Desantis Thumb Break Scabbard – Initial Impressions

I received a Desantis Thumb break scabbard from Cabelas a couple days ago, and I have been carrying my Glock 19 in it for about 48 hours now. I’ve been looking for a leather pancake style holster for outside the waistband (OWB) carry fro some time, and I was on the fence about attempting to make one myself, or just buying one. I really wanted something with a full sweat guard, and the thumb break design gives me that, although I’m not certain that I am sold on the thumb break for carry.

Out of the box impressions:

I opened the box from Cabelas that surprisingly showed up several days before I was expecting it, as I had not received any shipping notification, or tracking info. Oh well, it was a nice surprise to get the holster sooner than expected. When I opened the box, my first impression was that the leather was very stiff. I was expecting a nice soft leather holster, and I was a little surprised with the stiffness of it. I’m sure it will soften up with time though, so no worries.

I retrieved my Glock 19 from the Crossbreed Supertuck I had been carrying it in, and stuffed it into the Desantis thumb break scabbard. Tight fit at first. I had to really press the pistol in to get it in far enough to snap the thumb break. Once in, it was quite hard to retrieve, and the draw was very tight. I had to keep telling myself that this is a leather holster, and that tight and stiff is a good thing at first, that way it will loosen in the correct spots, and really form to fit the pistol.

I’m a kydex guy, I think it is superior in almost every way to a leather holster, except the fact that leather feels much better up against my skin than kydex ever will. This is probably part of the reason I like the Crossbreed Supertuck so much, and it is why I wanted to try the Desantis thumb break scabbard.

Also, when I ordered the holster, Cabelas website showed the black leather holster with white thread. I was all ready to rub some black shoe polish on the white thread when it arrived, but much to my surprise, the holster arrived with black thread on black leather. Much better.

The holster appears to be very nice quality. The stitching looks very nicely done, and the leather is burnished very smooth around the edges. This particular holster is a 3-slot model, allowing the pistol to be carried with zero cant, or canted (I’m not sure how much cant, but I’d say somewhere around 25*). I have been carrying it canted, but I did try the zero cant position, and it carries the pistol very high on the belt, making it a little floppy. In the canted position, the pistol carries very close to the body.

2 days of carry:

I carried the pistol in the Desantis thumb break scabbard all evening last night (after work, until I went to bed) and I have had it on since 8:30am this morning, and it is about 9:00pm right now.

Yesterday the holster was still very stiff. By tonight it is starting to loosen up. The draw is starting to feel nice, and the thumb break is much easier to snap closed, because the pistol is now sitting right down into the holster where it should.

It is very comfortable for an OWB holster. It feels very much like my Crossbreed Supertuck, however it does not make my pants sag as much, as it isnt contacting my side, allowing my belt to sit on my hips. It has stayed in place quite nicely as well.

One thing I have noticed, is that the extra width of the snap on the thumb break, combined with the width of the pistol makes the rear of the slide stick out away from my body quite a bit more than carrying in the Crossbreed. With this holster, I will be required to wear a loose cover garment to keep from printing too much.

(Sorry for the dirty pistol in the above photo, but I’m one of those crazy fools that actually carries my pistol, instead of just posting about it on the internet.)

All in all, this is a pretty nice holster given the $45 price point. For my initial impression, I’ll give it a B-. The thumb break makes the holster+pistol very wide, and hard to conceal, and the zero cant position makes the holster flop away from the body. The leather appears to be nice quality, as does the stitching.

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