When the new Safariland Schema holster arrived at TTAG HQ it definitely caught our eye. Skeletonized and minimalist, it was unlike other holsters. Luckily, the sample that had arrived for testing was designed for a SIG SAUER P365XL, which meant I was the easy choice for putting it through its paces.
Though I wasn’t a fan for the longest time, I’ve been almost exclusively carrying in the appendix position (AIWB) since early spring. Adding almost nothing to the footprint of the firearm makes the Schema a great candidate for appendix carry.
Minimalist though it is, the Schema still offers adjustability and is well suited to most any sort of IWB carry. Its hooked belt clip is highly adjustable for both height and cant, rotating to effectively any angle you might like plus moving up and down about half an inch.
A removable wing next to the belt clip helps to rotate the pistol’s grip in towards your body, reducing printing and aiding in concealment.
Next to the extremely skeletonized design, the other standout unique feature on the Schema, also visible in the photo above, is the barrel post. This rod indexes loosely into the barrel of your carry gun. It keeps the business end of the pistol securely in place, without requiring the holster to wrap entirely around the slide and add width to the package.
On the left side, however, there’s a little more holster on top of the slide to protect you from the gun and it from you.
I’ve always said that, for IWB carry, I want my holster to add as little width to the firearm as possible. I’ve chosen a slim gun to make concealed carrying easier and more comfortable, and I don’t want a holster doubling the width of what I’m putting inside my waistband.
Clearly, the Safariland Schema excels here. Outside of a couple holsters that cover literally nothing more than the trigger guard, or those things that are nothing more than a pocket clip that attaches on the frame or slide, this bad boy adds less to the thickness or overall footprint of the gun than perhaps any other holster I’ve used.
At the same time, it flares out to cover the magazine release and slide stop, creating a slightly enlarged mouth that makes it easy to holster the pistol one-handed. It’s stiff, too, so the holster will stay open inside of your belt even when empty.
After carrying my optics-equipped P365XL in the Schema for about six weeks now I have less to say than you might think. It does exactly what it’s supposed to and it does it well. There’s very little for me to nitpick.
The Schema fits my SIG perfectly and offers precisely the right amount of retention on the trigger guard. It’s easy to holster the pistol and it’s smooth to draw it. I adjusted the belt clip around and found the ideal height and angle for my gun in my clothes in my AIWB position.
Concealment is great and comfort is solid. Fit and finish are very good.
If you own a sub-compact Glock, Shadow Systems, SIG, Springfield, or Taurus pistol and you carry right-handed, there may already be a Safariland Schema for it and I recommend it without hesitation. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t.
MSRP: $39.99
Ratings (out of five stars):
Overall * * * *
The Schema is a fantastic holster. Cool, too, and it’s cool in a functional way, which is hard to do. It’s shy of 5 stars for me mainly because I’d like adjustable retention on it. While I found the retention to be spot-on, I know some people like a little more. Also, it isn’t available for very many firearm models and it’s only available in right-hand flavor (I assume the pistol compatibility list will grow if the holster sells well). For my purposes, though, it checks all the boxes and is now my go-to AIWB holster for my P365XL.
I want one. I need one. I want one now. So where may I get me one ?!?!?!?
Internet.
Let yer fingers do the walking…
No sweat shield is a deal breaker for me.
Same here. Kydex or plastic on skin is no bueno. I’ll stick with Alien Gear.
Agreed…Been using Alien Gear for both my 9mm Shield and Ruger P89 for several years now. Just bought a new ankle holster for the Shield. Haven’t had a chance to wear it out in the world yet. Fits and feels good messing around the homestead.
Yeah, I want kydex there to keep sweat off the gun, it is plenty thin enough. I am a strong side carry guy anyway especially after the first time I sat down while trying out an apendex type holster I just bought!
I’ve tried appendix carry, didn’t like it. “You’ll get used to it, its great!” they said, “Its very fast for presentation, if you have practiced enough.” they said, “it can be very comfortable with the right holster.” they said. So I got the compacts out, one being a Sig P365, and embarked on the journey to discover appendix carry being all ‘they’ said and luckily I had a source for appendix carry holsters between what my brother could get me from manufacturers free and what I could borrow from a LGS so I could have a range of holsters to try.
