Supposedly, apparently, pros use metal pistol attachments for nozzle-less expansion foam canisters. Does anyone know why?
AFAICT, the pistols are a bit costly. The pistols themselves can get clogged and add a maintenance burden. You need to then buy a can of special cleaning solution (is it acetone?), to spray through the pistol after every use.
I have always used the foam for DiYers: a canister with a nozzle and long plastic straw. The straws are trivial to work with: you twist a screw into the end of the straw when done to seal it off. The stuff in the straw still dries out but it’s easily cleared by plunging it. A coat hanger can push it all out in one piece.
Twice those things have fucked me. I buy a huge can of the stuff and use it for one small squirt somewhere. Then the stuff cures inside the can near the outlet, thus sealing it off. There is no recourse because label even tells you that you’re going to get fucked. The label says “one time use”. Indeed, they expect you to blow the whole load in a single giant ejaculation. WTF? Now I have cans of barely used expansion foam with lots of liquid trapped inside the can. I don’t recall if I tried the spraying it upside down trick to clear the nozzle.
So I have to wonder, is the pro stuff any different? Wouldn’t the pro canister outlet self-seal just the same? A hardware store near me is going out of business and I have a chance to buy a pistol at ½ price. Not sure it’s worth it.


If you’re going to use it all at once, then just buying the bottle with the straw is fine.
However, if you’re going to need it every now and then over a longer period, or you want better flow control and a narrower nozzle, then the pro gun is the way to go. You can (and should) just leave the bottle attached to the gun permanently. It’ll stay good for a few months like that.
If you need to store it longer, just periodically spray some out, then close it up again and it’ll keep fine. In my experience the cleaning solution doesn’t fully clean the gun and it will eventually clog. That said, I just heard one guy say he hasn’t cleaned his gun in 3 years - he just swaps in fresh bottles when they run out and it’s been fine.
The important part is to tighten the flow control knob after use, because simply releasing the trigger won’t fully seal it for long-term storage.