Wearing gloves while cleaning guns

Why?



Bob Wright

Been ponderin' the reason for wearing gloves for gun cleaning. There is nothing in your skin to hurt the gun's finish, especially if you give it a good coat of oil before storing it away.

Bob Wright

Not while cleaning, but I do when loading lead bullets. I get mine at Home Depot. They are a latex glove you can get in the painting aisle. Never though about using them when cleaning, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t hurt to try it.

I use nitrile (non-latex) gloves from Walmart. They come in boxes of 100 and are disposable. I think they are in the over-the-counter medical supplies department.

I'm not sure if I NEED them for cleaning my guns, but it's easy and safe to use them. If you get the right fit (S,M L), you won't sacrifice any touch at all.

BobWright said:

Been ponderin' the reason for wearing gloves for gun cleaning. There is nothing in your skin to hurt the gun's finish, especially if you give it a good coat of oil before storing it away.

Bob Wright

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It is to keep you from absorbing oils and solvents into your skin, or at least, thats why I do it.

I just use disposable latex or nitrile gloves.

I just used some today when I cleaned my shotgun and have been using them for years now and like SteadyD said , the reasons are , to keep me from absorbing oils and solvents into my body through my skin . I used some that I got from WM today , Curad nitrile .

I use nitrile gloves when cleaning or working on guns. Mainly since I’m lazy and hate to wash my hands when I break for lunch. Just peel of the gloves and throw away. No oils/grease on the hands so no smells as you’re eating. I get mine at Harbor Freight but Home Depot, Publix grocery stores, and CVS/Walgreens all carry them as well.

I love the smell of Ballistol in the morning.

I do not.
Only when casting bullets, and that is more for protection against the hot lead than actual absorption of anything hazardous.

I strongly recommend wearing gloves when cleaning or loading. I even wear gloves whilst shooting, although more for comfort than concern about safety.

Lead is extremely dangerous and many of the solvents we use are dangerous as well. Even non-toxic or minimally toxic cleaning agents are dangerous as they dissolve the lead and copper and other shooting residues. That stuff can seriously mess you up.

Gloves and ventilation are the friends of a safe shooter.

MSDS are the real shooter's friends. Do wear gloves when dealing with harmful substances, but please don't do it just because the State of California recognized water as a hazardous material... It irritates people.

I wear gloves from Home Depot, they are orange. Been doing it for many years. Perhaps not necessary but it's become a habit now and I like the increased tactile feel of the material especially whilst reloading. A pair lasts several months.

Yes, I do, because burnt Unique is hard to wash off my hands. It'll stain your skin if you give it a chance. I'm sure you could use the soot for tattoos.

A shooting buddy popped positive for lead. Wearing gloves (for me) has become just another layer of safety, along with hand washing. I'm wearing gloves most of the time when reloading, cleaning, and other related activities where there is a chance of lead exposure. A lot of the potential lead exposure comes from the primers and ends up just about everywhere in the residues on the firearm, the cartridge case, etc. Needed? Maybe not. Got no scientific proof, but another layer of defense against the lead.

I'm not sure where my wife gets the blue nitrile gloves, but they are my favorite after trying various versions of vinyl, latex, etc.

No. I hate those things. My hands sweat like crazy in them.

Yes
I wear gloves when handling any gun cleaning chemicals. I am trying to avoid cancer.


I have spent my life working as a paramedic, so I use the latex gloves that follow me home.

Yes I do. Not to protect my hands, but to protect the firearm's finish, especially if it's blued. My hands can start blued steel to rusting in a heart beat. So, I make darned sure I'm wearing gloves when I do the final wipe down before storing.

I've never felt the necessity of using gloves for gun cleaning, but never felt I used anything too harsh. I use Hoppe's No. 9 and for oil a 50/50 mix of motor oil and machine oil. At times I've used lacquer thinner to degrease, but that rarely.

And as someone else noted, my hands sweat like a boar hog when I wear surgical gloves.

And I wash afterwards using that orange hand cleaner from AutoZone. That, and old fashioned Lava soap.

Bob Wright

Nitrile gloves to minimize solvent contact. First started when I got a box from my nurse practitioner daughter-in-law. Liked them and buy them online.

I sometimes wear nitrile disposables for messy/wet firearms maintenance procedures.

I have them on my bench and always use them when I am spraying non chlorinated break cleaner to degrease a gun. The spray will eat through the glove, by the way.

I do not usually use them for routine cleaning, because my hands sweat big time when I wear them. But I know I should.

In the past, I worked at a place where I used a lot of MEK (methyl ethyl ketone).

I asked for gloves and the manager took about a week and then made a big deal about it when he did give them to me, referring to the gloves as condoms. To top that, he only gave me one pair, they lasted a couple of days. The whole thing made it clear that I was not to ask for another pair.

The thing is that I could actually feel myself getting less, mentally, sharp as I was using it. I even played a series of cognitive games to test for any decline, my decline was measurable.

According to the Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation, this is not at all surprising. MEK is adsorbed readily through the skin:

contact of the solvent with a larger skin area is likely to be proportionally equivalent to more absorption which, theoretically, would exceed the absorption of the vapour through the lungs and therefore, increasing the overall exposure of the individual to MEK.

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and does have a cognitive effect:

It has been recognised (for example, Morris, 1999) that occupational solvents can give rise to neuropathy and impaired cognitive functioning that may be usefully assessed by the neuropsychological assessment.

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(The rest of the study cited refers to testing techniques, even some similar to the tests I was self administering.)

Fortunately, I didn't work there long. The take away is the if the chemical is at all questionable, research it. If you are required to use it without protection, find a new job. Definitely don't risk yourself on "hobby time."