Cold Weather Training.

Hopefully everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and is spending time with family and friends. It may be a little colder out now, but that doesn’t mean we should stop training. Now is a good time to work on your pistol shooting with gloves. Carbine or rifle shooting with gloves is always easy, and colder weather is a great time to work on your long gun skills.

If neither of those options works for you, indoor dryfire, especially if you do a lot of it over the winter, will absolutely improve you for the spring. Do as much as you like each session, but try to do a little everyday. 5-10 minutes a day will make a big difference over the course of a few months. I like to start with pistol work and finish with carbine practice. I find that a good live-fire pistol session, followed by a couple of magazines or so from the carbine, makes for great sustainable practice. The same ratio works in for dryfire for me. The carbine just doesn’t need a lot of work when your pistol skills are sharp.

So regardless of weather, improvement is a never-ending process. If you live somewhere warm, things are a little easier, but even in the coldest parts of the world (for you non-U.S. based readers), improvement should be a year-long process. Just don’t overdose on the tryptophan.

2 comments

  1. I’ll train occasionally with pistol and carbine while wearing USGI flight gloves or Mechanix brand work gloves.
    Anything bulkier than those tends to really affect my manipulations.
    Heavier insulated gloves also impinge on or get caught up in the reciprocating pistol slide causing malfunctions.
    Any suggestions on other brands or styles of gloves for cold weather?

    1. I used flight gloves for many years, but once the PIG gloves came out, I switched and have not gone back. The Alphas are probably the best all around, but the Deltas give the best feel, at the cost of a very short service life. PIG also makes a winter glove that works great, as long as you don’t need serious winter gloves. I use them down to about zero, if I’m not going to be out long. Colder, or out longer, and no gloves will work well with pistols and keep you warm.

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