Working the Gun With Gloves On
Dry-Fire · At Home
Verified clear, dummy rounds, gloves on. Fifteen reloads and fifteen stoppage clearances in the gloves you will actually wear this winter. Most people discover their trigger guard problem in January instead of October.
Live-Fire · At the Range
Twenty rounds at 7 yards wearing gloves, two-round strings on the cards, with a reload between strings. Check that the gloves let you get a safe finger position before you load a single round.
Service Pistol
Duty gloves and a duty trigger are a combination worth verifying before a cold night shift.
Concealed Carry
If your gloves prevent a safe trigger finger, they are the wrong gloves for carrying.
Carbine
Carbine controls are more glove-friendly, but the magazine release still deserves a test.
AUX (when ready): a gloved reload within one second of your bare-handed time.
Gear that works in July is not automatically gear that works in January.
Your Daily Callout — By Archetype
You will want to skip this one. It is the kind of detail that decides a bad night.
Test the gloves now and you will not be surprised by them later.
Cold hands are a real problem when you are the person responsible.
Add glove reps to your winter routine and keep the pair you trained in.
Layer: run five reps with wet gloves.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.
Dry-fire: no ammunition in the room. Verify the firearm is clear — twice. Use a safe backstop. When you finish, say it out loud: “Dry fire is over.”
The Four Universal Safety Rules
Non-negotiable. Every drill, every rep, every time. This applies to live fire and dry fire.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.