10 Best Sap Gloves For Self Defense: Reviews & Buying Guide Of 2018
If you don’t own a pair of sap gloves as one of your self-defense weapons, then you’ve been missing a lot.
These special gloves are made to boost your punching effectiveness. They help you to completely floor your opponent with a single serious blow, seriously.
What’s more, they’re also designed to protect your hands from the high-impact blows. So, you’ll not sustain injuries during a throw down.
To get the best sap gloves for you, you’ll have to choose from a plethora of models on the market today — with varying designs, construction materials, cost, and sizes.
You’ll even have to choose from different manufacturers!
So, how do you ensure you get the perfect pair that grants you all the benefits of sap gloves?
In this post, we’ll parade the TEN top-quality sapper gloves that allow you to pack serious punches effortlessly.
But first…
Here's the Top 10 Sap Gloves in Our List at a Glance
Image | Name | Editor's Rating | Price |
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[easyazon_image align="center" height="160" identifier="B001RAZING" locale="US" src="https://huntspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/5161U4WxniL.SL160.jpg" tag="huntspot08-20" width="160"] | |||
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Why Use Sap Gloves?
Sap gloves are one of the highly recommended weapons for self-defense.
Also known as weighted knuckles, these gloves have been used by police, club bouncers, guards, and other security professionals to enhance their punching power.
Good news is that they’re now 100% legal in most states.
Though they look like the ordinary models, these gloves bear metal plates/shots on the inside (sewn into the knuckles). The type of metal or material used tends to vary from pair to pair…some are leaded gloves, other come with steel knuckles, rubber knuckles, etc.
Now, when you throw a punch, the glove will add a significant mass to it, boosting its overall kinetic energy.
This will make your punch even more powerful, such that it sends your opponent to the floor instantly. And they won’t even know what had hit them!
Other than helping you throw lethal punches, these gloves are also designed to protect your hands from injuries that might result from punching hard surfaces.
Most of them are made of quality materials, like Kevlar, which enables them to easily resist cuts from sharp objects or even lacerations that come from landing you punch on the teeth.
You’ll also notice that some models come with an additional metal piece around the back of the hand. This will go a long way in helping defend you against blows from your opponent.
Overall, using sap gloves gives you an upper hand that you won’t get when using your bare hands/fists.
Our Best Sap Glove Picks:
1. Hatch Operator Shorty Glove:
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The Hatch Operator Shorty Glove is one of the best-quality sap gloves you can get at a reasonable cost. It scores highly in terms of quality and workmanship. The glove features a durable construction of the high-performance Kevlar and Nomex that can withstand the roughest use.
The leather palm is also sewn using Nomex thread that’s resistant to heat and abrasion, taking its durability a step higher.
It also features a patented Cut-Ring design that ensures optimal removal of your under finger without necessarily unraveling the remaining edge. This special design comes handy when you’re carrying out other tasks with your hand, say when controlling your gun trigger.
Thanks to the elasticized wrist, this pair of gloves will snugly fit around your hands for maximum comfort and protection.
And oh! It comes in a variety of sizes and colors (Black, Sage Green, Foliage Green, and Coyote Tan), so you’ll find something that matches your specific interests and needs.
Highlighted Features:
2. FREETOO Tactical Gloves Military Rubber Hard Knuckle Outdoor Gloves:
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The FREETOO Hard Knuckle Outdoor Gloves are also durably constructed. This suits the pair for self-defense use as well as handling the toughest outdoor activities — including camping, hunting, shooting. You can use them as outdoor gloves, motorcycle, work gloves, and tactical gloves.
The heavy-duty pair comes fully dedicated to protecting your hands from all forms of abrasion and scratching when striking hard surfaces. The protective knuckle padding is seamlessly molded into the gloves so that they remain in place for maximum comfort.
For extra comfort, the wrist part is made using a special soft-chafe-free material to keep of discomforts when rubbing against the wrist skin.
