Safariland 6354RDS Holster Overview

Safariland Holster Overview

Safariland is the most common holster on the market that offers multiple forms of retention for your pistol. Now, if you go to Safariland's website looking for the holster that is right for you, or other locations, other websites, it may be a little bit difficult to try and figure out which holster model from Safariland is best for you.

If you guys are aware of how we do things here at T.REX ARMS for our retail side of things, we try to curate products for you guys. So what that means is we try to go to something like Safariland holsters, pick out the one, two, maybe three SKUs that they offer that we think is best for our customer base. And that is exactly what we did with the Safariland holsters that we sell.

So we have the 6354 RDS, and this is a holster, like I said, that has multiple forms of retention. So if you put your pistol into the Safariland holster, not only is it retained by some friction on the holster itself, it's not gonna come out unless you disengage a button. So if that is a capability that you're looking to have on your kit, this is gonna be the holster for you.

What's in the Box

Now, what you get with the holster out of the packaging is going to look something just like this. So you're going to have the QLS fork mounted onto the holster. You're going to have a guard that protects the locking mechanism on the holster. And you're also going to have a cover for the optic.

Other than that, that's basically all you're gonna get with the holster. And obviously you can take all of these parts off. This optic cover comes right off if you don't want it, just by peeling it off. And then just a couple of screws will remove this hood out of the way if you don't want that in the way of the button, which I would recommend taking off.

And if you wanna put your optic cover back on, it's pretty simple. It just snaps back on, as long as you snap it in the right hole. And you're good to go.

Key Features

Now, talking about the features of the holster, other than just the second form of retention that this holster offers, everything else is pretty much similar to your standard Kydex holster. On the back of the holster, you do have this little screw mechanism here that is going to adjust that retention feel of the holster. So even after you're disengaged with the button, you still may feel some friction with your gun in the holster. And if you want to adjust that, you just simply loosen or tighten that.

Now, this holster is a little unique, comparatively to other Kydex holsters, aside from the additional form of retention. And that is because it's kind of like a bucket. So you can fit multiple different sizes of handguns into one holster.

Fit Testing With Different Handguns

So what we got going on with this holster, we have a Glock 34 holster, so a pretty long one. And we have all Glocks that aren't 34s here on the table.

So what we got going on first, we have a Glock 17 with the TLR1. Goes in the holster quite nicely. Doesn't really move around all that much.

Glock 17 with an X300 goes in there quite nice. Doesn't move around all that much.

And now we have a Glock 19 with a TLR7. Also goes in there. So as you can see, if you have a smaller gun than what the holster is designed for — as in a Glock 19 in a Glock 34 holster — you are going to have a little bit of movement, but it's still gonna be retained and engaged. It's just going to bounce around a little bit.

Now, another thing this holster can do, though it doesn't do it all that well, is take pistols without lights. This is a light-bearing holster. So this is a Glock 17, no optic, no light. Clicks in there, it's just fine. Just the index is a little bit difficult. It can get stuck and can feel a little catchy.

So if you are going to run a pistol without a light in one of these holsters, just keep that in mind. And I will say some Safariland model holsters — like MMPs, 320s, and other ones — that are for a light, and you try to use that firearm without a light in the holster, it may be a little bit more difficult than what I'm demonstrating here with the Glocks.

And the same thing goes for the Glock 19 — a very small gun in a very large holster with no light. Still retains the same, just with a little bit of movement.

Available Upgrades

Now that we talked about all of the features of the holster, let's talk about some of the upgrades that we offer for this guy.

NubMod

First and foremost, we have the NubMod. This is just a button that you can buy on the website. It's aluminum, and it goes over the factory button that comes with the holster. It doesn't change anything — it's just a direct bolt-on attachment that makes the button a lot bigger.

So one thing to note about these types of holsters: if you've never trained with a holster with this sort of retention, it does take a little bit of practice just making sure you get the button and get that disengagement going properly. But the NubMod makes that draw much easier because the button is just a lot bigger — it's just a lot more difficult to miss. A lot of times when we go for the factory-size button on the holster, we dismiss it or we don't engage it all the way, and like I said, this guy just makes it a little bit easier.

Ghostmen Designs Portal

Now, moving on to the bottom of the holster, we want to talk about the two pieces that are kind of attached at the bottom here. So we have a little portal here for the flashlight and we also have one for your muzzle.

Now, in some cases, things can get into your holster and get stuck at the bottom of this hole here — like a shell casing or a rock or something like that. And if it's in there, you're not going to be able to re-engage or reinsert your pistol into the holster because there's gonna be an obstruction in the way, basically.

So one thing that we sell from Ghostmen Designs is a portal. That just allows you to take out the factory plug, put one in that has a hole in it, but still prevents the pistol from going through the holster, or the flashlight from going all the way through the holster. So if something does fall into your holster, it's less likely to get stuck.

OT Defense Barrel Plugs

The last couple of things that we sell are from OT Defense, and there's gonna be various different barrel plugs for your holster. One of which is going to be for threaded barrels — it just basically extends the length of the holster.

If you do have a threaded barrel — say you get a Glock 17 holster, and you have a Glock 17 with a threaded barrel — it's not gonna go into the holster without either removing this piece completely (which is definitely an option; you don't necessarily need that piece in the holster) or going with the OT Defense option.

And there is another one as well from OT Defense that you can put in there. So if you are running a Glock 34 holster but you're primarily using something like a Glock 19, it will eliminate the wobble of the gun in the holster.

So just keep those upgrade options in mind when you're purchasing one of these holsters.

Attaching the Holster to Your Body

And lastly, the only thing we need to talk about is how to attach the holster to your body. So like I said, when you get it out of the packaging, you're going to have a fork on the holster, but you're going to need something else to be able to attach this to you. I mean, I guess if you get creative, you can make it work, but we would definitely recommend using some appropriate other pieces of equipment to properly secure the firearm to your body.

So our favorite is the CUBL. This is a mid-ride holster attachment. So you'll need to purchase one of these with the QLS receiver. And then we would recommend getting one of our thrash caps as well, just to make sure the pistol doesn't shift around. And all you're going to do from there is click it into place, and you're good to go.

Now, we do have a couple other options, like some mid-rides and things like that, that will just make the pistol sit up higher on your waistline. But this one is not only in a very good location for a better draw, but it's also good for attaching to belts much better than the other options that we sell.

Build Quality

Other than that, just a couple more notes about the holster that I should have mentioned earlier. These holsters are wrapped in a fabric — so these are not just a plain Kydex finish. They are wrapped so they're not going to have a glare or anything like that. They do look good.

And then on the inside, there's going to be a felt material that's going to help protect your firearm from any scratches or anything like that. So these are very well-designed, very well-purpose-built holsters that have a very, very good reputation. They are definitely the most common holster for law enforcement and military, for people who need that additional means of retention.

And they are just very satisfying overall. When you insert your pistol, it's just a very nice click that goes in. And they're honestly just kind of fun to fiddle with.

So if you're looking for a holster that has that additional form of retention, be sure to check out the Safariland holster. And if you guys have any questions about this — any of the hardware or anything like that — go ahead and shoot an email to [email protected].