishing into a drawer.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Availability is the main watch-out; it moves in and out of stock more than the others here. It is a single-hinge riveter, so the biggest rivets are a proper squeeze. And, as with all these kits, the included drills are basic HSS that you will eventually upgrade for heavy use.

Best compact all-steel riveter: Stanley 6-MR55

The Stanley 6-MR55 is the no-nonsense pick from a name most Australians already trust. It is an all-steel riveter, so there is no plastic in the load path to flex or crack, and it keeps things simple: a compact tool, four nosepieces, and the Stanley reputation behind it. At 4.5 stars it is a favourite for people who just want a dependable mid-priced tool without a box of extras.

It sets the standard 2.4mm to 4.8mm rivet sizes and its shorter, all-metal build makes it easy to store and easy to trust. This is the pick for the buyer who does not want a kit, does not want the largest capacity, and simply wants a solid mid-priced riveter that will still be working in a decade. It is the buyer's pick when you want a solid mid-priced riveter rather than a kit or the largest capacity.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

No compound hinge means the largest stainless rivets need a firm two-hand squeeze. It comes as a bare tool, so you supply your own rivets. And its review count is on the smaller side of the hand riveters here (only the GEARWRENCH has fewer), though the Stanley name and the all-steel build do a lot to offset that.

Which rivet gun should you buy?

Match your most common job to the tool and the choice gets simple.

What should you look for in a rivet gun?

Answer-first: for a home you want a hand riveter that reaches 4.8mm, has a compound hinge if you can stretch to it, and comes with the four common nosepieces. Here is what each of those means in practice.

Blind rivet gun or rivet nut tool. These are two different tools. A blind rivet (pop rivet) gun sets a one-piece fastener that clamps two panels together permanently. A rivet nut tool sets a threaded insert so you can bolt into thin metal later. Most people want the first; buy the second only if you specifically need reusable threads, like the TOPEX above.

Rivet size range. Household hand riveters typically cover 2.4mm, 3.2mm, 4mm and 4.8mm (3/32, 1/8, 5/32 and 3/16 inch). That range covers almost every home job. Only step up to a large-capacity tool like the Astro if you genuinely set rivets above 4.8mm.

Leverage and hinge. A longer handle and a compound or double compound hinge multiply your squeeze, so bigger and harder rivets set with less effort. If you have less hand strength or do overhead work, prioritise this over everything else.

Build and jaws. All-steel bodies and serviceable jaws last. Jaws are the small gripping teeth that pull the rivet mandrel; being able to clean and oil them, or replace them, is what separates a ten-year tool from a throwaway. Safety matters too, so keep a pair of glasses from our safety glasses guide on when the mandrels snap off.

How do you care for a rivet gun?

A rivet gun is a simple mechanical tool and it will last decades with almost no maintenance, which is part of the appeal. The one part that wears is the set of jaws inside the head, because they grip and pull thousands of steel mandrels. Every so often, unscrew the nosepiece, tip out the spent mandrels that collect in the body, and put a drop of light machine oil on the jaws so they keep gripping cleanly. Snapped-off mandrels rattling around inside are the usual reason a riveter starts to slip, so emptying it is the single most useful habit.

Keep the spare nosepieces together in their pouch or a labelled bag, because losing the small sizes is the most common way a good riveter becomes a one-size tool. Wipe the body down if you have used it near swarf or in the weather, and store it dry so the spring and jaws do not rust. If the jaws ever wear smooth, replacement jaw sets are cheap and available for the better tools, which is another reason an all-steel, serviceable riveter is worth the extra outlay over a sealed budget unit.

You'll also want these rivet gun accessories

The tool is only half the job. These consumables and extras are what turn a bare riveter into a finished repair, and all are on Amazon Australia.

• Swpeet 560pc pop rivet assortment covering the four common sizes so you always have the right rivet on hand.
• BGS 8058 blind rivet assortment (2.4 to 4.8mm), a tidy boxed set that matches the range of every hand riveter here.
• Glarks large flange blind rivets for soft or thin material where a standard rivet head would pull through.
• Glarks 180pc rivet nut assortment (M3 to M10) if you go the threaded insert route with a rivnut tool.
• MAGID Y50 safety glasses because snapped mandrels flick off with real speed.
• Glarks plastic rivet and trim clip set with a removal tool, handy for car trim and panel clips a metal rivet cannot do.

The competition: what else we looked at

Plenty of other rivet guns turned up in the research and did not make the cut. Cordless brushless rivet guns built for Makita, DeWalt or Milwaukee batteries are excellent if you rivet all day, but for a home they are heavy overkill and many sell as bare tools that assume you already own the battery platform, so the real cost is far higher than the sticker. The Milwaukee M12 rivet tool is a genuinely great professional tool, but at its price it makes no sense for occasional home use. We also passed on several pneumatic air riveters, which are fast and effortless but need a compressor, putting them out of reach for most first-home garages. Finally, a number of very cheap no-name kits had either too few reviews to trust or sat in low commission categories that suggested reseller listings rather than the genuine article, so we left them off in favour of tools with a real track record.

Rivet gun FAQ

What is the best rivet gun in Australia?

For most homes the best rivet gun is a 13 inch hand riveter with a compound hinge, and our top pick is the GEARWRENCH 13 inch Heavy Duty Hand Riveter, the highest-rated hand riveter of our picks. If you rivet thicker material choose the Astro Pneumatic 1423, and if you just want to start cheaply the LIBRATON kit gets you going for under $25.

What is the difference between a rivet gun and a rivet nut (rivnut) tool?

A rivet gun sets a blind pop rivet, which is a one-piece fastener that permanently clamps two panels together. A rivet nut tool sets a threaded insert into thin metal so you can bolt into it again and again. Most people want a blind rivet gun; buy a rivnut tool like the TOPEX only if you need reusable threads in sheet metal.

What size rivets can a hand rivet gun set?

Most household hand riveters cover 2.4mm, 3.2mm, 4mm and 4.8mm rivets, which is 3/32, 1/8, 5/32 and 3/16 of an inch, using four interchangeable nosepieces. That range handles almost every home job. Only a large-capacity tool like the Astro Pneumatic 1423 goes up to 6.4mm (1/4 inch).

Do I need a cordless or pneumatic rivet gun for home use?

For home use a hand riveter is almost always enough and far cheaper. Cordless and pneumatic rivet guns are built for setting hundreds of rivets a day and add real cost, weight and, for pneumatic, a compressor. Buy powered tools only if you rivet in volume for work.

How do you use a hand rivet gun?

Drill a hole that matches the rivet body, fit the matching nosepiece, push the rivet mandrel into the tool, insert the rivet through both panels, then squeeze the handles until the mandrel snaps off. The snap means the rivet has set. Tip spent mandrels out of the tool as they collect.

Build out the rest of your home tool kit

A rivet gun is one piece of a first-home garage. These NestPath guides cover the tools that most often sit next to it.

• Best cordless drills in Australia for drilling the holes before you rivet.
• Best impact drivers in Australia for driving screws and fasteners with less effort.
• Best caulking guns in Australia for sealing the joints you have just fastened.
• Best grease guns in Australia for keeping trailer and workshop gear moving.
• Best safety glasses in Australia for eye protection when mandrels snap off.
• Best work gloves in Australia for handling swarf and sharp sheet edges.

About the author

Anish Puri founded NestPath in 2026 after going through the Australian first-home-buyer process himself. NestPath focuses on Australian first-home buyers because the existing review sites are American, generic, or both. Anish handles editorial selection across the homeowner hub. Reach out: hello@nestpath.com.au