The fact that materials used to construct these gloves are breathable makes the pair suitable for use in the hot weather as well as in the mild winter conditions.
To make the gloves suitable for handling all your outdoor activities, they offer you excellent grip-ability. That is, they come with dual-layer synthetic leather palm with anti-skid gridding for easy gripping of things
And oh! The pair comes with a quality guarantee in terms of at around 3 months warranty. This acts as enough assurance of the quality and value you’ll get from these gloves at an incredibly low cost.
Highlighted Features:
3. Damascus ATX95 All-Leather Gloves with Knuckle Armor, Large:
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This All-Leather Gloves with Knuckle Armor is proudly manufactured by Damascus Protective Gear. This is a leading manufacturer of quality enforcement gear for military, law enforcement, etc.
Similar to our previous pair of gloves, these too are made using incredibly durable leather material that’s resistant to abrasion, cuts. This qualifies the gloves for multi-use, in addition to self-defense.
The reinforced palm panels ensure the extra durability of these gloves.
Each glove comes integrated with 4 hard knuckles that add mass to your punches, increasing the overall effectiveness of punches you throw at a self-defense situation.
We also can’t fail to mention the ergonomic design of this pair of gloves as it ensures a contour tight and flexible fit.
The pull tab allows you to easily put on or remove the gloves when not in use.
Don’t forget that this glove is ideal for folks with Large hand size (for the same glove with a smaller size, refer to our 8th sap gloves review).
Highlighted features:
4. Hatch Street Guard Glove w/Kevlar:
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These gloves also work as general duty gloves. They’re made using incredibly durable materials which enable them to last longer with regular use than most of the competition.
The KEVLAR interlock knit liner, in particular, offers your hands excellent protection against cuts and sharp objects.
The gloves also come with a synthetic leather palm with Extreme-Grip non-slip patches to offer you a surefire grip as well as positive weapon control.
When worn, the gloves feel incredibly lightweight in your hands. They also don’t get hot/warm during the hot summer months, making them some of the most comfortable pair of sap gloves ever made.
Best of all, these street guard gloves come with hook and loop closure system for easy on/off.
Highlighted features:
5. JIUSY Tactical Gloves Military Fingerless Hard Rubber Knuckle Half Finger Gloves:
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If you’re looking for the best fingerless sap gloves, you can’t go wrong with the JIUSY Tactical Gloves. For your info, this is a genuine pair of tactical gloves sold by JISUY.
The most notable thing about these gloves is their molded hard rubber shell knuckles. Needless to mention, these will help protect your hands against impact or abrasion. In addition to that, they’ll boost your punching power. You’ll also love the reinforced palm section as it adds extra protection to your hands.
Something else you’ll love about these gloves is that they come with a nicely stitched breathable material. This prevents your hands from feeling hot and soaking in sweat inside the gloves. The adjustable wrist design further enhances your comfort by ensuring a snug fitting design.
Similar to all the other gloves we’ve discussed so far, the pair also boasts of quality construction. That is, the gloves are constructed from a quality blend of breathable nylon plus high-performance microfiber material.
Highlighted features:
6. HWI KLD100 Kevlar Lined Duty Gloves, Black:
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HWI KLD100 Kevlar Lined Duty Gloves has more to offer than just the classic look and feel. They’re designed using high-grade aniline goatskin leather material which makes them extremely tough and resistant to durable.
In addition to that, they also come with Kevlar® liner which offers your hands full protection against cuts and impact whenever you hit hard surfaces.
When it comes to comfort, these gloves don’t disappoint. They come with a contour cut design which translates to a more natural fit around your hands. Moreover, they come with hook and loop closure system which ensures a more snug fit.
And just like all the other gloves featured on this list, this pair also comes in various sizes to let you choose a pair that best fits your hands.
Highlighted Features:
7. Hatch Dura-Thin Search Glove:
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The Hatch Dura-Thin Search Glove enjoys its position as one of the most popular law enforcement sap gloves of all time. It’s constructed using soft, 'second skin' thin cowhide leather. This material provides your hands with excellent feel and dexterity when performing different activities with these gloves.
