I am getting ready to order holsters for my new blaster and I’m trying to find what works.
I’m wanting to stick with Safariland’s ALS holsters if at all possible. I’m pretty sure that there is no holster that will work off the shelf with a 1911, dawson rail and X300. That being said I may try modifying one.
What about just the bare gun? Will a Gov’t model with the dawson work in a ALS holster meant for a standard 1911?
Obligatory blaster pic:
Ek
from 10-8’s website (see the bold comment): http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=10096#Post10096
For your convenience, here are some part numbers for the ubiquitous Safariland 6004 for various 1911s with light rails.
6004-538-xxx 1911 w/ Dawson Rail or SureFire MR07 and SureFire Military Light
6004-530-xxx 1911 w/ SureFire MR07 Mount and X200
6004-5340-xxx Kimber Warrior/TLE, Springfield Operator, Wilson CQB and SureFire X200
6004-5621-xxx Kimber Warrior/TLE, Springfield Operator, Wilson CQB w/ ITI M3 or M6. Also works Dawson Rail w/ X200.
6004-56-xxx Kimber Warrior/TLE, Springfield Operator, Wilson CQB without any lights
6004-533-xxx 1911 with SureFire Classic 310R or SureFire MR07 and X200
6004-536-xxx 1911 with SureFire Classic 610R
6004-5322-xxx Caspian Bolt-on Rail with ITI M6x
Note the last three digits designate color and handedness. The first two digits of this series pertain to color:
12 Black
51 Woodland
52 Day Desert
54 OD/Ranger Green
55 Coyote/FDE Brown
The last digit of the series pertain to handedness.
1 Right Hand
2 Left Hand
Thus, a 6004 for a Dawson Railed 1911 with Military Light, Coyote/FDE, in right hand configuration would be 6004-538-551.
Keep in mind not all 6004 holsters are available directly from Safariland in the 6280 configuration. The 6280 is available in the following configurations:
6280-5340-xxx Kimber Warrior/TLE, Springfield Operator, Wilson CQB and SureFire X200
6280-5621-xxx Same guns above w/ ITI M3 or M6. Also works with the MR07 Mount with X200 or Dawson Rail with X200.
6280-56-xxx Same guns as above without any lights.
Even if the holster is only available in 6004 configuration, it can be adapted to a belt holster via the Universal Belt Loop. The UBL’s are available in the following configuration:
6070UBL Mid Ride Duty
6075UBL Duty 1.5" Drop
6280UBL Mid Ride Duty Classic Style (Safarilaminate with hex screws to secure belt), 2 1/4" Sam Browne Belt
6285UBL Same as above with 1.5" drop
Accessories:
6001 SLS Sentry
For duty, I’ve been using the 6001 SLS Sentry switch that converts the 6004 to a Level III retention holster. It consists of a switch that must be deactivated in order to rotate the hood of the SLS system down and forward. The way I use it is I leave it unlatched (defeated) 99% of the time, but quickly latch it if I am going to do a bar check or if I’m about to go hands on.
6000 Hood Guard
The hood guard helps prevent the SLS system from being defeated from the front of the holster. Not sure if I like this, but YMMV.
I’ve got the 10-8 articles bookmarked. 
Appreciate it but I’m really after the ALS.
Ek
Awesome reply Janitor! That is why I love this site, thanks for the info!
sorry Ek, i thought the als would be the same fit (at the light area as the 6004). looks like they got nowhere near the listings they do for the 6004
good luck. looks like the 2year wait was worth it. Beautiful axiom
EK, try this ALS for the X300 mounted. It is designated for the Kimber Gold RL, but should work.
6378-56-411
For concealment, I carry my Springer Pro w/Dawson in a MS Summer Special. It took a little bit to get to work, but works fine now.
Check out Kevin Boland’s (KevinB) posts on the board or PM him. He uses or has used both the Dawson and Novak rails with Safariland holsters.
Thanks for the pointer dude.
Ek
EK, I need warning before seeing something that pretty. My wife still can’t understand why I fell silent for five minutes drooling on myself.
My MS VM2 actually didn’t require much work to start playing along with my Dawson Railed TRS, so that should work pretty easily.
As far as running the gun skinny with an ALS holster - I really don’t know… The standard railed dust cover unit should be close, but it might be worth giving Safariland a call directly, or maybe going through Diamondback Tactical and seeing if they’ll make a custom order (it was around 5 years ago now, but DBT was able to custom order me the 6004-538-521 MCSOCOM unit, and I got it within three weeks)
If SureFire can pull a rabbit out of the hat and make their 3V pistol light come out, the Dawson adapted version of that should be the defacto ‘it’ option for any DP railed pistol; as it is running an ALS I figure you might as well run the X300, the width added from the ALS mounting mechanism (UBL, MOLLE adapted, or on the leg shroud) that little bit thicker the light makes it will be small in comparison to the offset against you it makes).
citadelshooter and TehLlama, when you say it took little work to make your Milt Sparks holsters work with your pistols was it just lots of presentations or was there some mods you needed to do?
Thank you,
nick
Franco, just took time. It was not as tightly molded as my Kramer. It just worked after a while.
Sorry for the late reply, but yes, that’s essentially what I did for mine as well after Hilton Yam’s advice that it would in fact fit.
Storing it for a little while with a thick plastic bag over the pistol helps a tiny bit for getting it broken in faster, and keeping the holster somewhere warm and a bit moist seemed to help that process along a little, but those were the closest things to modifications I did.
The stitchwork at the bottom right against the dust cover will seem strained during a lot of the initial presentations, but don’t worry, it’ll work in and you’ll have a perfectly solid VM2 still after it; it’ll still work great for any non-DP rail pistols as well.
Rusty Sherrick makes holsters specifically for 1911s with lights, and his products are very well made and high in quality.
http://www.c-rusty.com/pages/holsters/tacticallite.html
He also offers two more holsters on this page for 1911s with rails.
http://www.c-rusty.com/pages/holsters/vertbelt.html
Turns out this isn’t a biggy.
Items required:
1x 1911 w/ Dawson rail
1x Safariland 6378-53-xxx holster
1x Allen wrench (Provided by Safariland. You DID read those instructions didn’t you?)
1x Material removal device (File, knife, BELTSANDER 
)
To make a fairly snug fit Safariland has a small plastic spacer installed in this holster, it is molded of plastic and serves two functions. The first function is to serve as a stop against which the trigger guard can rest against limiting the insertion of the firearm. The second function is to limit play between the gun and the holster through pressure against the pistol’s dust cover. By removing a wee bit of material from this insert it is possible to fit the holster for a dawson-equipped gun.
Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture before whacking away at the insert but it weren’t rocket science.
Now to find a 1911/ X300 friendly ALS holster that I can violate…
Ek