That's because Magnum carries his pistol in "condition one", AKA: "cocked and locked" (chamber loaded, hammer cocked, thumb safety on), which has been the de facto standard method of carrying a 1911 for decades (though the U.S. Military used "condition three" [loaded magazine, empty chamber, hammer down]).IslandHopper wrote: There are some notable flubs in this episode.
1. When Higgins takes Magnum's .45 and attempts to pry the elevator doors open with the barrel of the gun, you can see the hammer is back as if ready to fire. For someone with Higgins' military background and experience with weapons I found this to be more than a little careless.
There is no good method of decocking a 1911 on a loaded chamber; lowering it with your thumb always runs the risk of an accidental discharge if your thumb slips. However, Higgins should have cleared the pistol before attempting to use it as a prying tool (finger off the trigger, drop the magazine, disengage the safety, rack the slide, visually inspect the chamber).
This episode marks another appearance of the infamous Star Model B standing in for the Colt Government Model (the only other appearance I know of was in "China Doll"). When they show the closeup of Higgins grabbing the pistol from Magnum's waistband, it is a Star Model B (you can tell from its external extractor, integrated mainspring housing, and various other details). These closeup "insert" shots are often filmed at a different time than the main scene, and often with random people standing in for the actual actors. It is during these "insert" shots that you are most likely to see prop switcheroos too.
This is my all-time favorite episode, and the most memorable one from my childhood. I was absolutely fascinated with the idea of Higgins being Robin Masters. I watched it with my older brother and father on the original Thursday night that it aired in 1986, and on Friday nights we normally went to Bangor, which was about a 45-minute drive. So on that next night, my brother and I discussed the "Higgins is Robin Masters" theory all the way to Bangor, and all the way back.