Making Safe ?

[CZSteve]

How does everyone make their pistol safe (ie: when unloading to let someone take a look at your pistol)?

I've been dropping the mag.
Rotating the pistol upside down and racking the slide w/ my weak hand while cupping around the ejection port to catch the round.
Of course being sure to not to sweep w/ the muzzle, keeping trigger finger indexed, and being careful to maintain a secure grip.

For some reason I'm not wild about letting the round drop and just fall wherever (I know, even if the primer were to be struck hard enough the casing would have more momentum than the bullet and this is VERY unlikely)
Still rember the story of a detective who let a 45acp drop in a stone parking lot and the round discharged. Of course their was no velocity and just a bruise where he was hit in the forehead. (Supposedly)

Or, how about the 'Hollyweird' technique of racking the slide and catching the round in mid-air w/ the weak hand. ?

Is my technique flawed or overly dangerous?
What say you?

 

[1911Tuner]

Safe

Howdy Steve,

Sounds like you've got a pretty good technique mapped out. As long as
the muzzle is pointed in the right direction, I'd be cool with ya clearin' one
to hand to me.

The one thing that is often forgotten whenever a gun is on the scene is that it's the responsibility of everyone involved to keep an eye on the muzzle. The one handling it AND the onlookers.

Whenever somebody is handling a gun, my eyes are glued on it until I
KNOW that the weapon is clear. It's a habit that has kept me from gettin' shot...twice. Once was at a gun show. Wanna see a scramble for the floor? Let a round go in a crowded exhibition hall. I stepped out of the way
a half-second before the bang. Be alert!

To keep a cap from bustin' on a rock, just squat or drop to one knee, rotate the pistol on its side(muzzle down), and rack it out. I haven't caught one overhand since 1978, when I got a round hung up in the port of a LW Commander and the sharp point on the ejector set the round off. That caused me a few seconds of wide-eyed terror, until I determined that the crescent-shaped cut in the palm of my hand wasn't a through-and-through bullet hole. Time stands REEEALLLL still in moments like that.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[Blackhawk 6]

Your technique sounds alright to me, though I personally do not worry about catching the round.

I would recommend cycling the action several times. Though it has never happened to me, a co-worker thought he removed the magazine, but failed to (48 hours + without sleep was the contributing factor). As rounds continued to eject from the weapon, he realized his mistake.