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Thread: RFI - Multidayhigh round count classes - hand protection

  1. #1
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    RFI - Multidayhigh round count classes - hand protection

    So I’m gonna take a uspsa class from tactical performance center later this year, involving 500 rounds a day for three days.

    I’ve done 500 round days before and been fine, but never three in a row. They recommend having KPT tape or similar for protection of the hands, but I’m not really familiar with the how of doing that. The beavertail on my Elite sometimes will abrade my strong side thumb on the side of the lower joint, but I’ve built up a callous there from shooting it a lot. I don’t know if it’ll be enough for 1500 rounds.

    So I guess I’m asking, how do you protect your hands over multi-day high round count classes, if at all, and how much do you try practicing ahead of time to get used to the way any such protection affects the feel of the weapon in your hands ?

    Thanks for any suggestions.

  2. #2
    Athletic or painters tape where your hands get abraded.

    Dry fire and shoot, lots. I’ve been in exactly the same spot as you with my “Glock knuckle” callous, but other things happened to my hands, mags pinching the heel of my hand, loading mags, shit like that.

    That’s a pretty hardcore class, totally jealous.
    #RESIST

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by LittleLebowski View Post
    Athletic or painters tape where your hands get abraded.

    Dry fire and shoot, lots. I’ve been in exactly the same spot as you with my “Glock knuckle” callous, but other things happened to my hands, mags pinching the heel of my hand, loading mags, shit like that.

    That’s a pretty hardcore class, totally jealous.
    I dry fire daily and do a lot of reload practice, and shoot a lot. I note that bandaids and such seldom seem to want to stick to my skin, but I’ll get some athletic tape I guess. What brands do people like ?

  4. #4
    TPC wants you to tell them as soon as you feel the start of a hot spot, as it has implications for technique as well as comfort. A friend with an X5 with a carbide grip took some hurtin’ on day one of Comp Boot Camp, and liberally applied KT tape.

    For a high round count class, I would be cautious with your grips or grip treatment, and shoot lower PF ammo. PMC 115 is soft.

    What are your grips and have you considered having that edge rounded, like Ernest (and I am sure others) does?
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  5. #5
    Gucci gear, Walmart skill Darth_Uno's Avatar
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    Spray your hands down with Plasti-Dip.

    Or just get whatever tape is cheap at Walmart. All you're trying to do is avoid the mild annoyance of a blister for a couple days. Just wrap it up loosely around your hand wherever it makes contact with the weapon and you suspect you'll get some sore spots. You don't wan't to restrict movement, you're just heading off any chafing. Or just go to the sporting goods section and get a cheap pair of batting or golf gloves (no joke, they work very well).

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    TPC wants you to tell them as soon as you feel the start of a hot spot, as it has implications for technique as well as comfort. A friend with an X5 with a carbide grip took some hurtin’ on day one of Comp Boot Camp, and liberally applied KT tape.

    For a high round count class, I would be cautious with your grips or grip treatment, and shoot lower PF ammo. PMC 115 is soft.

    What are your grips and have you considered having that edge rounded, like Ernest (and I am sure others) does?
    Thank you. I’ve done ok with 500 rounds a day of Fiocchi 115 at nominal 1200 FPS and that is my normal non carry ammo. Standard LTT grips, which I like. No grip treatment. I don’t think I can file on the frame and remain Prod legal - can I? - and also idk about permanent mods for a single three day class.

    I’ll get some kt tape. I also can always switch over to my idpa gun and gear if absolutely necessary, as the Px4CC beavertail doesn’t impinge at all and I’ve done 500 round days with it as well.
    Last edited by Medusa; 07-03-2019 at 02:54 PM.

  7. #7
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    I believe the worst aspect will be mag loading for you. Those feed lips are going to suck if loading by hand.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by fwrun View Post
    I believe the worst aspect will be mag loading for you. Those feed lips are going to suck if loading by hand.
    I have a maglula and use it religiously.

  9. #9
    How about fingerless gloves?

    I dunno about blisters from shooting, but for foot blisters while hiking the paper type of first aid tape that came out a few years ago is way better than the old school stuff.

  10. #10
    For high round-count classes, I reccommend the following practices:

    Known wear-points on the digits should be taped in advance of the skin being significantly damaged or a blister being formed. I prefer to start the strip of tape on the inside surface of the knuckle or segment in question, run the tape over one side of the digit, and then curl that digit fully inwards before wrapping over the top, down the next side, and closing the loop. This, so as to prevent restriction or constriction from the athletic tape (1" preferred over the 1.5", boxes are more cost-efficient than singular rolls). If the web of the hand is inevitably abraded; than preference is to start a run of tape from the lower edge of the wrist, cross diagonally across the back of the hand to the web between thumb and forefinger, round the edge and onto the palm and immediately spiral around the thickest portion of the thumb, until the tape is at the top edge of the wrist, and finish with a closed loop around the wrist; this, so as to have as little tape between the palm and pistol when shooting.

    (For me personally, I used to wear through the edge of the knuckle of my shooting-side social finger between 175 and 200rd into a package; and sometime after ~250rd start wearing through the surface of my support-side index finger. Much of that has been alleviated by switching to an extremely muscular grip, more so than I was already using at the time; but I frankly just don't shoot nearly as much these days. Thumbs get taped if I'm teaching a lot of sub-compacts in one day, as my preferred technique for low-profile slide-lock\release levers can be wearing with repetitions.)

    If you have sweaty palms or already have a preferrence for it; bring a climber's chalk bag with sufficient chalk within it to last the day. Wet skin tears more easily and can distract when working to identify and memorize tactile reference points; chalking up as required can reduce distractors and provide for slightly better learning by touch.

    (I'd recommend having a small container of lotion tossed into the bag\bucket\pouch, for day's end to keep skin-cracking and the itchies at bay.)

    I would strongly recommend that you bring a lacrosse ball to such an event; particularly if you've got a disparity in hand-size (implied greater use of available muscular strength) and\or use more than just your forearm+thumb muscles to shoot (e.g. pecs+traps). During breaks; you'll be able to roll and knead away at the meaty portion of your thumbs (rolling the ball between your palms), roll out the inner surfaces of each forearm (holding the ball in-hand and turning at the wrist), and with a suitably unyielding and vertical surface roll out the long vertical stretch of each trapezius muscle where it runs adjacent to the associated scapula. If that latter-most is the main limiting factor for high-round count sessions, a 'peanut' lacrosse ball may be indicated for efficiency and effectiveness.

    (Lacrosse balls are incredibly inexpensive bought by the box, and curiously pricy for the individual; I'd recommend to buy no less than a box of a dozen, and then have both spares and possible gifts. As far as the peanut, I generally buy the 5BILLION brand ones available on Amazon.)

    Verifying the recent trim of your fingernails may also pay dividends, prior to the first round on TD1; tired hands, running the slide, and being endwards of a long day may pair poorly with nails long enough to snag and tear.

    Unrelated to protecting the hands; given the likely loss of time to reloading magazines, rehydrants and pre-packaged water are slightly more strongly indicated than on other more baseline courses; it just becomes that much easier for such needs to fall by the wayside due to the volume of reloading involved, and then failure modes creep that much closer.
    Jules
    Runcible Works

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