TargetTalk

Can anyone tell me if wearing a shooting glove is allowed in NRA Bullseye competition? My hands sweat making the stock grips on my S &W 41 feel like they are covered with grease and my grip changes fron shot to shot. I have a pair of shooting gloves and this would be a cheap fix over getting new grips in these tight economical times.

Thank you in advance.
Kirmdog

I can't comment on the gloves, but you may want to apply denture powder or rock climbers chalk to your hands. In regards to the denture powder, you only need a tiny amount.

Brian

Try a rosin bag. These only cost a few dollars. Just be careful to avoid getting the powder into your action.

I don't see anything about gloves in the Conventional Pistol rules, but they are definitely illegal in International.

http://www.nrahq.org/compete/nra-rule-books.asp

They would be illegal under the following rule:

3.18 General - All devices or equipment which may facilitate shooting and which are not mentioned in these rules, or which are contrary to the spirit of these rules and regulations, are forbidden. The Match Director, Official Referee, Jury Chairman, Supervisor, shall have the right to examine a shooter's equipment and apparel. The responsibility shall be upon the competitor to submit questionable equipment and apparel for official inspection and approval in sufficient time prior to the beginning of a match so that it will not inconvenience either the competitor or the official.

Gil Hebard sells powdered Firm Grip which works really well to keep your hands dry.

I am not certain gloves would be automatically prohibited under the rule however I have never seen any sucessful shooter that used them. The rosin bag mentioned as being availably through Gil Hebard is the common solution to sweaty hands causing grip problems. I used them , Bill Blankenship used them and at least half the shooters on the All Army squad used them also. My best advice is to give the rosin bag a try as I believe it will solve your problem. Good Shooting Bill Horton

I quoted the wrong rule. Gloves are illegal under this rule on page 11:

5.2 Artificial Support - Artificial support is defined as follows:
(a) Any supporting surface, except the ground, not specifically authorized for use in the rules for the position prescribed.
(b) Any garment which can be intrepreted as providing artifical support.
(c) Any glove on the shooting hand.

The Firm Grip that Gil Hebard sells comes in a plastic container; not the rosin bag you might find in a sporting goods store for gymnasts, etc.

Thanks everybody. I'll give the Firm Grip a try.

Kirmdog

I didn't get my Frim Grip yet but I did shoot the other night and tried some rosin that I had in my bowling bag and it worked great. Thanks everybody for the heads up on this! It really helped, no more slipping grip between shots.

Kirmdog

The Firm Grip type powders work well but one caution is to be careful not to get it into your guns. A few years ago on the Bullseye-L list there were reports from a couple of shooters who weren't careful and managed to clog up their guns and even had trouble cleaning them out later after the stuff had set. This was confirmed by one of our top pistol smiths who had encountered the problem when a customer had jammed up his gun and came back to him for help. Works great on the hands but since it sounds like you may be using a lot of it sometimes just be aware of transferring much into the gun or applying the stuff to your hands such that any of the extra would drift onto the gun or magazines.