Staple Gun for upholstery

You'll get the staples/nails at Screwfix.

decent budget priced is an oxymoron.

Rather than a staple gun, you might try upholstery tacks and a magnetic-tip tack hammer. Once you get the hang of it, it works well on difficult stuff like chipboard.

I know what you mean but high quality may imply: Withstands continuous usage Long Life Robust to mistreatment Many features

In my case "fitness for purpose" possibly means, " Able to apply staples into chipboard with 90% reliability, suitable for slow, intermittent usage, with a life of at least 2,000 staples

I want one for very occasional use on small jobs which is a bit better than the very cheap plastic one which fails about 50% of the applications into chipboard.

Just a thought - is an electric one necessarily better - or does it just save the exertion of pulling a lever? I guess the actual impact done with a spring.

The message from "John" contains these words:

For a manual stapler get an Arrow T50 -- been around for many decades and is as good as they come.

If you're looking for something more powerful, air is the way to go.

Tacks (with a tapered shank) work badly on chipboard, as it's too inelastic. If they work the slightest bit loose in service (and they will), they fall clean out. Similarly, to a varying extent, with plywood. For man-made sheetgoods like this you're better with paralllel shank fasteners, including staples.

To put them in, an Arrow T-50 is still the best thing around, short of an industrial grade pneumatic.