I initially tried using the screws on the bottom rail - looked horrible and extremely difficult to set top rail onto 14 ballusters. The ballusters are a slight bit wider than ones I had used in the past. The screws looked horrible and the screw tip came out on the other side - highly recommend dumping the screws. I put the ballusters on with the holes on top. You need to have the top rail within a 1/2" of the ballusters sitting on the bottom rail, then you need to slide them up to catch the top rail. Without assistance, the ballusters just slide right back down, making the job impossible. I( used joist tape on the bottom connectors wrapping a bit around the connector and folding back the end so the sticky underside can slide onto the balluster. Then its very easy to slide up the balluster onto top rail without having it slide back down. A bit extra work but much, much easier and faster. I had 112 running feet of railing and 2 stairs to do.
Steve 
Jason Isenberg 
