Best gloves to protect from AK overheating front end?

I usually use baseball gloves when hunting or shooting. Mechanics wear gloves work really well for hot stuff though. You need the ones with an extra layer of padding on them. They worked really well for stuff like hot brake rotors on a summer day. I would imagine they would work great for shooting as well. If you get a tight fitting pair they will stretch pretty fast, I wore a medium, but found that I could feel things better with a small. I would imagine the trigger would be easier to feel that way.

I've never had the wood get hot enough to need gloves, tough I am often wearing them when shooting wood stocked AK's. I have an AMD-65 that gets a bit warm to hang onto after a couple mags;

Moparnut said:

I usually use baseball gloves when hunting or shooting

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Tried that; the really long fingers and the fact they are laced together made it real hard to shoot.
Kidding, I found sports gloves a bit thin; Mechanix (brand) gloves work OK, though with that AMD, I just put a stubby MOE foregrip on, haven't had a problem since.

entropy said:

I've never had the wood get hot enough to need gloves, tough I am often wearing them when shooting wood stocked AK's. I have an AMD-65 that gets a bit warm to hang onto after a couple mags;

Tried that; the really long fingers and the fact they are laced together made it real hard to shoot.
Kidding, I found sports gloves a bit thin; Mechanix (brand) gloves work OK, though with that AMD, I just put a stubby MOE foregrip on, haven't had a problem since.

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I am lucky. I have short stubby fingers.

Welding glove works for me

A heavy welder's glove might help, or a thick oven mitt. Both are made for handling hot objects. How much dexterity do you need with your off-hand, for pressing mag releases and magazine changes, etc? Thinner gloves will be good for that, but less good for holding something hot. I don't shoot an AK enough to know, and my process with my AR may be different from how you do your AK. Even during a CQB round, my handguard insulates me well enough not to need more than a light glove, and the only other thing I do with my left hand is pull and insert the magazine.

I've had good luck with the Mechanics brand gloves. They have decent dexterity, haven't melted yet, and are cheaper than shooting gloves.

BSW

As many of you know if you put an AK through its paces, the front end gets very hot. I would like to know what gloves you wear to protect your hands from that extreme heat.

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I'm not a fan of the forward vertical grip, except for this. I've added rail sections to my AKs that get used for such rapid fire fun and use either a vertical grip or an AFG to keep my hands off the hot stuff. Did the same with my old Bushmaster 17S bullpup which had the same problem.

How many rounds without a brake are you running to get this hot, I have a poly stock on mine, but I usually only run a couple of 30 round mags through it, then give it a rest and shoot something else. Never needed a glove.
Just curious?
JD

wally said:

I'm not a fan of the forward vertical grip, except for this. I've added rail sections to my AKs that get used for such rapid fire fun and use either a vertical grip or an AFG to keep my hands off the hot stuff. Did the same with my old Bushmaster 17S bullpup which had the same problem.

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I definitely agree, I learned to shoot the M16A1 and the AK long before vertical grips were available (Except the AMD-63 and 65), and a regular sized vertical grip, or the standard AMD-65 ones, interfere with mag changes. But the stubby doesn't, and is enough to hang onto. Here is a shot of a British gentleman who shot my AMD-65. Note the muzzle flash......

used to work in a foundry/smelter, and the only gloves used were generic leather gloves. Heavy, but not as much as welding gloves. Worked fine picking up things far hotter than any part of an AK (I know for sure, Iron glowing red, and soft enough to work with a peice of wood). How many rounds are you shooting at a sitting? Anyway, nothing will be good enough to hold the barrel and give you free movement.

looks like Technora gloves are available, and as far as I know that is the most heat tolerant synthetic made.

Google Ove Gloves, hint.

Have you tried using two large potholders from a kitchen? Maybe this isn't chic, but they can be wrapped anywhere you need.

My experience avoiding excessive barrels temps has never required protection.
Instead of shooting a single AK or SKS, a second gun is there to alternate, then both cool for a while, or go in front of the car's air cond. vents (works very well).

Instead of holding the handguard, try using placing your hand under the receiver against the forward facing part of the magazine. It doesn't get hot there and no gloves are necessary.

Oven mitt?

I don't have much experience with AKs but watch an RO burn his thumb on a gas tube of an AR... His finger print is still there!

I had one of them in my Armorer kit........

I guess I never shot my AKs enough to need them. If I did, I'd probably just use my regular old leather gloves that I use for everything - hopefully the spilled motor oil on them doesn't ignite.

Good fitting leather gloves are worth their weight in gold. Whenever I see leather gloves for sale, I usually give them a try to see if they are better than what I I have, if they are I buy them.

I like the Costco rubber Wells and Lamont gloves too for most tasks. They are probably not suitable for this, but certainly better than nothing, and you hardly notice you are wearing them.

Thick, heavy gloves, with stiff fingers, for the trigger hand. The heat problem will resolve itself for the off hand.

"Watch those really running AK's (not bench shooting a couple of mags) and the front ends get over 400 degrees."
The VZ58 (and apparently the RDB) are even worse. To be honest, the only real solution for any of these guns, is a vertical foregrip. Otherwise you're putting your palm in proximity to a prodigiously piping-hot poker.

TCB

IWI went through some trouble to reduce heat transfer from the barrel to the handguard on the Galil. The handguard is attached at the front by two long steel spacers with minimal contact area and the whole handguard is separated from the barrel by a large gap between the heat shield and the barrel.



BSW