Does this design pose a danger?

[JRWhit]

I have this little guy in 25 cal. It doesn't get out much, but lately I have been tinkering with it. It always had ejection issues so I recently tuned the extractor. The thing that bothers me about this little guy is the use of the firing pin as the ejector. I have always had the mentality with this gun that, If it's loaded, the only way to safely unload is to fire it. I was always afraid that if anything hung up when trying to eject a live round, the primer could ignite and pepper out the ejection port. Is this a reasonable concern? Or are the chances of setting off the primer while ejecting a live round too small for any concern?

 

[hentown]

Get yourself a cheap hacksaw!

 

[5-SHOTS]

My father used to own a Beretta Brev.1919 which has also the firing pin working as ejector. To avoid any issue it could be good to point the ejecting port down and rack the slide as slow as you can.

 

[MikeJackmin]

If a round were to go off, the bullet itself would not pose much of a hazard, it would just pop out of the case with minimal force.

If you had your finger covering the ejection port it might get chewed up by the blast wave, but other than that, the only danger would be debris (possibly including bits of brass) that could find its way into your eyes.

Rack the slide slowly, hold the gun down low as far from your face as you comfortably can, and leave the ejection port clear. You'd have a small chance of some minor excitement, but no real danger.

The real hazard with guns like this is carrying them with a loaded chamber. With some (not all) the safety blocks only the trigger, not the striker, and the striker can be jarred free of the sear if the gun is dropped or struck. It's good practice to carry them in condition 3.

 

[barnbwt]

Primers also require a certain amount of velocity to do their thing. I doubt you could rack a pistol fast enough to impart enough force to the primer to cause even a faint dimple, let alone fire it. Remember that the little round is light enough that it takes very little force to rotate it out of the chamber, and that its own miniscule momentum is the only thing that would cause the pin to deform the stiff primer cup (that primer is probably as thick as the casing)

Always a good idea to unchamber a gun pointed in a safe direction, what with our distractable trigger fingers and slippery gun parts ;D

TCB