You’ll want the rag wet with fuel and attached around the neck of the bottle (tied, ziptied, or duct taped) before it’s set alight. This will stop it from exploding in you or your friend’s hand.
A molotov with an open top and the lit fabric stuck in, is liable to drop the lit fabric at your feet when thrown, and the liquid fuel will spray out the top and land right on you if you throw it overhand/overhead like that. You will catch yourself and your immediate surroundings on fire instead of your target. That is, if it doesn’t explode in your hand before you can throw it.
To safely try this at home, take the cap off a bottle of water and try to throw it overhand/overhead. See how much water ends up where you’re trying to throw it and how much ends up on you.
Ideally you want the liquid fuel to stay contained until the bottle shatters on the target. Ideally you also don’t want the whole thing to catch fire before that point. So sealed bottle, lit fabric affixed in a way that it is not already touching the rest of the fuel.
This style of molotov is unsafe.
You’ll want the rag wet with fuel and attached around the neck of the bottle (tied, ziptied, or duct taped) before it’s set alight. This will stop it from exploding in you or your friend’s hand.
And for the love of god don’t throw it overhead
Purely for educational purpose: how should a molotov be thrown ?
Why is a overhead thow a bad thing ?
A molotov with an open top and the lit fabric stuck in, is liable to drop the lit fabric at your feet when thrown, and the liquid fuel will spray out the top and land right on you if you throw it overhand/overhead like that. You will catch yourself and your immediate surroundings on fire instead of your target. That is, if it doesn’t explode in your hand before you can throw it.
To safely try this at home, take the cap off a bottle of water and try to throw it overhand/overhead. See how much water ends up where you’re trying to throw it and how much ends up on you.
Ideally you want the liquid fuel to stay contained until the bottle shatters on the target. Ideally you also don’t want the whole thing to catch fire before that point. So sealed bottle, lit fabric affixed in a way that it is not already touching the rest of the fuel.
It’s hard to avoid spillage on yourself throwing overhead, so it’s best to throw from your side