The unlined gloves also come with wrist length, elasticized cuff which translates to a super-snug fit around your hands. What’s more, these gloves do not interfere with your shirt or jacket cuff when you wear them.
However, you’ll have to give these gloves time to break in (as it’s the case with all the other genuine leather products). Once the break-in is over, your hand will feel pretty comfortable in them. Also, putting them on or off will get much easier.
Highlighted Features:
8. Damascus ATX95 All-Leather Gloves with Knuckle Armor, Medium:
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We previously discussed another product from the respected Damascus Protective Gear company, right? Our 8th position goes to yet another product from the brand — the ATX95 All-Leather Gloves with Knuckle Armor.
This glove is the same as its cousin, except that it comes with a smaller (Medium) size.
It is designed as an all-purpose, year-round pair of gloves to help you carry a wide range of activates easily and safely. It provides you with hard knuckles to help increase your punching power while keeping your knuckles safe during hand combat.
The reinforced palm panels further enhance the durability of these gloves.
Like its cousin, this pair also comes with an ergonomic design to offer you a contoured tight and flexible fit.
And the incorporated pull tab facilitates easy on and off.
Highlighted Features:
9. Hatch Defender II Gloves w/Steel Shot, Black, Medium:
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For those looking for steel knuckle gloves for self-defense, we recommend you to buy Hatch Defender II Gloves w/Steel Shot. It comes with up to 4 ounces of steel shot in all the eight fingers. The will help you throw more powerful punches that stop aggressors right in their tracks.
Regarding quality, these palm sections are made using double-layered goatskin leather. This ensures maximum durability of the gloves. The backs are also made using breathable spandex materials for comfort and elasticity, so they perfectly fit your hands.
The fact that the fingers are also fully padded takes your comfort to a whole new level when wearing these gloves.
The Velcro hook and loop closure system will grant you a more snug fit.
Best part? This is the most advanced pair of sap gloves you can find on the market today. It even comes with a lifetime warranty to act as an assurance of its quality and performance.
Highlighted Features:
10. TitanOPS Full Finger Hard Knuckle Outdoor Gloves:
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The TitanOPS Full Finger Hard Knuckle Outdoor Gloves incorporate polymer hard knuckles on the four fingers of each glove. These are sure to enhance your striking power while protecting your knuckles when you strike the hardest parts of your opponent’s body.
The gloves also come with reinforced palms as well as fingertips to make them suitable for carrying out a wide range of other activities — like hunting, outdoors, riding, tactical training, cosplay, airsoft, cycling, and so much more.
The blend of materials used to construct these gloves is warm and highly breathable to keep your hands comfortable. The adjustable wrist strap ensures maximum grip, flexibility, and warmth.
The gloves are also extremely easy to wash (safe for machine wash) and dries pretty quickly.
Highlighted Features:
How To Buy The Right Sap Gloves For You?
Buying the right sap gloves for you can be a challenge if you don’t know what to look for when making a selection.
Below, we outline a number of factors that the best sap gloves must meet to ensure they’ll serve their intended purposes.
Durability
The best pair of sap gloves for you should feature construction of top-quality materials in addition to excellent workmanship.
Sap gloves made from genuine leather tend to show a greater level of durability. They tend to last long with regular use. And they easily resist cuts and abrasions, even when used to handle the toughest tactical, outdoor activities out there.
Make sure the material used to design your sap gloves is wear-resistant and can stand the test of time with regular use.
Protection
You should make sure the pair of gloves you settle in are dedicated to protecting your hands and knuckles.
As you’ve seen from our review above, most of the today’s sap gloves are meant for carrying out a wide range of activities in addition to self-defense.
With that in mind, you’d want to look for gloves with a padded finger for protection.
They should also come with hard knuckles, say lead filled gloves (though any other metal or material can do) to ensure your hands don’t get injured when you knock out someone or when you hit a hard surface.
