Holster Numbers

How to read a Safariland holster number

A Safariland holster number is built, not assigned. Read left to right it gives you the holster, the gun it is moulded for, the finish, the hand — and sometimes the belt width.

The model block — the first four digits

The model is itself built in parts. This is the half of the number that tells you how the holster holds the gun, so it is decoded here rather than being sent elsewhere for.

What the model number will not tell you is the retention level — Safariland prints those on the duty line only, and there is an exception. Levels by model, on the retention page →

The fit code — the middle block

This is the gun, plus any light on it. It runs from two to six digits. There is no formula behind the gun numbers — Safariland assigns a code when a pistol needs one, and it takes a practised eye. The list below is the common set, and it grows every time a new pistol lands.

Common gun codes

The pattern is visible — a Gen 5 gun takes the base code with a 5 on the end — but it is a habit rather than a rule. The P320 shows it: full size became 450 and the compact 750, with nothing connecting the two.

Light codes — Safariland light numbers

The light code sits on the end of the gun code. 6360-832-411 is a Glock 17 (83) cut for a TLR-1 / X300 / M3 size light (2).

Glock: 832 is the Gen 1–4 cut and 8325 the Gen 5 cut. Gen 6 takes the 8325 holster. The same pattern runs through the other Glocks (Glock 19: 2832 / 28325).

From Safariland’s own light-code list and will-fit charts (rev. 2026). Watch for look-alikes: 836 is an X300-only code on Glock 17 Gen3/4 but also the start of the Gen6 gun code; 22 can be a finish code. Find the holster for your pistol and light →

Putting it together

A 3 on the end of the gun and light code marks the tactical version — the one that will take a leg shroud or the QAS system.

Read a fit code together with its model: the same code on the same model is the same moulded part. Type any code into the Fit Finder and it will answer from the current charts, including codes too new for any printed list.

Finish codes

The code is the colour and texture. The material comes from the series digit, not the finish code — -41 is STX Plain Black on a 6000-series holster and SafariSeven Plain Black on a 7TS one. Same code, same colour, different material.

Leather look

STX — and SafariSeven on a 7TS holster

Cordura — holsters only

Letters after the model number

• RDS / RDSO / RDSCCut for a slide-mounted red dot. RDSO is the open-bottom build, RDSC the compact one. The optic box does not change the retention system.
• DOThe earlier Doctor Optic cut, as on the 6354DO. RDS superseded it with a box that clears a much wider range of optics.
• USNLow-signature build.
• -S / -SHSentry installed; SH adds the Hood Guard.
• -VUBLVertical Universal Belt Loop installed.

Finish codes are the same table the Fit Finder decodes with, cross-checked against Safariland's published finish list. Suffixes are from Safariland's 2025 order guide.

How to read a Bianchi holster number

You can't. A Bianchi holster number is five digits and it is assigned, not constructed — it encodes no model, no finish and no size. Bianchi is the opposite of Safariland here, and reading one the Safariland way will give you a wrong answer.

• Five random digitsNo blocks to decode. 27480 tells you nothing on its own — the number has to be looked up.
• Fit groupsBecause the numbers carry no size information, Bianchi sizes its holsters with a fit group instead.
• Finding yoursThe fit group is printed on the left side of the product label, and it is the leftmost column of every table in the Bianchi order guide.
• A fit group is only true for one modelBianchi states that fit groups are not comparable between holster models. Group 01 on a model 6 is not group 01 on a model 7. Always read a group next to the model it came off.

Which is why the lookup below exists: type the five digits and it will tell you the model, the fit group, the finish, the hand and every gun Bianchi lists for it.

Bianchi publishes its own holster selector chart and an explainer on fit groups. Our lookup is built from the printed order guides, including archived editions Bianchi no longer hosts.

How to read a Blackhawk holster number

A Blackhawk number is built rather than assigned — but it is half readable. The front of it names the product line and finish, the back names the gun, and the back half only means anything once you know which line you are in.

The warning that matters most

The gun slot is only meaningful inside its own product line. Slot 00 is a Glock 17/22/31 in the SERPA lines and a Beretta 92/96 across the entire leather range. Of the slots used by more than one line, 19 of 21 disagree. Read a slot without its line and you will confidently get the wrong gun.

Even the leather lines stop agreeing after slot 00: 420001 is a Colt 5″ Gov’t and 420101 a Colt 4″ Commander.

A trailing letter changes the product

This is the one that costs money. A letter after the six digits does not decorate the number — it means you are looking at a different item entirely.

Same six digits, three unrelated products. On the accessory lines the letter is carrying the finish — C applique, P matte — which is work the colour suffix does everywhere else.

Product lines

Gun slots — SERPA CQC lines only

Valid for 4100, 4105 and 4135, which share one gun order across all three finishes. Do not carry this table into a 42xx number.

Where this comes from, and what it is not. Blackhawk publishes no decoder for its holster numbers — unlike Safariland, which documents its own. Everything above is our reading of Blackhawk’s fit chart, derived from the 366 holster numbers on it and checked line by line. It covers the SERPA, Sportster and leather families on that chart and nothing else, so a Blackhawk number from outside those lines may not follow these rules. Where our data corrects the chart, the Fit Finder says so on the part.

How to read a DeSantis holster number

A DeSantis holster number is nine characters: the style, the colour, the hand, the gun it is cut for, and a version.

Where this comes from. DeSantis’s own fit chart (October 2017 edition): 250 styles and 3,209 holster numbers. DeSantis does not publish this key; it is our reading of the chart’s numbers and its right-hand and left-hand columns. Guns added since 2017 are not in the chart.

How to read an Uncle Mike’s holster number

An Uncle Mike’s number is the holster line, the size, then a dash and the hand. Boxes and store listings drop the dash.

Where this comes from. Uncle Mike’s own 2006 catalogs and holster selection guide, plus Uncle Mike’s Law Enforcement’s store for later sizes. Many of these holsters are discontinued; the numbers still identify them.

How to read a Gould & Goodrich holster number

A Gould & Goodrich number is a colour letter, the model, a dash and the gun size — then finish, hardware and hand only if they differ from standard.

Where this comes from. Gould & Goodrich’s own will-fit chart (revised 07/20), which prints this ordering key on its back page: 66 holster and magazine-case models and 309 model sizes.

How to read a Galco holster number

A Galco number is the model letters, the gun number, then options: a red-dot cut and the colour.

Where this comes from. Galco’s own product pages (October 2026), model by model, plus dealer listings for discontinued lines: 155 gun numbers and 74 model codes. A few lines — pocket holsters, the Yaqui Slide, the Tuck-N-Go — group several guns under one number, so read the number with its model letters.