MacTech
Member
Since we've got our first snow of the season here in coastal southern Maine, I decided to see how easy some of my guns were to operate while wearing my ski gloves (Grandoe Anaconda Power Riders)
Ruger 10/22;
Magazine insert - easy with the Ruger 10 rounder, even easier with the Hot Lips 25 rounder
Magazine eject; 10 rounder-very difficult required removal of gloves, Hot Lips - very easy, depress the release and yank out
Charging/loading - easy, would be easier without the scope though
Firing; easy, the trigger guard is just large enough to fit the trigger finger in, I was expecting it to be rather difficult
Overall rating; very good, the 10/22 did far better than expected, a pleasant surprise
Mossberg 500;
Loading the magazine tube - Easy, the wide bottom opening was a non-issue for ski gloves
Chambering a round; Exceptionally easy, the pump action makes chambering a shell a non-issue it's stupid-easy with ski gloves on
Firing; Annoying - the trigger guard hangs up on the tip of my ski glove, I have to consciously guide my gloved trigger finger into the trigger guard
CZ-75B 9mm;
Loading a magazine with cartridges; very difficult, required removal of gloves
Inserting a loaded mag; Exceptionally easy, no problems at all
Chambering a round; extremely difficult - the first attempt to chamber a snap-cap was a failure, I lost grip halfway back, and the snap cap slid into the barrel and the gun stopped about 1/8" out of battery, it required dropping the mag, removing gloves, locking the slide back and clearing the misfeed, a fight stopper in combat situations for sure, the second attempt worked better as I was able to get a little better grip, but it was still difficult
Firing from Single Action mode; very difficult, as with the Mossberg, the finger of the glove hung up on the edge of the trigger guard, I had to guide the tip of the glove inside the trigger guard, once ready to fire, though, SA worked fine, the trigger would not go all the way forward to the DA reset position, but it was far enough forward to allow SA trigger reset
Firing from Double-Action mode; Extremely difficult and unsafe, my trigger finger was only able to grasp the right edge of the trigger, very tenuous grip at best, I could feel my finger slipping as I pulled through the DA part of the pull
I was expecting better gloved performance from the CZ-75, given it's wide, oval trigger guard, but it just didn't work as well as I was expecting with my hands/gloves combo
Kimber Custom II;
Loading magazine with cartridges; Extremely difficult, required removal of gloves, just like the CZ
Inserting magazine; As with the CZ, stupid easy
Chambering a round; Easy - thanks to the large gripping area of the slide and sturdy serrations, chambering a round was easy, much easier than the CZ, but more difficult than bare handed, if bare handed is a 10, and the CZ was a 3, the Kimber would be around 7.5 difficulty
Firing; the Kimber, like all 1911's is Single Action Only, and has a very crisp, light trigger, even though I was not able to get the finger of the glove fully inside the trigger guard, I *WAS* able to grip the side of the trigger, like the CZ in SA mode, but thanks to the crisp, light trigger of the Kimber, that's all I needed to fire
Ironically, I felt more comfortable firing the Kimber with gloves on, even though it had a smaller trigger guard opening
And we come finally to the gun that excelled at ALL the tests!....
the M-44 Mosin-Nagant Carbine;
I was expecting the M-44 to do well, as it was designed to be used in the cold, unforgiving wilds of Soviet Russia during the depths of WWII, but I was not expecting the gun to excel to the extent it did...
Deploy and retract bayonet; Dead-easy, even with gloves on, the bayonet operation was just as easy gloved as it was bare-handed
Loading the internal magazine; AMAZINGLY easy! - thanks to the wide, open action and internal magazine, the rounds simply dropped in place, and required only a light press of my gloved thumb to seat, and yes, I was using loose rounds, no stripper clips which I'd imagine would make it even easier
Chambering rounds; the wide, open internal magazine, and heavy, solid bolt made chambering cartridges a non-issue, it mattered not if I was gloved or bare handed, the cartridges fed absolutely trouble-free
Firing; Exceptionally easy, another non-issue, thanks to the cavernous trigger guard and open trigger shape, firing with gloves on was just as easy as bare handed
the clear winner in this impromptu little test was clearly the M-44 Mosin-Nagant, this gun was built for frigid, bone-chilling winter use and it shows
So, when the inevitable Zombie Uprising occurs, and before the Zacks have time to freeze into Corpse-sicles, the obvious choices for anti-zed use (for me, at least, YMMV) are a 1911 chassis pistol in .45 ACP and the mighty 7.62x54r Mosin-Nagant, in whatever flavour you like, this gun laughs at cold, snow, inclement weather, and Zombies!
