Thumb break or Open top?
Good afternoon all, I am in the hunt for a nice leather holster for my beloved Glock 19 and want to know the pros and cons of open top concealment holsters versus thumb break holsters. I was looking at the kydex holsters, but have no history on them (comfort factors, will it scratch my finish, etc.). Any suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated (even the smart ass ones (ha,ha)). Thanks for all of the input.
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Opinions will depend on what you are doing with the holster. Thumb breaks are more secure for woods carry where you might take a tumble. They are almost a fast to get gun out once you get used to them(PRACTICE)!!
Open top Kydex are secure as they lock on the trigger guard and smooth inside ones don't damage gun any worse than good leather. Depends on how many draws made. My Blade-Techs I use for compition have shown no wear after thousands of draws. They are suitable for CCW carry as they are very comfortable.
Go to a big gunshop in your area and try some holsters on.0 -
have a leather open top bianchi for my usp compact and I really like it. Only problem is I am left handed so occasionally holster tilts on my belt while putting it on and the gun has on occasion slipped out. Cured that by taking the gun out till my belt is secure. Other than that no problems. Have taken it hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting. This is the extent of my knowledge and experience, hope it helps. 0 -
The key is whatever you get...practice...practice..practice...I have a box full of holsters all of which are good quality, and I like them all but I have my favorite concealed carry holsters, 2 specific that I use for my Glock 19(my most of time concealed carry gun) when the hits the shan...muscle memory is the key
so I have a fobus which works great(its light, but sticks out and leaves an imprint of the gun when wearing soemthing light over it), but I also have a Galco S.O.B...small of the back that is leather, molded to my Glock, with an open top. It securely holds the pistol without hindering draw. I could moderately shake the holster upside down and my Glock will not "drop" out of it. I have also added a leather belt loop to it with chicago screws so that I can use it as an inside the pants holster.0 -
I use a Galco deep cover, it's leather open top w/tension screw. 0 -
Its personal preference. Whichever YOU like better is better.
Some prefer a thumb-break for the extra retention. This may be mostly psychological, since a GOOD fitted holster should offer reasonable retention anyway, but there it is.
Since your thumb naturally "goes there" when you grab the gun anyway, the break barely slows you down.
But if you need pure speed (eg for competition) forget the thumb break.
My personal take on this is comfort and concealability of the holster are more important than whether or not it has a thumb break. All else being equal, I suppose I would prefer a thumb break, but in practice, my favorite holster doesn't actually have one.
On Kydex vs leather, again. . personal preference. I like leather. . .some prefer synthetic.
Kydex holds its shape better, but can be noisier, and being harder can be a bit less comfortable.
Kydex will most likely wear the finish faster (though its going to be dependent on the exact gun, holster, etc). But ultimately ANY finish is going to wear if you are repeatedly drawing and re-holstering the gun.
On finish wear, personally, if its a gun that I am carrying concealed, I consider that a work tool, the same as a hammer or pocket knife and EXPECT it to get wear on the finish. That is, I just don't care.
In practice, guns with the modern nitride finish (eg Glocks, SIGs, Smith Melonite, etc) are fairly wear resistant.
With a Glock. . .heck, IMO those look BETTER with finish wear [;)]0 -
That was some great advise. I'm going to stick with leather and open top. And Glocks do look good with a worn finish now that it was mentioned. 0
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