Metallics QK15WM 8 x 1 in. 1/4 Hex Head Slotted Sharp Point Self-Piercing & Tapping Screws - Gray - Steel Zinc - Each

That is what the sharp point is for. The QK15WM is a self-piercing and tapping screw, so it pierces thin sheet material and forms its own thread as it drives, no pre-drilling. Twin lead threads cut driving torque, which helps when you are running a lot of them with a screwgun. For thicker or harder stock a pilot hole is still the safer approach, since a sharp point relies on the material yielding.

It ships as a box with an order minimum of 1,000 pieces, so this is a bulk production item rather than a shelf-pack of a few dozen. The box runs 5.4 lbs. Metallics does make other sizes and quantities available on request.

Metallics lists the QK15WM as both ARRA compliant and Buy American compliant. Country of origin is recorded as multiple, so if your specification requires a single named country of manufacture on the submittal, confirm the origin on the lot you receive.

Two options, because the head is both hex and slotted. Across the flats the hex head measures 0.244 to 0.250 inch, so a 1/4 inch hex driver or nutsetter seats it. If you need to reach it with a screwdriver instead, the slot runs 0.045 to 0.054 inch wide and 0.052 to 0.074 inch deep, which takes a standard flat blade. Head height is 0.096 to 0.110 inch.

Grip length on the QK15WM is 1 inch of shank at 15 threads per inch, and there is an undercut under the head that gives you more usable thread engagement than a flat-shouldered tapping screw of the same nominal length. Figure on the full inch less the thickness of the piece you are fastening through.

Case hardness runs Rockwell C28-38 on carbon steel in the AISI 1018 to 1022 range, which is a case-hardened tapping screw rather than a plain mild-steel wood screw. That is the hardness band you want for forming threads in light-gauge sheet and strut-type metal. It is not a hardened concrete or masonry fastener.

The QK15WM is carbon steel with a zinc finish, which is a dry-interior corrosion coating. It holds up fine in conditioned interiors, concealed ceiling spaces and panel work. For exterior, coastal, roof deck or chemically wet areas, step up to a stainless or a coated exterior-rated fastener instead.

No, and this catches people substituting one for the other. Head dimensions on self-piercing screws differ from standard tapping screws, and there is no single industry standard for self-piercing screw dimensions. Metallics publishes the QK15WM figures (0.244 to 0.250 inch across the hex flats, 0.096 to 0.110 inch head height) as a guide, and deviation within those ranges is normal. If a drawing calls out a specific head geometry, check it against those ranges rather than assuming a tapping-screw table applies.