It’s funny how the little things can really trip you up. I’d like to think I’m a pretty smart guy but I got a Stanley TR250 “Sharpshooter” staple gun today and I must have spent 10 minutes figuring out how to load the damn staples in it. Unlike most staple guns I have used before, the staples don’t ride in on the sliding rail but are dropped right into the slot on the bottom of the stapler (while the slide rail is out.) Of course the instruction sheet says nothing on loading the stupid thing. (Thanks Stanley…) So if you have any of the Sharpshooter staple guns, there you go. Maybe I’ll save someone a few minutes of aggravation.
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I gave up on the brads a long time ago. That is until I saw the picture that someone posted of the brads being loaded as a stick. I’ve been trying to load the #$%@*& thinks in one at a time and the only way to drive a single brad in is to use the gun as a HAMMER!!
Wow! My wife and I have been working with this Stanley staplegun for 25 minutes with no luck. Thank you Thank you, we have been florists for combined 34 years using staple guns all the time and also like to think we have a bit of intelligence, but frankly, this one had us stumped! Saving this site in my Favs, thanks!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! This has been a huge help to me.. Your post has lasted a few years and helped many people. I worked on the staple thing for over an hour and thought I must bave drank too much as a kid and my brain cells were fried. Such a silly thing to get so frustrated over! Thanks again. 🙂
Still a valuable hint… Three years later! THANK YOU!!!
This article saved my life (and my sanity)!
I was having an existential breakdown struggling with my new Stanley TRE550, and thanks to this article I came out of the battle wounded but VICTORIOUS!!!
There’s nothing else I can say, except every good thing said above about you is true. I’m not a tool dummy by any means, but this thing had me doubting I have a brain at all. THANK YOU! I have to agree, you should send Stanley a bill!
You made me look like a genius to my wife!!!! 😉
Thank you soooooooooo much! You saved me so much frustration. I was trying to load it on the slide rail as well.
I have a Stanley TR250 and there seems to be a staple jammed in the carriage. I have tried to find ways of removing it but with no success. On reading the comments on your site it appears that there is a method however I cannot find it anywhere. Could you please help me.
Many thanks,
Barry Nelson
I just want to let you know that an employee of mine and I have been trying to figure out how to put brad nails in this stapler for the past 15 minutes until I decided to look it up. Thanks to your instructions, you saved us. I can’t explain how frigging stupid I felt while trying to figure it out and even contemplated firing my employee ( we work in the construction field) so thank you very very much for relieving my frustration. I will be writing to Stanley about this. – Danielle from Maine
Barry, unfortunately I don’t have a suggestion.
A HUGE thank you.
I thought I was going mad!
Thank you so much. My husband and I are both very smart people, and neither of us could figure it out. I have been using staple guns for at least 20 years, but never used a Stanley, always had Arrow guns. A couple of lines in the instructions, or a little picture, would save a load of trouble.
I am so glad I went to google instead of my first impulse, which was to call Stanley and yell at somebody. Thanks again.
Praise the Lord for google and thegrumpygeek! We just about gave up then I googled!
thanks so much – i never would have figured that out.
Thanx brother. I found that to be an annoying few minutes myself.
Thanks for taking up slack for Stanley: “[T]he staples don’t ride in on the sliding rail but are dropped right into the slot on the bottom of the the stapler.” … Presto! Picked a used one, and after several attempts to load the staples, I figured the product was defective.
Thanks, Grumpy Geek.. I was feeling pretty grumpy myself until I found your download. Viola! Staples are loaded and working.
thank you so much, grumpy geek! i’ve had a stanley sharpshooter for over five years and never could figure out how to load it. about once a year i’d take it out and try to load it only to end up feeling stupid and frustrated. this year i googled for a manual and saw your post on how to load the thing. five minutes later—four of which were spent finding staples, it’s loaded and working great. THANKS!
THANK GOD FOR GOOGLE! And thank you for telling me how to load this stupid gun! My husband and I just spent over an hour trying to load this thing, which included going to the store to buy different staples and they still wouldn’t load. After reading your instructions it was loaded immediately! Kim
Brilliant, thank you! I was about to toss the gun through the window.
A quick question. While on the package of the Stanley TR250 it claims to be able to shoot 5/8″ brad nails. However, on the one page manual it has a chart, “Brad Length Guidelines,” which shows 2 sizes. 5/8″-SWKBN625 and 1/2″-SWKBN050. Will the TR250 shoot 1/2″ or is this just something which should not be on the page of a stapler which can only shoot 5/8″ brad nails. Thank you.
This post is the gift that keeps on giving. Thank you. I was about to beat the staple gun to death trying to get it to load the damned things.
I don’t actually use it for brads so I don’t know. I would guess with the 1/2 being shorter than 5/8 it wouldn’t be an issue.
I did not discover this post in time, it would have saved me much frustration. I did bungle my way through figuring out how to load staples. I later discovered the online manual at Stanley website. It would not have helped. So now with staples loaded I only get about a 25% success rate on staples “firing”. I squeeze the handle four times and get one staple. I have tried two different brands of staples, one of them Stanley brand. Maybe lubrication would help but then it stains the item I am stapling on, I presume, I have not tried. Not subject of this post but helped me relieve stress!
Ok so I don’t know if my gun is missing something or not but I pull out the sliding rail. Turn stapler upside down. Drop the staples in with the points pointing up at me. Push the rail in and lock it and it makes the sound like a staple should come out but it doesn’t. Also the staples are loose inside. I can hear them sliding back on the rail. Am I missing something on the stapler it self or am I over looking something?
THANK YOU. Even being a mechanical engineer with Masters degree was not enough to figure this out in ten mins. Thanks to Google and this site, it was a snap!
So far this thing gets a one out of 5 star rating. 2 issues I simply cannot find ANY instructions on are: 1) Where in the heck is this “hi-lo power lever”. I can find it nowhere. 2) The “+/-” dial on tip turns endlessly, and does not appear to make any difference. What is the trick to make it effective? Thanks!
Add another two to the list of people that couldn’t figure it out until reading this post. Thanks.
MY STAPLES DO NOT FIT INTO MY GD STANLEY MODEL # TR150! I have been trying for an hour to figure it out, I have three bloody fingers, I look at the video where “the staples just fall into place!” WELL, NOT MINE! They don’t FIT! They are standard 1/4″ staples, which the stapler itself lists as appropriate. In fact, I’VE LOADED IT BEFORE, months ago, I forget what I did, but TODAY I had about ten staples in there, used them up, got a box of staples to reload AND THEY DON’T FIT! They do not “just drop” in the craves because they don’t FIT in the crevice. Best I can accomplish is sideways staples, meaning the mechanism doesn’t close and I am ready to DRIVE OVER THE EVIL LITTLE DEMON WITH MY TRUCK! WHAT can I POSSIBLY be doing WRONG?
Keith
Now your valuable post has saved yet another Stanley staple gun owner. 6.5 years and your simple answer’s still saving people from going mad! Thanks so much. I’m blonde; but now I’m a blonde armed with a loaded staple gun! Look out world.