I had some experience with Safariland holsters prior to the military. I ran my Glock 22 in a 6280 light compatible holster with a belt mount. Â It was a good holster and held the weapon securely via a latching hood. Â My main complaint with this holster was that it was unable to retain the pistol sans the weapon light. Â In the end, I had to purchase another Kydex holster when I wanted to train without having to use the weapon light. I hate having to stagnate modularity.
This issued was resolved when I was issued the Safariland 6378 holster fitted for a Glock 19 with a Streamlight HL and riding on a RTI GCODE system hanger.  The body of the holster is in essence the same as my 6280, however it’s retention systems offered options that my previous model did not. The 6378 will retain the Glock 19 with or without its weapon light mounted on the weapon. Â
The RTI GCODE mounting systems also offers the user the ability to switch out weapons without having to breakdown your gun belt setup every time you want to run a different platform. The holster’s step down drop is also beneficial for me as it correlates to my arm length and the ability to maintain a clear draw when I am wearing armor.
A tertiary feature with the 6378 that I enjoy is the retention release method. Unlike my previous Safariland which required the hood release to be depressed downward and forward, the release on the 6378 simply requires a thumb driven downstroke. In my opinion, this maintains a more natural hand position after actuation of the release mechanism.
The Safariland 6378 embodies everything that I wanted in a holster initially and offers a myriad of other benefits that will be alluring to the end-user.
Author – Ross R. is currently serving in the US Military Special Operations community.