PIG Full Dexterity Tactical (FDT) - Delta Utility Glove

The most form-fitting shooting gloves you’ll ever find.

Most shooting gloves feel bulky and cumbersome. Even “lightweight” Nomex gloves can give you guff when you’re trying to do small tasks, like adjust a sighting post or breaking apart a BCG (those damn firing pin retainers). If all this sounds like your typical day at the range, the PIG Full Dexterity Tactical Shooting Gloves are the solution.

Plenty of protection with a breezy, “bare-hand” feel.

This is a pair of digit protectors that actually “fit like a glove”. The PIG FDTs are made from a rugged, stretchable material that feels thin but provides plenty of protection. But these bad boys will go the distance -- even the paracord pull loop is bar-tacked to the gloves, and all the stitching is beefed up. SOF guys use ‘em overseas, so you know these gloves can handle your local range. They’re touchscreen-compatible, too. 

Additional Specs

• Silicon grip on palm and fingers
• Single-layer palm for tactile feel
  
• Breathable, hot-weather material
• Elastic wrist is snug and comfortable
• Fold-over fingertips (no annoying seams)
• Easy-pull paracord loop
• Works with touchscreens

The PIG FDT Gloves: Staff Review

A good pair of shooting gloves can be hard to come by. Many are too thick, while others simply don't fit well. They get frumpy or bundled up, or they don't provide a good, tactile feel on the fingertips, necessary for good trigger control and grip. Do the PIG FDT Delta Gloves break the mold? They've been used in combat quite a lot, which bodes well for these gloves. Let's take a look.

The PIG FDT's (which stands for 'Full Dexterity Tactical') look and feel like they belong with a wet suit. They ditch the wrap-around, bulky leather and suede that many other shooting gloves come with, instead using a stretchy and breathable mesh fabric for the backhand, palm, and fingers (save for the tips). A silicone fabric is used on the fingers' undersides and palm to provide protection. With that, the underside feels robust. It provides good protection against sharp bits, but it doesn't sacrifice your ability to feel. For their lightness, these gloves don't provide cold-weather insulation or waterproofing. But they do retain a tight fit and don't feel burdensome once they're soaked.

Measurements & Sizing

To size up the PIG Gloves, measure your hand's length from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the palm, where it meets your wrist. Measure width by using a flexible tape measure to record the circumference around the base of your fingers' four knuckles, excluding the thumb. These gloves make for a very snug, tight fit.

• Small: Hand length 7.25" to 7.75", width 7.5" to 8"
• Medium: Hand length 7.5" to 7.75", width 8" to 8.5"
• Large: Hand length 7.75" to 8.25", width 8.5" to 9"
• X-Large: Hand length 8" to 8.25", width 9" to 9.25"
• XX-Large: Hand length 8.25", width 9.25"

Wrist Enclosure

Starting at the backend, the PIG Gloves have a nice, smooth, tight fit around the wrist. The cut for the opening is relatively high and allows free range of hand movement without the material bunching up. There's a nice, thin line of piping around the fabric to prevent fraying and the material feels smooth on the skin.

The drawstring used for donning each glove is bar-tacked underneath a slick "PIG" Logo, and it provides a nice anchor for stretching the tight-fitting mitts over your digits without fighting them. We also like the recessed cut above the thumb. This area can force material to bind up when you're gripping a handgun or handguard on a rifle, so we're happy to see a proper "shooter's cut" glove, here.

Palm and Finger fabric

Underneath the palm and fingers is where the magic happens. PIG gloves use an acrylic fabric that's incredibly stretchy and grippy. The material has a slightly leatherette feel, but it provides a more formed fit over the shooter's hand, which is essentially for grip and trigger squeeze. The material wicks water at the surface, too, so these gloves won't get bogged down with water unless you really soak 'em. The vented topside also helps wick moisture.

Fingertip Form

We're quite happy to see how PIG rolled the acrylic underside up and over each fingertip. The index finger also has a special pad for working a touchscreen, but the star of the show is the stitching. With rolled tips, dexterity is preserved and sense of touch is much greater. You could easily reload a .22 mag, type out a text message, or tie your shoelaces wearing these gloves. The bowed side stitching helps to prevent the material from bunching up when you curl your fingers, too. 

Glove backside & Overall Grip

Moving to the backside of the glove, a fine mesh material provides high stretch and plenty of breathability. Overall, the PIG Gloves are the best-fitting shooting gloves we've tried. While they may not provide as much physical protection as a leather glove (like our Tactical Made Shooting Gloves), they make up for it with mobility and sheer comfort. 

No matter your hand position, the PIG FDT's live up to the name of "Full Dexterity." Whether outstretched or wrapped tightly around a Springfield 1911, the PIGs kept that second-skin cling.

Our Impression

The PIG FDT's are made for the best form fit of any shooting glove. If you're the shooter who wears gloves for hours on end -- and you don't want to fidget with donning and doffing your mitts every five minutes to perform basic tasks -- the PIG Gloves are for you. They may not perform as well as leather gloves in a cold or wet-weather environment, but they certainly make up for the lack of insulation with dexterity and overall fitment. The PIGs really do afford a "second-skin" feel.

Q: What's the difference between the PIG FDT Alpha, Delta, and FR?

A: The gloves we reviewed today are the Deltas, and they're the latest design from PIG. The Alpha gloves were the original design, while the FR gloves are current-production and provide a big more insulation and physical protection with a neoprene-like material and reinforced knuckle. The FRs sacrifice a bit of dexterity in exchange.