In the gun industry, there’s a way of confirming if a concept is actually a trend on a legitimate upswing or if it’s just a fad: look at who is supporting the trend. Once the big boys are on board it’s safe to say that the new concept is here to stay. The trend of the day is red dot sight equipped pistols (referred to as RDS pistols going forward). I have been a card-carrying member of the RDS pistol crowd for almost 3 years. I was originally exposed to the concept by open class USPSA shooters and eventually, I took the plunge for both my defensive and competition guns. As the concept increases in efficacy and popularity, we are seeing more and more supporting gear. Law enforcement has been increasingly interested in this sighting solution on duty pistols, but the compatible duty ready retention holsters have been extremely limited. Safariland’s new offering the 6390RDS ALS solves this problem. Safariland has been making what many consider to be the quintessential active retention holster for years and now they are making a uniform ready option compatible with multiple optics and configurations.

My time with the rig has been overwhelmingly positive. I have had experience with Safariland’s ALS rigs in the past and they have an easy learning curve and provide excellent retention. My example was a Glock 34 length holster with a surefire x300U. I used a G34 MOS and a G17 cut by CNC holsters with an attached TBRCi compensator in the rig which in the past was not possible with other offerings without modification.

The fit is exactly what is needed in this type of holster. Positive engagement with the device when holstering and fast deployment when the retention device is deactivated. The best thing about the ALS is that it is designed to be deactivated intuitively when getting a master grip on the pistol. If more retention is your thing Safariland offers a level 3 option that includes both the ALS and SLS hood, this can be beneficial for officers or security agents whose employers require a level 3 option. For my purposes, this holster gets top marks in fit and retention.

As far as durability the holster also gets top marks. I used the rig in a Sage Dynamics defensive handgun course class as a student, taught by none other than US Army Ranger and Spotterup writer Jon Dufrense and turned around the next weekend and taught a rifle class with Jon. Through both exercises, I put the holster to the dirt with regularity and there were no major issues. The holster functioned well clean, dirty, wet, and everywhere in between. The only issue I experienced was with the flimsy plastic hood that keeps dirt and water off the RMR. It kept falling off.  It’s really not a problem though because the RDS is already well shielded by the holster body. I actually permanently removed mine.

Wear and mounting is also a huge concern for a holster and this again receives top marks. The 6930rds is compatible with every duty style mount that Safariland makes. Mine came with the standard UBL and it was at the right height for my uses. If I was wearing armor I’d likely go with a low ride as I find leg rigs to be a suboptimal way to deploy a handgun. I did need to mount a foam pad on the UBL since I am skinny and the holster body banged into my hip bone a few times. I could remedy this by buying Safariland UBL pad but I went for the more expedient fix.

At the end of the day, this holster is a fantastic duty ready option for an RDS pistol that fits both the Trijicon and Leupold Deltapoint. It’s not an oddball custom one off and it doesn’t require user mods to fit popular configurations. I highly recommend this rig if you are looking for an active retention holster for duty, or any other outside the waistband carry It is absolutely the king of the castle, like its other Safariland holster brothers.

Material Disclosure

I received this product as a courtesy from the manufacturer via Spotter Up so I could test it and give my honest feedback. I am not bound by any written, verbal, or implied contract to give this product a good review. All opinions are my own and are based off my personal experience with the product.

*The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Spotter Up Magazine, the administrative staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.