Lawful Carry: Safariland Model 6378 ALS Paddle Holster

When purchasing a holster for defensive use, the holster must be able to accomplish several things.

First, consider what you will be doing while wearing the holster. If you’re carrying a gun all day, every day, either as a law-abiding citizen or a plainclothes officer, you want a holster that blends in, especially if you’re carrying the firearm concealed. If you choose to wear in the open, a thigh-drop is not going to work very well. And in either scenario, you need a holster that’s comfortable or you won’t want to put it on every day.

You also need a holster that retains your pistol securely to keep it from falling out during strenuous activity.

Safariland Model 6378 ALS Paddle Holster with XD .45 ACP

Finally, while you obviously need to be able to draw the pistol easily, you also need to re-holster easily. I have seen holsters that are so flimsy—or flatten out after the gun is drawn—that you can’t re-holster when you need to. For a peace officer, this may be after a suspect has surrendered and you go hands-on to search and handcuff. For a private citizen, it may be that the situation is under control and you have wisely decided that it would not be a good idea to have a pistol in your hand when law enforcement arrives.

Recently I received a holster for my XD .45 ACP that meets all of the above criteria. The holster is Safariland’s Model 6378 ALS Paddle Holster.

Upon initial inspection of the holster, I was impressed with its overall construction. Made of a Kydex-type material, the holster is injection molded for each specific model of handgun, so that it fits like a glove.

ALS release lever is pulled rearward with the thumb.

The Model 6378 is a concealment version of the all-new Automatic Locking System (ALS) series holster. The holster is a paddle design that rides close to the body, with a slightly forward weapon cant. When the weapon is holstered, the ALS snaps into place, providing an extra measure of security than standard open-top holsters.

In order to release the weapon, obtain a firing grip, use your thumb to pull back the release lever, and draw the weapon straight up and out. The outside of the holster is dehorned and has a tension screw below the trigger that will allow the user to control how tight the drawstroke will be. As the holster is broken in, the tension can be tightened if necessary.

I wonder, however, if the user’s thumb would be rubbed raw when taking the holster through a multiple-day pistol class, where he might make numerous presentations over the duration of the class. This is not an indictment of the Model 6378, just an observation.

The inside of the holster has a soft suede lining to help protect the gun from hard and unnecessary holster wear. As a side note, while I don’t mind seeing some good, honest holster wear, if you can protect the gun’s finish a little longer, why not do so? The holster has a front sight track to help keep your sights from snagging while drawing the pistol.

Holster is suede-lined and has a front sight track.

One of the best things about the Model 6378 is its ability to change from being a paddle-style holster to a belt-slide holster. Long-time readers know that paddle holsters are not at the top of my “go to” list, as they can be ripped from the user’s pants during a struggle. However, the back of the paddle on the 6378 has a plastic hook that will help keep the holster from riding up and help keep the gun on the pant/belt in the event of a snatch attempt.

The back of the holster has two Allen screws that screw directly into the body of the holster. The paddle unscrews and the belt-slide screws on or vice versa. Having the suede on the inside of the holster also keeps the female side of the screw on the holster at all times, which makes fitting the paddle or belt-slide a little easier.

A comforting thing about this holster, being an open-top design, is that after the gun is drawn and it is time to re-holster, the gun slides back in with an audible click. The ALS locks it back in place.

Before I received the Model 6378 for evaluation, I was talking with an officer who just happened to have this very holster. She was very helpful in telling me about how well the holster was holding up. My department requires officers to have a Level 2 security holster, and this holster meets the requirement.

I was impressed with both the ease of use and the overall quality of the Safariland Model 6378 ALS Paddle Holster and will not hesitate to use it to protect my life and those of my loved ones.