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I've got a new hidden rule for y'all!

If your buddy wants to toss you a spare blaster pistol in the middle of a firefight, how do you go about catching it? The rules don't ever say ... except maybe they do! If you look at the rules for the spring-loaded mechanism droid accessory (SECR, pg 195), it talks about how the droid chooses a square and then makes a ranged attack vs Reflex 10; if successful, anyone in the targeted square or adjacent to it who has readied a move action can make a DC 10 Dexterity check to catch the launched item.

Now, to be honest, I'd be willing to allow someone to catch (or intercept) a thrown item as reaction without having to ready an action first; I'd just increase the DC for the Dex check to maybe 15 or 20.

EDIT: I might even be willing to go so far as to say that anyone trained in Acrobatics can catch an item thrown their way as a reaction, perhaps without even needing to make a check (or they could make an Acrobatics check instead of a Dex check).

Ac

Here's my thoughts on the matter, though it has yet to come up to be tested:
The throwing player chooses a square, and makes an attack roll (DC 10; range modifiers apply) to deliver the weapon. For every full 5 points by which the roll exceeds the DC, the catching player gains a +1 to his Dex check (DC 15) to catch the object. In case of a 'miss' by the thrower and/or catcher, all adjacent creatures can make a Dex check (DC 15) as a reaction to intercept the object. Anyone using a readied action to catch/intercept the object gains a +5 bonus on their roll, and can make a check regardless of the thrower/catcher's check result. Highest roll wins. (This expands on the spring-loaded mechanism rule described above.

I was just about to submit, and re-read your description above, and it looks like we were thinking along the same lines, though I think you should only be able to intercept with a readied action, or when the catcher fumbles.