So … I went though trying to get used to it, did get used to it but more like a ‘tolerating it’ rather than something that just blended into feeling like it was suppose to be there in a not uncomfortable way like ‘they’ had told me … it wasn’t “great!” like ‘they’ said.
So … I went through literally hundreds of practice sessions, some guided by others who were experienced with appendix carry, and I carried appendix EDC for almost four months really trying hard to discover what ‘they’ said. I tried to to discover ‘very fast presentation’ better than my strong side or five o’clock (my favored) positions. Never did discover it to be faster and in fact my presentation from my strong side or five o’clock was just as fast or faster then the experienced appendix carry folks who guided me and what I’ve seen in videos of ‘expert’ people.
So … I went through a dozen top of the line name brand holsters ‘made with/for’ appendix carry in mind while looking for that “it can be very comfortable”. ‘very comfortable’ must be very subjective because I never found it with commercially available holsters not even the ones the experienced appendix carry people claimed were ‘very comfortable’.
I tend to think ‘they’ who love appendix carry have a slight touch of masochism hiding in them someplace. 😜
My idea of ‘very comfortable’ for an IWB holster involves several things but to sum them up in broad terms, basically and taking into account the practical, a holster that fits so well with the body at the spot its carried it sort of ‘vanishes’ in feeling awareness as if its natural to be there as a normal part of the body and not something added. This can only be achieved with custom made holsters specific to the body spot, which is why I along with the rest of a group of us paid a lot to have custom IWB holsters made by a name brand holster manufacturer after a year of trying to talk them into it. We had to get more people to go in on an order for at least 50 holsters before the manufacturer would consider it. So most of us ordered two or three to bring up the quality to at least 50, but the overall quantity was 120 accounting for everyone by the time we got others in on it and the order and measurements and all the other information ready.
I never put the kind of time or effort in that you did. Not only was appendix carry uncomfortable when I sat down, but I have decades of experience carrying strong side and my other concern was that I would revert to training and reach for the gun there in a high-stress defensive situation.
@Rusty – Always Carry – Chains
I don’t like appendix carry it at all. I went through all that because I just wanted to see. I was deluged with various sites basically screaming ‘APPENDIX CARRY! THAT’S WHAT THE WHOLE WORLD SHOULD DO!” in almost every holster review and others telling me it was the best thing since sliced bread. So after years of hearing/seeing appendix carry being touted as ‘better faster comfortable’ and seeing a sort of ‘solution in search of a problem’ thing going on I decided to find out for myself.
Now, one could say people are carrying appendix because its the best ’cause this-that-other….that’s an argument area to be made. But what I came to realize was its not better than another position from which you can function just as well or better and its especially not as comfortable as they tell others. If that’s the way they want to carry that’s fine, its them carrying it and not me.
I’ll stick with my strong side (3 o’clock) and five o/clock positions and my custom holsters for my EDC. The only reason I looked at this holster was because of my Sig P365. I sometimes carry it for a few days when I rotate out for a bit from my main EDC Glock 22 – I have others I sometimes switch out with a for a few days. But I mostly keep the P365 nearby in the home and sometimes I grab it for a quick errand trip to the store or something to pick up real fast etc… and just wanted another holster for it for those times. But yeah, I’m gonna pass on this one.
TLDR
I guess I’d have to believe that it is comfortable, even with all of its edginess. Nonetheless, If I was going plastic (big leather fan), I’d stick with a smooth, gun covering Kydex taco. (I have one, and it is comfortable.)
“Next to the extremely skeletonized design, . . . the barrel post . . . keeps the business end of the pistol securely in place, without requiring the holster to wrap entirely around the slide and add width to the package.”
