Seeing how my son and I will be spending two days here outside shooting where half the time it will be below freezing, what specific gloves would you recommend we get? I've been looking on and off but other preparations pushed this item out of my mind until now.
I haven't had issues at the range spending a couple hours in 35-40F with no gloves, but I haven't been there sub-freezing or for 8 hours.
I have heard Mechanix are good. What specific Mechanix gloves do you recommend? Any other recommendations?
EDIT: A mechanic responded on a local FB post and said you can have either warmth or dexterity and recommended hand warmers (rechargeable or otherwise) to warm hands in between if needed. Any thoughts on that?
I ended up with a set of these surplus Austrian mittens. https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=3141 When you are shooting you can stick your right fingers through the slit for dexterity. My brother ended up taking a set of almost worn out gloves and just cutting the trigger finger off the glove. IIRC he also brought an unaltered for right handed glove for when he didn't need dexterity for long periods.
Hey Freestate, the hand warmers are a good idea for when the temps go below freezing. I just use the little chemical ones since they're pretty affordable. For actual all day temps below 32 degrees, I don't find that thinner gloves (like the Mechanix) are enough to keep my hands warm. I prefer insulated work gloves. I'll usually modify the trigger-side glove with a small slot to slip out my finger for shooting (it's also possible to buy "shooting gloves", but they're usually a little more expensive.) The only caveat, is make sure you can insert rounds into your magazines, this tends to be where my fingers get the coldest. Although I like the thicker gloves, I will often use thinner gloves I can wear while inserting rounds. Then I use the chemical hand warmers and keep my hands in my pockets whenever I don't need them.
The other secret to keeping your hands warm is to make sure the rest of you is warm - long underwear, wool socks and outer shells to block the winds all help quite a bit. Have fun at your event, if the temps are below freezing you'll be able to earn the coveted "Winterseed" patch!
This is the best setup I've found for extended cold weather shooting. You can wear thin gloves under the mittens if necessary. The chemical hand warmer will usually stay in place when you flip the top of the mitten back to use your fingers.
Quote from: Captain on January 11, 2021, 11:37:43 AM
Hey Freestate, the hand warmers are a good idea for when the temps go below freezing. I just use the little chemical ones since they're pretty affordable. For actual all day temps below 32 degrees, I don't find that thinner gloves (like the Mechanix) are enough to keep my hands warm. I prefer insulated work gloves. I'll usually modify the trigger-side glove with a small slot to slip out my finger for shooting (it's also possible to buy "shooting gloves", but they're usually a little more expensive.) The only caveat, is make sure you can insert rounds into your magazines, this tends to be where my fingers get the coldest. Although I like the thicker gloves, I will often use thinner gloves I can wear while inserting rounds. Then I use the chemical hand warmers and keep my hands in my pockets whenever I don't need them.
The other secret to keeping your hands warm is to make sure the rest of you is warm - long underwear, wool socks and outer shells to block the winds all help quite a bit. Have fun at your event, if the temps are below freezing you'll be able to earn the coveted "Winterseed" patch!
I'm good on the staying warm the rest of my body. I bike year around and have the cold weather clothes pretty well down for that, just need to adjust for being at resting heart rate haha. Merino wool is awesome! Your practical glove advice is invaluable. Thank you.
Looks like most of the time is going to be below freezing, at least til afternoon, and quite a big wind chill on Saturday.
Quote from: EZ3 on January 11, 2021, 12:15:25 PM
This is the best setup I've found for extended cold weather shooting. You can wear thin gloves under the mittens if necessary. The chemical hand warmer will usually stay in place when you flip the top of the mitten back to use your fingers.
That looks great, thanks for the ideas. My wife just bought a box of 50 of the hand-warmers for us so I'll have extras if anyone needs some.
Quote from: Jake1918 on January 10, 2021, 03:36:31 PM
I ended up with a set of these surplus Austrian mittens. https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=3141 When you are shooting you can stick your right fingers through the slit for dexterity. My brother ended up taking a set of almost worn out gloves and just cutting the trigger finger off the glove. IIRC he also brought an unaltered for right handed glove for when he didn't need dexterity for long periods.
Thanks! This and a couple other posts made me start considering the flip-top fingerless gloves/mittens. I think I have found a pair that will work nicely with a pocket for hand warmer built in.
Something that I like to use are glove liners. They're very thin & very stretchy, so they fit skin-tight. It gives you good feel & dexterity for the fingers on your trigger hand, knocks the cold down a notch or two vs. bare skin during loading & firing, and can slip easily inside a thicker glove/mitten when not shooting.
Also (and I'm sure you already experience this with cycling), stay well fed & watered throughout the day. Give your body plenty of fuel to burn & keep you warm.
Good luck, and let us know how it works!
How far below freezing?
I do fine in 25F+ with a standard fingerless support hand glove (just a super basic champion's choice house brand glove), and no trigger hand glove. Below that and I want fingers on the support hand glove and a fingerless trigger hand glove.
