You got to love winter time, especially when you carry concealed. Yes, it does add an added layer of difficulty, pun intended š
Club hands
We have talked about cold weather concealed carry in the past and one of the questions I got asked recently was about wearing gloves. Yes, you might need to wear some sort of cold weather glove. You need to consider if your hands are so cold they are of little use then wearing them was probably the better choice. No doubt gloves interfere with achieving a powerful grip, but it is the lesser of two evils.
Been there, done that
You could always put your hands in your pockets to stay warm, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there will be times when your hands need to out in the cold. It might be for a just a few minutes such as pumping gas or it could be much longer like walking to the entrance of mall during the holiday shopping center or more than likely because your hands in pockets leave you vulnerable. The bottom line is you need to research a decent glove that allows you to get a good firing grip while still keeping your hands warm. There are a few things to consider when choosing gloves, having designed a line of gloves in my day I will say that fit is your first priority.
The perfect glove
The glove not only needs to fit your hand, but it needs to be somewhat snug. Many winter gloves are a bit looser to prevent restricted blood flow. Your extremities already get the shaft when your body is trying to stay warm so restricting your blood flow more is a no-no. Looser fitting gloves are ideal, but they need to still provide you with enough dexterity to achieve that firing grip. The other thing to consider is do you go with a liner or sans liner. That is a tough call, my suggestion is to try this test out, if you grab a doorknob and slightly move to open it check to see if the glove liner separates from the shell. If you get a little bit of movement then that will equate to a poor grip or slippage when you apply pressure and should be avoided.
The grip test
The next thing is do you go with some sort of grippy or frictisious surface? There are all kinds to look at and the irony you may discover is the hinderance to everyday usage. While you need some type of texture to aid in gripping, don’t go overboard thinking a little is good, then a lot is better. Speaking of gripping, that is one area you really want to spend the most attention on and not necessarily on how they fit on your hand, but how they fit when you are gripping a pistol. What I have found is some gloves fit well without the gun in my hand, but as soon as I started to grip the gun hard, it actually makes my grip worse.
The good old days
About the best winter/shooting gloves I have found were a light pair of leather gloves. They had a very thin lining, which aided in warmth, but wear supple enough to provide a good grip on the gun. The leather did a great job of aiding my grip and acted as a decent form of wind block. That and they looked pretty cool. The only problem I had was the lining wore out way before the leather did, which sucked because I couldn’t find another pair like them. As a guy who use to ride around in a topless Jeep during the Virginia winters these gloves saved my ass all the while being a great shooting glove.
If you deal with winter conditions then get a pair of good winter/shooting gloves. Better to have them and not need them than the other way around.
