I knew that one of the Strong-Ties I was going to be putting in was in a position that would be awkward to nail, so, somewhat on a whim, I picked up a Ridgid pneumatic palm nailer. I LIKE THIS TOOL. Turns out that not only does it drive 16d nails anywhere that there's room to fit it, but I find that I can position a nail very precisely with it--set the point exactlyh where I want it, set the angle, and it holds both all the way in. Doesn't have to be square on the nail head--if the nail is cocked in the tool a good bit it still goes in, just if it's too cocked it won't go down flush and may need a final whack with the hammer (but that might be adjustable--I haven't played with the depth adjustment on it yet.
Note that it's not a one-and-done nailer, it's more of an air hammer, so the nail doesn't have to go all the way down if you don't want it to.
I can tell I'm going to use the crap out of this thing.