A New Gun? Checks to Run Before Firing

Do you have a brand new birthday or Christmas present? Or, maybe, you have just decided to treat yourself? Before you take it to the range to fire off those first rounds, you might want to perform a few checks.

Verify the contents of your box.

When you open the box, make sure everything that’s supposed to be in there is. You might be missing a magazine, or the magazine might have been swapped out accidentally at the gun shop with a magazine for a different caliber.

Read the owner’s manual.

Yes, it’s boring, and not all manuals are that informative or useful. But you won’t know that until you look it over. There may be some tricks to loading or unloading, or maintenance tips.

Look it over.

Do a visual inspection to check for any defects. Sometimes what looks to be a cosmetic defect could be a structural problem.

Clean and lube it.

Remember to ensure it’s unloaded and all ammo is removed from the room, and then field strip it according to the manual. New guns contain manufacturing residues that may be held in place by grease or oils. You never know what might be in the barrel coming from the factory. This gives you an opportunity to look at the guts, too, to see if anything is amiss. Lubricate it according to the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Load it, rack it, unload it, test the safety.

Or, for a revolver, open and turn the cylinder, test the safety. Do all this without ammo. Besides giving you a basic familiarity with how the gun feels, you might find an issue with one of the parts. Better to find it at home than after you’ve loaded up and traveled to the range. Also, if there are optics or other add-ons screwed in place, check to make sure all those screws are tight. You might be thinking you can’t hit the side of a barn because the optic is not sighted in when it is just loose and wiggly.

Check the caliber it is chambered for.

Some guns can fire more than one kind of ammunition, so make sure you know the capability of your gun. Check that you have the right kind of ammo, and check the magazines one last time.

Performing these checks will not only help familiarize you with your new gun, but can head off any issues with it before you try to fire that first round.