Need Winter Shooting Gloves

Greeting from the frozen hands land. Yes I know I am a winter wimp but that does not change the fact that my hands need warm gloves. Arizona valley winters are not covered in snow but my hands don't care. Last Saturday, it was about 40 degrees F but I was losing the feeling in my fingers. Cotton knit gloves did not cut the mustard.

I would really appreciate any suggestions. Please keep in mind that I stated shooting gloves. My rifles have very light triggers (6.5 Creedmoor is 1.5 pounds) and I don't want any accidental discharges. Big bulky gloves will be too big to safely slip into the trigger guard. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Singed:
The Winter wimp.

 

Costco carries some nice gloves that are not too heavy but are quite warm. I use them for driving and for working outside for short periods. If it gets below zero I have heavy gloves.

 

Thanks Caribou. If it gets below zero, I won't be outdoors. I will check out Costco tomorrow. As I have kidded in the past, I must have reptile DNA, I just can't handle the cold. What you Alaskan folks would consider mild temps, will put me into a frozen coma.

 

Use a mitten that has a flip top, or purchase you some shooting gloves with a flip top (basically, it's fingertip-less gloves with a flip down mitten... see image below). You DO NOT want your fingers separated to allow the cold air between them. You want your fingers to stay together keeping each other warm (which is why mittens work 10x better than gloves).

Ask any motorcycle rider...

 

You might consider a "Muffler" with a toe warmer inside. That keeps both hands warm till you need to use them. You see Quarterbacks use them right up till the ball is hiked. I don't think any glove will work with that light of a trigger. Which is why I went back to using a super high quality two stage trigger.

Not relevant to your application, but I wear oversize mittens with thin gloves inside, because the mittens are quick to remove. Good thick warm gloves take forever to get off. Bears can be encountered in the dead of winter. The really huge bears don't truly hibernate in the classic concept.

 

Great feed back. I will take a look at the mitten concept. I did see some shooting gloves that were the flip top type but was not sure how well they worked. Since almost all my shooting is bench rest, the light trigger has not been an issue but last winter I did not do much shooting. This winter I plan to do more shooting and I don't want frozen (numb) fingers near the trigger. I feel that I should be prepared to shoot even in the cold weather. I doubt the bad times will wait for summer.

 

BlackHawk Cold Weather Shooting Gloves

https://www.legear.com.au/blackhawk-cold-weather-shooting-gloves

This is one example of shooting gloves for bad winter conditions. Other sports require great insulation, but the material has to be thin. I've not looked up Thinsulate -- I don't even know how it is spelled; been around a long time, Thinsulate; don't know any details about it. Maybe there's better materials these days. I wear cheaper gloves but pack my hands with petroleum jelly.

Remember the Mauser rifles with the LARGE trigger guards, I've seen a bunch. I've owned several Mausers but never one with the large trigger guard. Have a customized 98 Mauser, one, only have one Mauser now. Keeping it because it's been re-barrelled FN 7.62 NATO, Israeli, will shoot minute of angle. Put a laminated stock on it, glass bedding = tack driver. Bunch of stuff changed; thumb safety to accommodate scope, specialized scope rings, regular German #4 reticle scope for hunting in the woods/low-light. But the trigger guard is regular sized -- hasn't bothered me with thin-ish gloves on.

Gloves destroy my callused hands. Gloves, it seems, suck the natural oils out of my skin. My hands crack and bleed. As I type, I have hand cracks into the meat -- dang painful. What to do? Several times a day, I rub petroleum jelly into my cracked hands. Sometimes cocoa butter (love the smell) with Vaseline. If I don't do this, I'm cursing a blue streak with these bloody hands, literally bloody. Before I go to bed tonight, I'll coat my hands with Vaseline and maybe mix a bit of Curel hand cream with it. I've tried everything. Sometimes I'll use wax mixtures. My right forefinger is cracked, bleeding, and hurting. But, I can't not wear gloves.



Many lever action rifles have BIG trigger guards. I like that. I'm a nostalgia nut and like levers anyway. Guys out hunting now or a 140 years ago are/were wearing gloves. I can't have my fingers go numb with cold. Nobody can. Feeling your fingers = good. We were having 50 mi/hr winds up in the mountains today coupled with freezing temps = gotta wear gloves. Eats your hands and destroys your face.

 

Thanks for the link Old Geezer. Numb fingers are bad but nothing like having bleeding hands and fingers, That really sucks. My feet sometimes need treatment when they start to dry out and crack but nothing as bad as you describe.Got to keep the hands warm but the price you are paying is pretty steep. I do plan to get the big Loop when I order my future Henry purchase. I plan to get the Henry Big Boy, case hardened model, in 44 mag. Junior is get a lever action in 357. We try not to duplicate calibers. The wind chill factor is something most non hunter / preppers do not understand. The wind blows and they go inside. That does not work that way when you have to put some food on the table. Another reason I chuckle when somebody tells me they will just go out into the forest and hunt for their food. They think they will just slip into the Birkenstocks, grab their newly acquired rifle and become the next Davy Crockett.

 

Thinsulate is a reflective inner layer. It is similar to a space blanket. I have had several pairs of gloves with it and I like it.

 

That is good info Caribou. Some of the gloves I am looking at, do mention Thinsulate but I did not know if it worked or just marketing hype.

 

I would recommend Mechanix Wear tactical gloves. Reasonable price and work great for hunting. I have several pairs in different styles. Love the Alpine Multicam for snow hunting predators.



I also have regular multicam for bow hunting and spring turkey hunting.

Dale

 

Good morning TMT,

https://www.grainger.com/product/CONDOR-Winter-Anti-Vibration-Gloves-33J492

Just for comprehensiveness, I'm adding a category of somewhat thin cold weather anti-vibration gloves used in oil industry.

Above Grainger link presents some basics.

My personal thin ultra-cold-weather gloves are from PK Safety, Alameda, Calif. Didn't see them on their website any more.

Besides sometimes needing thin gloves for real cold weather, an additional requirement of mine is minimizing military/MILSPEC type of stuff carried in luggage for overseas travel. Thus, am mentioning the oil patch stuff used on the rigs.

 

I have a pair of heavy insulated mittens with an insulated drawstring gauntlet that goes almost to the elbow, for when it is -40º or if it is really cold. You can't really do much work with them so I wear light weight gloves with them so I can have my hands available for critical work for short periods. You could use that idea and take the trigger hand out of the mittens for short periods and rely on lighter gloves.

"White Death" Simo Häyhä was a Finish sniper with over 500 documented kills, about half with a machine-gun. Pictures show him wearing gloves where the fingers look like fat sausages.

 

Thanks Dalewick and Pragmatist. More option are good. The possibility of keeping my hand warm is looking better all the time.

 

UPDATE: The wife felt so bad about my frozen fingers, during her Craft Fair event, she has been on a mission. I now have thermal underwear AND a new pair of gloves. I do not want to discount her efforts, so I have halted my glove search. I am keeping a list of all the suggestions and if this pair of gloves do not work well, I will resume my search. I am sincerely grateful for all of the outstanding suggestions. It warmed my heart and in the future it may warm my hands. Thank you all for your posts.