My overall ratings, best to worst;
Winner (Rifle) Mosin-Nagant M-44
Winner (Pistol) 1911 pistol (Kimber Custom II in my case)
Second Place; Mossberg 500 (or any pump-action shotgun)
Third place; Ruger 10/22
Last place; CZ-75B, sorry CZ fans, I LOVE my 75B, it's a dream to shoot and loads of fun, it's just not suited for use with ski gloves, the thin, short serrations and compact slide just don't give enough gripping area, and the trigger guard can't handle bulky ski gloved fingers
Ruger 10/22;
Magazine insert - easy with the Ruger 10 rounder, even easier with the Hot Lips 25 rounder
Magazine eject; 10 rounder-very difficult required removal of gloves, Hot Lips - very easy, depress the release and yank out
Charging/loading - easy, would be easier without the scope though
Firing; easy, the trigger guard is just large enough to fit the trigger finger in, I was expecting it to be rather difficult
Overall rating; very good, the 10/22 did far better than expected, a pleasant surprise
Mossberg 500;
Loading the magazine tube - Easy, the wide bottom opening was a non-issue for ski gloves
Chambering a round; Exceptionally easy, the pump action makes chambering a shell a non-issue it's stupid-easy with ski gloves on
Firing; Annoying - the trigger guard hangs up on the tip of my ski glove, I have to consciously guide my gloved trigger finger into the trigger guard
CZ-75B 9mm;
Loading a magazine with cartridges; very difficult, required removal of gloves
Inserting a loaded mag; Exceptionally easy, no problems at all
Chambering a round; extremely difficult - the first attempt to chamber a snap-cap was a failure, I lost grip halfway back, and the snap cap slid into the barrel and the gun stopped about 1/8" out of battery, it required dropping the mag, removing gloves, locking the slide back and clearing the misfeed, a fight stopper in combat situations for sure, the second attempt worked better as I was able to get a little better grip, but it was still difficult
Firing from Single Action mode; very difficult, as with the Mossberg, the finger of the glove hung up on the edge of the trigger guard, I had to guide the tip of the glove inside the trigger guard, once ready to fire, though, SA worked fine, the trigger would not go all the way forward to the DA reset position, but it was far enough forward to allow SA trigger reset
Firing from Double-Action mode; Extremely difficult and unsafe, my trigger finger was only able to grasp the right edge of the trigger, very tenuous grip at best, I could feel my finger slipping as I pulled through the DA part of the pull
I was expecting better gloved performance from the CZ-75, given it's wide, oval trigger guard, but it just didn't work as well as I was expecting with my hands/gloves combo
Kimber Custom II;
Loading magazine with cartridges; Extremely difficult, required removal of gloves, just like the CZ
Inserting magazine; As with the CZ, stupid easy
Chambering a round; Easy - thanks to the large gripping area of the slide and sturdy serrations, chambering a round was easy, much easier than the CZ, but more difficult than bare handed, if bare handed is a 10, and the CZ was a 3, the Kimber would be around 7.5 difficulty
Firing; the Kimber, like all 1911's is Single Action Only, and has a very crisp, light trigger, even though I was not able to get the finger of the glove fully inside the trigger guard, I *WAS* able to grip the side of the trigger, like the CZ in SA mode, but thanks to the crisp, light trigger of the Kimber, that's all I needed to fire
Ironically, I felt more comfortable firing the Kimber with gloves on, even though it had a smaller trigger guard opening
And we come finally to the gun that excelled at ALL the tests!....
the M-44 Mosin-Nagant Carbine;
I was expecting the M-44 to do well, as it was designed to be used in the cold, unforgiving wilds of Soviet Russia during the depths of WWII, but I was not expecting the gun to excel to the extent it did...
Deploy and retract bayonet; Dead-easy, even with gloves on, the bayonet operation was just as easy gloved as it was bare-handed
Loading the internal magazine; AMAZINGLY easy! - thanks to the wide, open action and internal magazine, the rounds simply dropped in place, and required only a light press of my gloved thumb to seat, and yes, I was using loose rounds, no stripper clips which I'd imagine would make it even easier
Chambering rounds; the wide, open internal magazine, and heavy, solid bolt made chambering cartridges a non-issue, it mattered not if I was gloved or bare handed, the cartridges fed absolutely trouble-free
Firing; Exceptionally easy, another non-issue, thanks to the cavernous trigger guard and open trigger shape, firing with gloves on was just as easy as bare handed
the clear winner in this impromptu little test was clearly the M-44 Mosin-Nagant, this gun was built for frigid, bone-chilling winter use and it shows
So, when the inevitable Zombie Uprising occurs, and before the Zacks have time to freeze into Corpse-sicles, the obvious choices for anti-zed use (for me, at least, YMMV) are a 1911 chassis pistol in .45 ACP and the mighty 7.62x54r Mosin-Nagant, in whatever flavour you like, this gun laughs at cold, snow, inclement weather, and Zombies!
My overall ratings, best to worst;
Winner (Rifle) Mosin-Nagant M-44
Winner (Pistol) 1911 pistol (Kimber Custom II in my case)
Second Place; Mossberg 500 (or any pump-action shotgun)
Third place; Ruger 10/22
Last place; CZ-75B, sorry CZ fans, I LOVE my 75B, it's a dream to shoot and loads of fun, it's just not suited for use with ski gloves, the thin, short serrations and compact slide just don't give enough gripping area, and the trigger guard can't handle bulky ski gloved fingers
