Do you wear gloves when you clean your guns?

[Don P]

No, I never have.
I'm in my senior years, a little long in the tooth so I don't fret over things that I do or eat that's going to kill me, as a matter of fact I never have.
After all, none of us is going to get out of this world alive.

Nicely stated, I concur.

[FITASC]

After all, none of us is going to get out of this world alive.

True, but I - for one - want to delay that ending as long as possible............

[Ozzieman]

True, but I - for one - want to delay that ending as long as possible

And be able to breath without dragging an oxygen bottle around with me.
The main reason I use gloves is that I am lazy.
Some of that crap is hard to get off your hands.

[g.willikers]

We may not get out of this life alive, but not having to suffer any more than necessary in our waning years ain't a bad goal.

[doofus47]

Especially, if I'm going out to dinner with the wife and/or family right after.

[Prof Young]

I wear nitrile gloves when I clean an when I reload. Hands come away "dirty" from both those processes and I know the dirt isn't soil. :-) Plus when I come home from the range I have "D-lead" that I use to clean my hands with.

Live well, BE SAFE

Prof Young

[OcelotZ3]

I use gloves almost 100% of the time.

[rightside]

No, but I do ,as always, have the best intentions to do so.

[Rancid]

Nope. When I was in high school we all thought Hoppes No.9 was cologne.

[us920669]

If you've ever had a brush with cancer you won't want to joke about this stuff. So much of what we do in shooting, also cars, construction, a lot of things that are fun and even necessary, can be more dangerous than we realize.
I use that gritty orange mechanic soap, seems to work pretty well.
On another subject but the same general idea, someone once said he wanted to die on Mars, but not on impact.

[Hunter Customs]

I was not joking or making light of the subject of wearing gloves while cleaning guns, those that wish to wear them I say go for it.

In the 60's after graduation from high school Uncle Sam paid for my Senior trip to a country called Vietnam.
While there I was assigned to a mechanized infantry unit ( www.1-5th-m-25th-inf-1966.com ) we operated in Hell's Half Acre in the Tay Ninh Province.
The jungles were thick to the point that very little day light shown through the tree tops, so Uncle Sam decided to help us out by using a defoliant called Agent Orange.
That along with the insect repellent that we bathed in to try and keep all the types of insects that liked to bite or sting us off of us I'm sure was not good for us.

Add to the above all the rank horses I've ridden, all the ill tempered bovine I've worked, 30 years of dancing with the Devil, God only knows what I breathed in and came in contact with while doing that.

So yes I too would like to live as long as possible, but I don't sit around and fret about it and I sure don't fret about a little Hoppes No.9 coming in contact with my hands.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[Quentin2]

What! You're supposed to clean your guns? Oops...

I rarely use gloves but agree it's probably smart. I sure wish I'd known to use hearing protection in the '60-70s. I pay for that every day now, no hearing aid can fix that.

[spacecoast]

If you reload with lead bullets, especially with a hand press like I do, where you touch each and every bullet, then it's probably a good idea. I had myself tested a few years ago when I was reloading a lot of rounds and my blood-borne lead levels were elevated.

[Slamfire]

I wear 5 mil blue nitrile gloves http://www.harborfreight.com/5-mil-n...rge-68497.html sometimes the black nitrile which are thicker at 9 mil, http://www.harborfreight.com/9-mil-n...rge-68511.html every time I clean my firearms and I recommend that all wear gloves when handling gun powder solvents and copper solvents.

You just don't know and you won't know until it is too late whether the chemicals in these solvents will cause you problems in the long run. It was not that long ago that Hoppes #9 contained nitro benzene a known carcinogen. Most of the chemicals on the market have been "grandfathered", that is no real testing has been done to prove they are good or bad for humans one way or another and the grandfathered chemicals are assumed good until proven bad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_...ol_Act_of_1976 Humans did not evolve with industrial chemicals and so it is best practice to assume that contact with industrial chemicals has risk and should be minimized to the maximum extent possible. Therefore, wear gloves.

Given that gunpowder solvent will not only contain its own chemicals, they will solvate lead, barium, etc, all the nasty chemicals in primers and gunpowder, and that stuff will absorb through the skin. Therefore, wear gloves.

[K_Mac]

An interesting thread. While I am certainly old enough to know better, I have never worn gloves when cleaning my guns. I am just young enough to have missed a senior trip to Vietnam, but I do come from a generation where asbestos, DDT, and chlordane were widely used in industry and agriculture. Knowing what we know today there really isn't any good excuse for not using proper precautions when dealing with chemicals. I am going to add a box of disposable gloves to my cleaning supplies.

[North East Redneck]

Never have and have used gas and carb cleaner to 'wash' my hands. Now that I'm realizing I'm not invincible, perhaps those nitrile gloves I have will get more use....

[foxytwo]

I don't wesar gloves to clean my firearms.

[Sequins]

I wear blue nitrile gloves, snug but not tight. I can't imagine the cleaning stuff is good for you, and I do dislike wearing the gloves, but I'm only 27 so if it's gonna be bad for me in the long run I've got a long time left to suffer...

[Hawg]

Nope never have. Worked in a garage when I was a teen and used leaded gas to wash parts. Even put it in an air powered sprayer to wash engine blocks etc. I can't do anything with gloves on. I don't even wear gloves when casting lead. If I did I'd burn myself.

[mete]

Yes ,cleaners can be very bad for you and there are different gloves for different chemicals . Some cleaners have penetrants which carry chemicals into all the fine spaces . They also carry things through your skin.But if ypou use spray cleaners you're getting themdirectly into your lungs /Make sure you have very good ventilation !!

[berettaprofessor]

Hawg, that's both funny and 100% correct about the leaded gasoline, as any of us alive in the 60's and 70's are well aware. Actually, at 7 years old, my summer job was painting fence around my Dad's farm and there was plenty of it to keep me busy for all the summers of my youth. Watcha wanna bet that all that white paint that covered me every day was leaded? And to top it off, I washed the brushes out with leaded gasoline. Gloves were unheard of. And when it was hot, I drank lots of good cold water drawn from a well only 20 feet deep next to a cornfield sprayed often with atrazine. It's a wonder I have a brain or prostate left at all.

[jersurf101]

Yes. Latex gloves to keep the solvent and lead off of my hands. Can't find a good reason not too

[wingman]

Nitrile gloves for most task as a long ago lab tech. its habit now plus the chemicals in gun products have become more strong, second issue is
ventilation, open window and fan in my shop, overall just good practice.
I'm 70 plus and going down fighting.

[ammo.crafter]

Lots of good points made here.

I never wear gloves or eye protection while cleaning but I am now giving that consideration.

[tangolima]

I work as a part-time gunsmith at my friend's shop. I always wear nitrile gloves and sometimes my geezer goggles (magnifying glasses). The store owner, friend of mine, told me the customers were actually impressed. They said I was the only gunsmith who wear clean blue gloves, like someone working on precision machines.

Certainly they keep coming back because of the work we do, but the look of a pair of disposable gloves help boost the credibility.

-TL