Having already reviewed the Milwaukee 6 in 1 combination pliers, and their 6 in 1 long nose pliers, we have a good feel for Big Red’s hand tools. In our opinion, electricians should equally find the new Milwaukee 7in1 high leverage pliers extremely useful. The big deal concerns the crimpers, but we want to go into all of the details.
Milwaukee 7in1 High Leverage Pliers Overview
The new pliers are an expansion to the popular 6in1 Combination Pliers. Milwaukee Tool completely redesigned these pliers to bring more features electricians may find useful. For example, the new tool keeps the following features found on the 48-22-3079 combination wire pliers:
- Built-in reamer supporting 1/2–1″ conduit
- #6 and #8 screw cutters
- Wirecutter (8-18 solid, 10-20 stranded)
- Wire stripper
- Loop maker
- Lanyard handle holes
But, the Milwaukee 7in1 high leverage pliers add wider square jaws to easily grab and twist wire.
Milwaukee 7in1 High Leverage Pliers – Crimping and Stripping
You also get that on-board crimper for working with both insulated and non-insulated terminals. Finally, those high-leverage handles enable even easier cutting and crimping.
“Since we introduced a new-to-world design with our 6in1 Combination Pliers, they have become a staple in the electrical field. With the new 7in1 Combination Pliers, we are excited to equip users with 7 core install functions for maximum productivity on the jobsite.”
Adam Moscherosch, Senior Product Manager for Milwaukee Tool
Our Thoughts on the Milwaukee 48-22-3078 Pliers
The wire strippers go from 8 to 18 gauge solid and 10 to 20 gauge stranded. This gives you a lot more capability without having to reach for a different pair of wire strippers. We love the leverage combined with the integrated cable shears—those should come in handy and the curved shape tends to hold the cable in place as you cut.
This 7-in-1 tool really does it all. You get the grip of traditional pliers, the ability to easily cut 12/3 Romex, crimping, stripping, and the rest. We imagine this tool displaces the 6-in-1 in short order.
The 6-in-1 wire strippers/pliers might still land on my top-5 hand tools list. I always reach for either those or the Klein Kurve heavy-duty wire strippers. This new iteration from Milwaukee might take its place. It certainly shows us they intend to keep innovating their hand tool line. That can only be great news for the trades. Also, at just under $30, grabbing one of these the next time you visit your local Milwaukee dealer might be too irresistible to…um…resist.
Milwaukee Gen II Combination Wire Pliers Details
- Reaming head (from 1/2″ to 1″)
- #6 and #8 bolt cutter
- Wire stripper (8-18 AWG solid; 10-20 AWG stranded)
- Locking
- Curved cutting blade (cuts up to 4x12AWG wires)
- Wire crimper
- Forged alloy steel
- High leverage handles
- Tether-ready handle loops
- Dimensions: 7.75 x 0.67 x 2.03 in.
- Weight: 0.64 lbs
