Hollow wall anchor setting tool: your buying guide

Updated: 22 October 2026

A curtain pole, a small shelf or a mirror on a UK stud wall often lands in an empty bay. An ordinary wall plug has nothing solid to bite, so a metal hollow-wall anchor has to open in that void.

A curtain pole, a small shelf or a mirror on a UK stud wall often lands in an empty bay. An ordinary wall plug has nothing solid to bite, so a metal hollow-wall anchor has to open in that void. A hollow wall anchor setting tool is the pliers that grip the screw head and draw the sleeve against the back of the board. The ten amazon.co.uk cards are on the hollow wall anchor setting tool comparison. The questions, in order, are sleeves in the box or not, which size words must be printed, and which kilogram lines to ignore. Peter F. used those listings and the maker pages below, with no lab test.

Our top picks

Badge	Product	Form	Stated sizes	Anchors in the box	Note	Price	Offer
Best overall	TOPWAY TOPWAY molly gun	Tool only	Cavity anchors; no M-size list on the listing	No	9.2	about £9.79	View offer
Alternative	Philoch Philoch M4-M6 gun	Tool only	M4, M5 and M6	No	9.0	about £7.99	View offer
	Brackit Brackit 88-piece kit	Kit with setting tool	M4 x 39 mm, M4 x 45 mm, M5 x 45 mm, M5 x 58 mm	80 sleeves in the bullets, plus the tool	8.8	about £18.99	View offer

Best overall

TOPWAY TOPWAY molly gun

9.2/10about £9.79

View offer

Alternative

Philoch Philoch M4-M6 gun

9.0/10about £7.99

View offer

Rank 3

Brackit Brackit 88-piece kit

8.8/10about £18.99

View offer

On this page

1.What you are buying
2.Tool only or a kit
3.Sizes the listing must print
4.Loads you can and cannot take from the card
5.Which box to open

What you are buying

A hollow wall anchor setting tool is not a drill, and it is not the fixing. The jaws hook the head of a screw already threaded into a metal sleeve. You squeeze, the sleeve collapses in the void, and the bulge locks against the back of the board. You only need that pull when the fixing is a metal cavity anchor and the bay is empty. A spring toggle opens its own wings, so these pliers stay in the drawer. Fischer's HM sleeves are set with HM-Z 1 pliers, or with a driver that has a turning stop. DuoHM needs no setting tool. If that is the packet in your hand, a molly gun does not improve the fixing.

Tool only or a kit

Tool-only pliers in this set are £7.99, £9.79 and £9.99. Kits that include sleeves run from £14.96 to £24.99. The cheaper card does the same pull only if you already own metal anchors whose thread and length match the board. A kit is the first box when the drawer is empty, and wasted money when the sleeves are the wrong grip length. Brackit's bullets cover M4 and M5 only, so an M6 job is a different card. LIBRATON states six sizes, which helps only if you will drill more than one thread. Which card to open is on best plasterboard fixing gun.

Testsieger

TOPWAY TOPWAY molly gun

9.2/10about £9.79

View offer

Sizes the listing must print

M4, M5 and M6 name the machine screw inside the sleeve. They are not a load grade. Before you pay, the card should show the thread, the drill diameter and the panel thickness. A title that only says M4 to M6 is not that list. Standard plasterboard on a UK stud wall is often 12.5 mm. A sleeve for a thin panel can fail to bulge in a thicker build-up, and a long sleeve in thin board can fold too early. What that bay should carry is on plasterboard cavity fixing gun.

Loads you can and cannot take from the card

British Gypsum's Site Book gives a 12 kg safe working load as an example for a stated plasterboard case. It is not a test of these kits. A 65 lb claim, about 29 kg, is already more than double that example, so the two numbers cannot both be your working load. Use the sleeve maker's table for a light rail or a small shelf. Put the screw into a stud for a television, a basin or a wall cupboard. The pliers can only pull the sleeve the packet describes.

Which box to open

Buy a kit when you have no matching metal sleeves and the contents list is the thread and thickness you measured. Buy the pliers alone when those sleeves are already on the bench. Ignore a kilogram the anchor maker did not print. A qualifying amazon.co.uk purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Common questions

Do I need the anchors in the box?

You need them in the box only when you do not already own metal hollow-wall anchors that match the thread, the hole and the board thickness. A tool-only plier does the pull if those sleeves are already on the bench. A kit saves a second order when the contents list is the sleeves you will drill this month. Count the anchors you will use before you pay for a range you will not open.

What does M4, M5 or M6 change?

The number is the metric machine thread. It changes the screw, the usual hole and the body of the sleeve. On one Rawlplug chart those holes are 8 mm, 10 mm and 12 mm. Your packet may differ, so read the sleeve, not only a tool title that says M4 to M6. The thread size does not tell you the safe load.

Why do titles say riveter?

Some sellers use riveter because the handles look like a pop-rivet gun. A hollow-wall setting tool pulls a screw that stays in the sleeve. A rivet gun snaps a mandrel and leaves a rivet. If the bullets only describe blind rivets, you may have the wrong tool for a molly. If they mention a cavity anchor and a nose that holds a screw head, the word riveter is loose shop language.

Will one kit cover 12.5 mm board and a tiled wall?

It covers both only when the sleeve's printed thickness range includes both builds. Bare 12.5 mm plasterboard is thinner than the same board plus tile adhesive and a ceramic tile. Measure the total skin where you will drill. A sleeve with a short range can sit short of the tile face, or fail to open because the grip length is wrong. One kit is not automatically a whole-house box.

What if the listing also says jack nut?

A jack nut is a different insert, often pulled in a thinner panel with its own nose. LIYOU's listing mixes molly and jack nut language, so you cannot assume every piece in that box is a plasterboard cavity anchor. If you need hollow-wall sleeves for a stud wall, buy the card whose contents are those sleeves. A mixed box is useful only when you fit both types and you know which pull each one needs.

How to use a hollow wall anchor setting tool

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