I have a few pairs of handgunning gloves, and have used a few others, but honestly, I have yet to find a pair I really enjoyed. I’ve wasted a lot of time, frustration, and pain trying to find the right glove.

First trick: make sure the grips really fit your hand so you don’t need a glove. Even a 45-70 contender and 308win Encore, or a 475 Linebaugh Redhawk don’t require a glove for me. But I did spend the money on grips which fit my hand.

The best “glove” trick for me: making your own is REALLY simple.

Find a glove with a supportive wrist strap and the finger length you want (I almost always shoot half fingers) JUST a little oversized in the palm, then grab a chunk of high impact foam floor mat. Split a piece of the mat down to about 3/16” thick with the hard layer side retained, then trim it to an oval shape to fold over the web of your thumb and palm, skive the edges down to a feathered edge, turn the glove inside out and put it on your wrong hand, then position and trim the pad as desired. Mark the glove around the pad, contact cement in place. If you have impact pain in your lower hand, make a U shaped pad (picture a blocky, old school football jersey letter U), and apply it with the belly of the U along the pinky edge of your palm, one upright going across the pad of your knuckles and the other cut off about half as tall, up the pad of your thumb. Grip the gun as you test trim the pad shapes and thicknesses. The only trick here is to get a glove slightly oversized just enough to fit the padding inside.

Seems like a lot of work, but really only takes a couple hours at worst, about 45min for me these days, and it lets you get EXACTLY the fit you want for your hand AND for your gungrip.