Do bare hands create most external wood/metal wear?

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Ignition Override

New member
Let's not discuss the type of ammo, and assume that owners always keep the guns in dry places and avoid carrying in the rain/snow or near salt water etc.

Somewhere on 'boards' people discuss wearing plastic gloves with the older guns. Do many people also wear gloves each time they shoot? Have never seen this, but at the club range people seldom see to have an old milsurp within view.

Just got a second Enfield #4, at the recent Ft. Worth show (there were five), which has mostly very dark, dull wood.
 
Somewhere on 'boards' people discuss wearing plastic gloves with the older guns.
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When I'm handling a antique fire arm or a commiserative I well wear light cotton gloves so I don't leave finger prints behind. I wear shooting gloves at the range when it's cold. Never thought about wearing gloves when handling the Enfield collection.
 
I believe that wearing gloves is more for a museum or collection piece setting, where you don't want to have to wipe down a gun after every time it is handled.

I can't imagine if you are actively shooting a gun, that bare hands would be all that damaging, since you probably intend to clean it anyway. It wouldn't hurt anything to wear gloves at the range, but I'm not sure how much it would help unless you just have particularly sweaty hands.

I find that most of the wear on my guns is from field use. Transporting in a vehicle without a case is also pretty rough on a gun.
 
"wearing gloves with the older guns" I used to shoot in Schuetzen matches..bench & offhand at 200yds. using soft cast, usually breech-seated ahead of case. There were a few Popes, Peterson, Zischang, & Schoyen's barrels on original 61/2 Rigby-Ballards, Sharps, and Winchester High-Walls. These were handled all day..but were carefully cleaned & wiped down with an oily or silicone rag before being cased. Now some of these were valued more than:eek: the price of a new car..most were at least equal to a late model used one. I can assure you, if any one of these guy's had showed up wearing rubber gloves...NONE of us would have dared to pick up brass!!
 
I don't think our hands are ruining the finish at all and don't own anything I would even consider having to wear gloves to handle. I have a poor mans gun collection
 
When I've eaten some salty nuts at evening while watching TV, I always wash my hands before touching any of the guns afterwards. But wearing gloves: no, honestly, never thought of that.
 
If your sweat is more acidic than normal it can wear out finishes much more quickly than most people's. My other hobby is guitar and some players' sweat can eat thru a finish quickly, Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher for example. But they're also spending more time with their hands on wood than most shooters. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I agree with bumnote. I worked with one guy that would handle tool steel and the next day there would be fine, rusty, fingerprints on the steel. If you want to see real wear on a stock take a look at Japanese Type 44 Cavalry Carbines. The carbines were slung across their back when riding horses and it was hard on the wood. I had two of them and the middle of the stocks on one side were worn almost to the barrel just from riding like that.
 
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