Having S&S Precision located right down the road in Virginia Beach, it makes connecting with them even easier. They presented me and some of the guys I work with, with their warm weather maritime assault gloves to test and evaluate. I’ve kind of been on this new kick lately of having the boys I work with try out the same gear I’m testing or running to get their perspective. I can say all day long that I love something, but what does the consensus say? Would you trust me having never met me? Or would you trust a group of people all giving feedback? Now I can say every piece of gear I have written about I personally use in real-world operations. Plate carrier, shoes, knives – it’s usually being used during the wee hours of the morning or at “zero dark thirty”.
Now that summer has officially ended (except in Virginia, it’s still hotter than 2 rats screwing in a wool sock here), let’s talk about gloves. Now S&S Precision makes badass gloves. Their gloves are built for the maritime warrior, although they can be used for a multitude of environments. I use them when I know I’m getting wet, or when I’m on dry land. Gloves are in one way or another part of everybody’s loadout or kit. Every guy I know may not shoot with gloves, but they definitely use gloves or have gloves close by during operations or while in cold weather environments. Holding onto a single bar with a rifle in one hand, a full loadout on your body, and you’re jumping 3-4 foot waves going somewhere between 30-45kn chasing down an HVT – holding on and staying in the RHIB is the difference between completing the mission or failing the mission. Nobody wants to go for a swim in the ocean unless they absolutely have to, so that’s where these gloves into play.
A view of Ray’s Gloves after 4 months of continuous use
I reviewed the cold weather gloves S&S came out with a while ago and you can read that here. For security reason’s, I’ll change the names of the guy’s I work with. Brad, Ray, LL Cool J and myself all tested out the warm weather gloves on a trip with the intent of seeing how far they would last until they ripped. Mechanix and just about every other glove out there has ripped or fallen apart after a week of constant ops, so these were destined to break rip apart, right? Negative ghost rider, the pattern was full and intact.
LL Cool J TnE’ing the Warm Water gloves on the jet ski’s we use at work
Now I’m still the “new guy” at work so I don’t really know the struggle of finding a glove that’ll stay intact, but Brad, Ray and LL Cool J do. There are a combined 40 years of experience in military and contractor service between the 3 of them and if they haven’t seen it, nobody has. LL Cool J was a Recon Marine, who has worked with literally everyone on all aspects of maritime operations told me that he’s never seen gloves that have lasted as long as S&S Precision’s warm water gloves. “Bro, the only bad thing about these gloves is that they don’t have a little loop for putting them on a carabiner, but that’s literally the only bad thing I can say about them. Literally, I cannot get these things to rip.”
Brad ran lines through his gloves, as in mooring lines… he tried to make them rip and couldn’t. Brad asked me for my medical shears and I asked him why, he replied, “If I can’t get these things to rip, I’m just going to cut them because that’s the only way they are going to come apart.” Ray’s take was a little different. He decided to drag them across non-skid. “I mean I don’t know how to get these things to rip man. They just don’t. They grip like no other. I tried wearing them out. I tried getting a stitch to come apart. I just can’t do it. I can’t get them to rip or come apart.” I could see the frustration on their faces and all I told them was “I told ya so”.
The day after we got back from the week-long op. These were Brad’s gloves.
Fast forward 4 months later and the guys are still on their first set. Not one person I know has been able to get them to come apart. The second most impressive thing about these gloves is the grip. The same grip technology was used in the cold weather gloves and it is almost unbelievable how they go from “sticky” with pressure to smooth without pressure. It’s almost like these things have an on and off button for whether or not you want to hold onto something or not.
Myself personally testing the gloves on one of our RHIB’s
The gloves feature a touchscreen friendly padding on the most important fingers and this helps us a lot when it comes to using navigation equipment or any of our touch-screen systems when our fingers are wet. The Trigger feel on these gloves is incredible. “You can feel every detail of whatever trigger you finger is on,” says LL Cool J. “They’re perfect for hunting, the water or just a day at the range,” says Ray.
So what it comes down to is would you pay $49 for S & S precision’s gloves or $20 for Mechanix. The consensus reads as follows.
Brad – S & S
Ray – S & S
LL Cool J – S & S
Myself – S & S
“Mechanix are great and all, but the feel and grip of the S&S Precision gloves are just so much better and they last 4 times as long” – Brad
