Hi,
I have three basting guns. They are gret. Two of the guns use larger "pin" than the other one. You do have to make sure that your sandwich is together right. Have you tried safety pins to baste with? They are also a good way to hold the layers together.
The two guns that I have have different sized "pins". The red ones are the largest and they let things slide a little bit. The gun with black or white "pins" doesn't let things slide as much and it costs just a little bit more. I believe the price is $25 - $30. I have had a lot of trouble with the one with red pins. They get stuck in the gun and you have to take things apart to get them out. It can be a real pain. So far, knock on wood, the one with the small black or white pins has not stuck on me.

I hope this has been of some help to you. my email is "[email protected] " if you want to talk about it some more or ask questions.
Henri

http://www.quiltak.com/index.htm This is the one I like and recommend.

I do not use basting spray - I do not like chemicals in my quilts. (Yes, I wash the heck out of the fabrics when I get them home.) I have used the fusible ones before for table runners and baby quilts, and those are fun for small projects, but they still have glue in them.

"Tak"ing works well for hand or machine quilting and is very fast if you use the best quality gun and tacks. Otherwise it can be frustrating and leave holes in your quilt. A good basting gun (the Quilt Tak) leaves smaller holes than safety pins.

The preparation for basting is the same as for any other kind of basting, except that you need to put the grid down under the backing before you start. You don’t need to start in the middle, but I like to put a couple of tacks there first to secure it.

For a grid, I went to the big home store (Menards, Home Depot, Lowes, whatever) and bought a ceiling panel - the kind used over lights in suspended ceilings. I think it was $6. It was only 1/4" thick (it really needs to be thicker!), so I cut the 24" X 48" panel in half crosswise and stacked the two halves. I glued them with model airplane glue (intended for plastic) and ended up with a 24" x 24" grid for a MUCH lower price than you would pay for a smaller one at the fabric store. I like it a lot.

I attached ribbons to each side of the grid so I could pull it around under the quilt as I worked. I have done many queen sized quilts like this. It's super fast, and as I said, it's great for hand or machine quilting.
Be careful removing the tacks. Special tools are available for the purpose, but they are not strictly necessary.

I had one and gave it away, not only did I not like the distance the layers would "travel" because they did not hold it together tightly but then there is the aweful cleanup of those nasty little things when you take them out. I would rather baste the old fashioned way with needle and thread, occasionally I use pins if it is a small project.

I have two of them and never use them. Couldn't get them to work at all. Thought it was the make of the first one, bought a new one. Didn't work either. Forget it.

If the reason that some of you are not using your guns is that the little tacks don't hold your quilts firmly enough, they might be the earlier versions that had thicker needles, and longer tacks. I had the same problem with my first gun, then hit on the idea of taking a stitch with the gun, so that the needle went from front to back, then returned to the front again before I shot the tack through. That certainly held everything firm, and had the bonus of producing a little plastic 'stitch' on the reverse that made snipping it easy at the end. I still prefer my micro stitch version now, and wouldn't be without it.

Tagging guns are not all created equal. The gun with the shortest tacks is the MicroStitch gun by Avery Dennison. I purchased one several years ago and use it regularly. The tags are short enough to keep the layers from shifting. The guns at Joann's don't work nearly aws well as this gun. I've used them both. The gun came with a glass heart, about 3/4" thick and square. You slide the heart on the table below the area where you want to insert a tag. The heart holds the fabric sandwich up off the table and allows the gun needle to be inserted through all the layers of the quilt, installing the tag without damaging the surface underneath. The little tags are about 1/4" long, the gun needle makes a small hole and the tag is easily removed by clipping.
Using this little gun is so much faster than basting or safety pinning.
Amazon.com sells the gun for about $27. Just do a Google search for "microstitch gun" and you'll find places where you can buy them.

I have a chronic disease which has caused all the tendons in my left hand to rupture so I can't do too much with it. The basting gun has been a Godsend for me. I bought it using one of Joann's coupons for 40% or 50% off so it wasn't so bad. I just discovered that WalMart has the tacks for HALF the price of joanns! I've been buying them with coupons, too but since WalMart has the same ones , they're cheaper even with the coupon!So now I get 500 tacks for $1.99! They just went up at Joanns to $4.19! But I do love the gun. Some people say they don't like it because it doesn't hold the quilt tight enough but I have had no problems with it. There's no way I could do 200-300 safety pins! I also found a 'board' with holes in it that you put under the quilt & then you don't have to keep putting your hand under the fabric with each tack. You shoot right thru all layers into the holes & move it as you finish a section. Good luck! :lol:

Hi, I have one and use is fairly often. It is easy to use and I use CHEAP sissors to cut the plastic gizzmos off. pk in fl

Used one for years until I discover spray basting. Now I wouldn't do anything BUT spray basting!

I have to agree with Lacelady. I use it as if the needle on the gun were a straight pin. I go front to back to front, just like a pin and then pull the trigger for the tack. It works great and holds together great.