Tabs & Gloves

[Cavscout9753]

I've shot using the exact same glove for my whole trad time. "Neet" I believe it is, the tag long since being gone. The leather is getting rough and I saw a thread recently talking about tabs. I'm not real sure I'd like one, but have never tried one either and if it could help its worth a shot (bad pun, sorry). Problem is I don't know where to start. I have medium hands, as I'm only 155 lbs. I shoot split and bows around 50#-55#, my LB being my baby. Whats a good starting point at a good price? If I hate it I don't want to waste a bunch of money. Is there a good middle of the road brand or material? Any advice has merit and will be useful. Thanks and happy shooting!

[Orion]

I shot various gloves for more than 50 years, and tried a Black Widow calf hair tab several years ago.  Pretty much all I shoot now.  About $13.

[Cavscout9753]

I hear a lot about people liking the Black Widow tabs. Thanks

[Gooserbat]

I like kantpinch but the widow tabs are good quality but not my style. I take the rubber layer out of mine.

[Hermon]

Neet cordovan tab.  Inexpensive and my favorite.

[Fletcher]

The Bateman cordovan is my favorite by far and I've shot a bunch of different ones.

[Cavscout9753]

So for my first dab I'm looking at the Eichler (I like its simplicity) and the Widow (Many people like them and thats all I have to go on).

[Cavscout9753]

For those that have shot both glove and tab, how do they compare for how long it takes to get a good set on the string? I imagine its a little more of a dilberate task with the tab?

[Wandering Archer]

Well, like you, I've always been a glove guy, but tried a tab tonight. I was surprised how much smoother my release was. I also liked that I didn't feel any string pressure through the thick leather.
I don't know what you mean by "set"? But It wasn't any more difficult to shoot the tab than my glove. I didn't even think about it.

P.S. I sent you a PM.

[Bigjackfish]

Shot a glove,tried a tab never looked back.The Bateman cordovan with spacer for split finger is the one for me.

[Bill Turner]

As said by" Bigjackfish" the Bateman cordovan tab  with spacer for split finger is hard to beat. Order from "The Nocking Point" for about $13.00. They will ship it regular mail, if you ask, to avoid extra cost. Great tab and great people to do business with. By the way, this tab wears like iron. You'll lose it before you wear it out.  

[Tom]

Think about getting s tsb maybe one size larger than normal in case you need to slip it over a pair of thin cotton or wool gloves when it cools off. I have shot tabs all my life and like the cordovan spacer tabs but always take the plastic spacer out, just works better for me.

[TGbow]

I used a glove for 35 years, switched to a tab. Took a while to get use to but I dont see myself goin back to a glove. Feels like I have a sock on my hand when I put a glove on, LOL
Either a glove or tab will work, but if you try a tab just give it an honest try, takes a while to get use to. My favorite tab now is the Black Widow split tab. Neet makes a good tab also. Cordavon tabs are good.
I like the BW because it has the fenders to protect your fingers from rubbing on the arrow nock, I just trim the fenders down some to where they are not as floppy.

[jackdaw]

Go to three river's archery site and look up all the tabs they have for sale. They usually have direct feedback from their customers to perhaps "fill in some blanks" for you. I have been a glove shooter my whole trad carreer and I CANNOT for the life of me get used to a tab....of ANY sort. I feel as though I'm holding the bowstring back with a leather shingle...!!!!!!! LOL....And believe me, I have tried probably 15-15 of them. For split-finger configuration alot of people I know like the "cant-pinch" model with the plastic finger separator and calfhair or seal fur on the face. But....that's about all I have to offer....good luck......Jackdaw

[Cavscout9753]

Ok, so update: I went to the local archery shop, which I don't like to do for various reasons but thats a different story. All they had was the bear hair style tab, one size was all. They wanted $15 which after looking at various web sites last night seemed excessive, but I don't want to go into the whole "support the local shop" rabbit hole, suffice to say that customer loyalty is an earned thing and i'll leave it at that. It seemed very flimsy and not what I was thinking of going for. So I studied it for a few minutes and went back home. I went out to the garage and dug around, eventually finding what I was looking for - an old leather revolver holster, no idea why I own it but I do. I laid my hand on it and roughed out the general shape. Then I cut it out, which was laborious since it is thick rigid leather. Once I got it roughed out I refined it a few times adding a split to accommodate split finger shooting. Some tapering here, widening the split there, and it was looking pretty good. Once I got the shape pretty good I drilled to small holes on either side of the double finger section. I cut one of the thicker hair ties my wife uses and trimmed it. Then I inserted it into the holes and tied double overhand knots to secure it. It worked quite well and secures snuggly on my two under fingers. After test shots I had to keep little by little reducing the finger tip lengths and the bottom palm section lengths. Once the fit was finished,
My lord! Instant, and I mean instant consistency improvement! I credit the rigid leather with this as it is probably less susceptible to uneven finger pressure as something softer would be. The feeling of the draw cycle will likely take some time before it feels normal, but overall I am very pleased! I have no doubt this leather (Think rigid saddle leather) will last for a while, and when it does go now that I have a prototype, I can probably turn one out in 15 minutes. Thanks for the advice folks, I will probably buy a couple of the suggested ones to try and to keep in my bag. Thanks again!

[Wandering Archer]

Cool! That's the way to do it. Tabs are dead simple, no reason to spend $20 on a scrap sized piece of leather...