Good concept, but they still put the belt clip on the slide part instead of the trigger guard part (or a flat above the slide), so the part that causes the bulge is still just as wide as any other holster’s.
preach it.
i got tired of pushing that here.
front carry is nice for walking, driving phooey.
as far as retention, kydex is very malleable once the 1200watts start blowing.
but i want leather to the skin. even with a tucked t.
I understand and respect the need for comfort, e.g. when people need to carry through a full shift (especially police patrols, manual labor, etc.), but my circumstances and priorities are different. I rarely need to carry for more than a few hours of errands, and need maximum concealability under the very light, casual clothes I wear most of the year.
For my most recent holster, I selected a left-hand shell (I’m right-handed) so I could put it on the inside (with an outline-breaking, lightly molded sheet of Kydex on the outside). The [thin sheet metal, not bulky plastic] clip is attached to a flange above the slide (where the holster is about 3/16″ thick, rather than the Schema where it’s attached to a section over an inch thick).
+1 on metal clips, also location. mine are all below trigger but similar result.
👍
Until such time as accommodations are made for light bearing, of which I consider target identification a matter of critical importance in all lighting conditions, or lack thereof.
No dice.
The is quite a departure for SafariLand. They’ve always been more about enclosing the firearm more completely, adding material instead of subtracting it.
The idea here is kinda good if your a minimalist holster type of person, but it seems to be going more for the ‘aesthetic cool’ than it should.
I don’t object to the styling and it is kinda cool looking. But it seems to be more prone to allowing under garment shirt material to get caught between the firearm and holster especially in the trigger guard area where the holster material sort of ‘sweeps’ up in a manner that can snag some instead of down so material can slide away better.
Yeah, I know, someones going to say this-that-other-not a concern-practice-practice-practice-reholstering-this-that-other. But I can tell you from personal experience with IWB holsters it is a concern when you go to re-holster after a traumatic DGU experience with the adrenaline on full blast and you being jittery. And believe me for most people in your first one especially its not going to be ‘like you trained’ with all the well choreographed practiced smooth moves, its going to be uncool messy for most so you want that re-holster to happen the first time without the possibility of dragging shirt materiel into the holster, especially in the trigger guard area and against the trigger.
I also would like to see a sweat shield.
The price is good, the looks are OK and cool, but I’m gonna pass on this one
.40 cal Booger:
I get what you’re saying about getting your shirt caught in the trigger area while trying to re-holster the pistol. That’s why I’ve formed the habit of removing the holster BEFORE inserting the pistol in the holster and re-inserting the now-holstered Pistoled IWB. That way if my shirt does get caught up in the reinsertion (as it sometimes does), there’s no danger of a negligent discharge.
TLDR
Be nice to see one for a 1911/2011.
I just hope it’s easier to fit the barrel over the rod than in the Versacarry Zero Bulk I bought for my LCP Max. It always seems like it’s scraping the barrel when holstering
I don’t buy Safariland products b/c my experience with them has been been awful. Bought an IWB rig about 25 years ago. The fasteners on the plastic backing broke after 2 weeks or so. Bought 2 mag pouches about 10 years ago. Screw adjustable “friction” type. An ex-military friend suggested them. In less than a week, they wouldn’t hold the mags and no amount of tightening helped. Bought something else from them about 35 years ago. My old brain can’t recall what it was, but it didn’t work after about a month. Either I’m snake bit, or their stuff is junk. I don’t care to be their Guinea pig anymore.
Safariland, lol.
The Safariland Schema IWB holster is a slim, lightweight, and comfortable carry option for your handgun. Here you check this Arborist Rotorua and get more new skills about the latest tree removal company. It’s designed to be worn inside the waistband but still allows for the draw of your handgun. The Schema is made from durable black polymer with a hard shell backing that goes over the body side, giving you extra protection from any impact.
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Vores bureau hjælper dig med at få et rigtigt dansk kørekort inden for højst tre til fem dage. Vi kan også hjælpe dig med at forny dit udløbne danske kørekort inden for tre til fem dage uden stress, Vi kan også hjælpe en udlænding med at ombytte et udenlandsk kørekort til et dansk inden for en uge.
Jeg synes, det er et fantastisk produkt!
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