I like fingerless cotton or fleece gloves.
and there is always catching some hot brass out of an AR-15 and shaking it around in your hands until they warm up :)
I've never found a glove I like on my trigger hand. I just keep my regular gloves handy, with a hand warmer inside as a heat source. For my support hand, I love the neoprene glove - nice and tacky, waterproof, and warm. Maybe one day I can bring myself to snip off the trigger finger on the right glove to try shooting with them on both hands, but at the time I don't do enough cold-weather shooting to justify trashing my favorite set of gloves.
When I moved my Virginia born self up to Maine two years ago, I quickly realized I needed better boots and better gloves.
My hands have always been cold, bad circulation or something.
I am a big fan of the nomex flying gloves. You can find them online with that description. They have leather on the palm and cloth around the back. Good down to around 30 degrees for me.
I found that they also make a cold weather version that is basically identical but has windproof material all around.
Those will get me closer to 10 degrees. Both versions run around $30 if you poke around online.
Both versions have good dexterity. I've had no trouble manipulating different rifles, including throwing clips into the M1.
Any gloves that work for colder temps than that are going to be too thick to work your controls very well.
I asked my buddy in Finland and they use thin shooting gloves with a thick overglove to wear when not actively "working".
Appleseed events don't really have long stretches of downtime, so that advice is more for other times.
Handwarmer packets are a beautiful thing too. Costco sells big boxes of them at a good price.
the first step to keeping hands warm it to keep the rest of you warm. this way you can afford to loose heat in your hands.
when we shoot a winter seed you need finger dexterity for 3-8 minutes at a time even working on my sons truck in the drive way this morning at 0 degrees 10 minutes with finger dexterity was fine. just had cotton chore gloves for that. cotton is fine till it gets wet. this is where you hear cotton kills in long underwear , because they get wet , you sweat and you can't easily change them.
was out Monday morning shooting at about 20 degrees and just the fast fit mechanix gloves were fine and I could load 10/22 mags it was only about 90 minutes outside but I wore no other gloves during that time.
during our last winter seed it was about 10 for the high 22lr ammo needed to be kept in pockets or coolers with hand warmers or it started to have issues.
several of us found loading mags in the front pocket of a hooded sweatshirt worked very well
layers are your friend , long underware (not cotton) pants , long underware top (not cotton) sweater , outer shell or over coat
very simple things can make you warm I was talking with a guy who is first nations native Canadian how ever you care to say that , poor mans snow pants are fleece pajama pants , sweat pants and the nylon track pants over the top as a wind brake.
Monday when out I wore long underwear top and bottom , pants , a wool sweater and my BDU shirt I like the pockets while I am out shooting, wool socks and KamiK insulated rubber boots and my knit wool hat and previously mentioned mechanix fast fit gloves. I was almost too warm got to sweating when I didn't really want to. worked up a bit of sweat walking to the targets to set them up in the snow , started wearing my snow shoes while shooting and walking was a lot less effort to go check the target.
if it was colder than 20 with cloud cover and snowing or the wind was blowing harder adding my insulated bibs would be one of my next moves.
maybe my coat after that.
changing from the fast fit mechanix gloves to possibly my rag wool military glove liners , they fit in slightly oversized leather gloves I wear orange suede leather outer gloves with the ragwool liners when deer hunting I can load and operate my 308 from a magazine , work the bolt , safety and such just fine , the 10/22 has smaller trigger guard and loading 22 mags takes more dexterity.
Mittens or Choppers for real warmth if your out snow shoeing for a while , you end up wearing rag wool glove liners or similar and then putting your hands in and out of choppers more.
many people hang the choppers around their neck so they hang about at the waist.
you can also keep your trigger hand in your pocket between times at the line shooting.
a Muff is an option also you can even easily make these it is just pouch with openings from each side very similar to the pocket on the hooded sweatshirt a kangaroo pouch of sorts , it is insulated you can load mags in it
you don't have to wear the same glove on both hands , support hand could have a thicker glove or mitten
good fitting leather gloves could also be an option instead of mechanix gloves it is more about A barrier from the cold than exactly what that barrier is as long as it isn't conductive.
when I am cutting meat in the cold the very cheap knit cotton gloves dollar a pair typically with nitrile gloves over the top are my go too. fairly warm , cheap , enough finger dexterity maybe not for loading 10/22 mags but for most other things.
there might be a super glove out there with excellent dexterity and warmth but I haven't really found it simple and affordable materials with a little technique like a muff , oversized hooded sweat shirt , mittens or choppers
more magazines is an idea also to reduce the time your hands are out
1 for stage 1
2 for stage 2
2 for stage 3
1 for stage 4
6 mags I like the clear 10/22 mags so I can see 8 and 2 or 10 always load the black mag to 10 easy to tell it's full you can't push another round in
you do all your loading in the muff or pocket of your hooded sweat shirt
even with 3 you would only load twice rather than 4 times with only 2 mags
if you can wool hats , much nicer than acrylic that makes you sweat
keep adjusting in your temp with your hat getting warm hat off , cooling down hat on , zippers open and closed to regulate temp.