Conducting a Press Check
8/27/2010
Of all the annoying things that movie actors do with their pistols, there is one that is the most unrealistic. This is when our “let's pretend” gun man senses danger and ceremoniously hauls out his Colt, Glock, Smith, Ruger or (you fill in the blank) from the holster and racks the slide back hard all the way.
Apparently, this is intended to strike awe in the mind of the audience, as “Omygawd, he put a round in the chamber!”
In real life, such an action would have put a round in the chamber, but not before you took the one out of the chamber and ejected it onto the deck. Real world autos usually ride with a round in the chamber.
On the other hand, I saw an old movie the other night where the protagonist performed a period-correct press check where he retracted the slide only far enough to see that the chamber was loaded. A press-check is good gun-handling.