Comfort
How the gloves feel in your hand is another important consideration when looking for the ideal pair of sap gloves.
The best gloves should feel lightweight in your hands. They should also be breathable to prevent your hands from feeling too hot during the hot weathers.
Some models even come with an ergonomic cut design to give you a natural fit that further enhances your comfort.
Grip-ability
Because you’d need to use your gloves to hold things or carry out various tasks, you might also want to ensure that they come with a surefire grip.
Check the fingers and palm section of your gloves. Do they come with grippy/textured surface? If yes, this means they’ll offer you a surefire grip when carrying out other activities, like hunting, shooting, weapon control, cycling, riding, etc.
It can be very annoying to wear gloves that feel slippery when doing manual tasks.
Size
The last factor you’ll need to look for when buying your sap gloves is the size they come with.
You should focus on getting a pair that snugly fits around your hands. This will make it feel comfortable in your hands while ensuring it does its intended job well.
How to determine the right size for you?
Well, if you already know your hand size that will be easy and fast. If not, you’ll need to obtain your hand size first as explained below:
Once you get your hand size, use the chart below to determine the right glove size for you:
Directions:
1. Using the ruler, measure one of your leather gloves. Get the distance from an inch above the knuckles to the middle joint of all the fingers on the glove. Next, measure the width of each finger for the four fingers only (and not the thumb).
2. Using the measurements obtained above, cut leather strips from the leather sheets. The sheets you use should bear the same color as your gloves. Use your pair of fabric scissors to cut up to 8 strips, 4 for each glove.
3. Now place the strips on top of your glove fingers, one at a time. With the help of a sewing machine, attach the pieces to the gloves on 3 sides. Leave the side above the knuckles open such that you form a pocket.
4. The final step involves installing metal powder in the pocket you’ve just formed in the previous step. Around 8oz. of metal powder will do. You can choose lead, steel, or iron powder.
After you’ve filled the ‘pockets’ with your preferred metal powder, seal them opening using a sewing machine to prevent the powder from spilling out.
That’s it! Now you've got a pair of sap or weighted knuckle gloves that will add force to your punches as well as keep your hands safe from any harm.
Sap Gloves vs. Brass Knuckles
We’ve discussed so much about sap gloves. So, let’s see what brass knuckles entail…
The brass knuckles— or brass knucks, knuckledusters, knuckle-busters, knuckles, knucks — refers to a weapon that features pieces of metal designed to fit around your knuckles.
Though their name suggests that they’re made of brass, you can also find knuckles made from other types of metals, or even carbon fibers and plastic.
Like sap gloves, brass knuckles are also a self-defense weapon meant for hand to hand combat.
The weapon is meant to preserve and concentrate your punch force by directing it to a smaller and harder contact area.
Brass knuckles can cause fatal injuries or hurt your opponent on impact. This is unlike the sap gloves which are less dangerous and do not harm your opponent in any way.
Because of their categorization as dangerous weapons, brass knuckles are illegal in most states.
So, before attempting to use the brass knuckle, you’d want to ensure the weapon is legal in your country so that you don’t fall on the wrong side of the law.
Again, you don’t want to use brass knuckles and end up inflicting injury on someone and getting yourself into problems.
In our opinion, we recommend you to stick to sap glove as they’ll do less or no damage and also offer protection to your hands. You can even find brass knuckle gloves that are more like the brass knuckles.
Moreover, sap gloves are legal in nearly all states.
Final Verdict
So, these are our TEN best sap gloves that you can get on the market today.
As a quick reminder, sap gloves are specially designed to increase your punching effectiveness. They lend you an upper hand that helps you easily knock down an opponent. Besides, they help keep your hands safe from any form of injury during the punching.
Clearly, sap gloves are among the best self-defense weapons you can invest in today.
Order the perfect size of gloves for you from the 10 top models we’ve outlined for you in this post, and get ready to build your reputation as a Power Puncher!