Milwaukee Tool 48-13-5870 7/8" x 18" Ship Auger Bit

Yes. The 48-13-5870 has an impact-rated shank, so it's built to take the hammering of an impact wrench rather than just a standard rotary drill. That's the practical difference between this and a plain auger bit, which can shear at the shank under impact. Milwaukee's auger line is built to run across the range of tools an electrician carries.

The bit is 7/8 inch diameter by 18 inches overall length, so it will pass through several stacked studs or a doubled top plate and still leave shank in the chuck. The 7/8 inch hole is the common size electricians bore for pulling multiple runs of NM cable through framing.

No. The Milwaukee 48-13-5870 is a 7/8 inch by 18 inch ship auger bit with an impact-rated shank and polished, coated flutes designed for fast chip removal when boring long holes through wood framing. A carbide-tipped rotary/percussion bit such as the Minerallac 59736 Relton 1/2 inch by 6 inch is built for hammer drilling masonry and concrete, and its tip geometry will not pull or clear chips in wood the way an auger's one-face 20 degree rake does. For running cable through studs and joists, the ship auger is the correct tool; for anchoring into block or concrete on the same job, the percussion bit is the one to pick up.

It's built for it. The bit uses a hardened, one-face 20 degree rake angle design specifically to improve nail resistance, and that same geometry makes it easy to touch up with a file when the cutting edge does dull. For remodel work in walls with unknown nail plates and old fasteners, that matters more than raw cutting speed.

The flutes on the 48-13-5870 are polished, coated and nonstick to clear chips fast, which is the main complaint with cheap augers in damp or resinous wood. Chips keep moving up the flute instead of packing and binding the bit in the hole.

Three different jobs. The Milwaukee 48-13-5870 ship auger cuts long, deep holes in wood framing. A carbide-tipped percussion bit like the Minerallac 59736 Relton is for concrete and masonry anchors. A diamond grit bit such as the Lenox 12111-10DGHS, 5/8 inch, is for hard, brittle material rather than framing. Match the bit to the substrate, not to the hole size.

Reach for a diamond grit bit rather than an auger. The Milwaukee 48-13-5870 ship auger is a wood-boring bit whose hardened, one-face 20 degree rake edge is made to resist nails and shear wood fiber, and it will not survive abrasive hard materials. The Lenox 12111-10DGHS is a 5/8 inch diamond grit drill bit in the D/S-10Dg series, which abrades rather than cuts and is the appropriate style for that kind of material. Note the 5/8 inch diameter against the auger's 7/8 inch if hole size matters to the job.

The 48-13-5870 is an 18 inch ship auger, a length chosen for boring through stacked plates and multiple studs in one pass rather than for short single-member holes. Among shorter bits, the Minerallac 59736 Relton runs 6 inches overall, but it is a 1/2 inch carbide-tipped rotary/percussion bit for masonry, not a wood auger, so it is a length match and not a function match. If the work is wood and you only need a short hole, stay within the ship auger family and step down in length rather than switching bit types.

The Milwaukee 48-13-5870 ship auger has an impact-rated shank and is built to be driven with an impact wrench, which is why electricians favor it for overhead and in-wall drilling where a corded right-angle drill is awkward. The Lenox 12111-10DGHS diamond grit bit and the Minerallac 59736 Relton carbide-tipped rotary/percussion bit are different tool styles intended for rotary and hammer drilling respectively, so match those to the drill they are designed for rather than to an impact driver.