Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Face nailing question

I am preparing to install 3/4 oak flooring. Is a 16 guage finish nailer sufficient to face nail the starting and ending boards or do I need to predrill and hand nail with larger nails.

That's what I use.

Excellent. Thank you.

Is there any advantage to angling it thru the tongue when I can or should I not bother and just face nail it?

What do you plan for those first few rows where you cant use the nailer? I recently put down 3/4 over a sub-floor pf 3/4" ply with 1/4" luan over that. For the first few rows where I angled thru the tounge, I went with galvanized casing nails. I liked the galvanized because the seem to hold better than the smooth finish. The casing nails are a bit sturdier than the finish nails and a had less bent nails. Be sure to pre drill. I can't remeber the size maybe 6 or 8d. I was able to go into the basement and see a bit of the nail ponts coming through so it was long enough. Another tip I discovered. When I did miss hit and bend a nail going thru the toung. (this seems to happen with about a half inch of nail left), I did not try to pul it out as it could lead to damaged wood. I grabbed the head with a vise grips amd wiggled a few times until it broke off clean flush with the wood. I could then hit the stub with my nail set and bury it with one wack.

Angle it as far as you can go before face nailing. Use a tighter nailing schedule when blind nailing with it. You can also glue those last rows that need face nailing. Just cut the felt paper away and glue then tape them tight or wedge them at the wall till the urethane glue dries.

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful and will make my job much easier.