look for serial numbers on the parts, take a small light and shine it down the bore look at how deep the grooves are (deeper the grooves the better condition or less used) check the bore make sure there is no pitting or damage, check for rust (some minor surface rust is expected) look at the bluing 90% and up should have deep bluing if you can see spots that look like plain steel or light blue steel then it probably is a pretty used gun, check for cracks in the stock, gouges in the wood and metal, check and see if there is any packing grease on it (if its dried and caked on the gun probably hasn't had a good oiling) work the bolt slowly and feel for any hangups or grinding, ask the clerk if you can take the bolt out to look at the internals and if you can dry fire it (pull the trigger slowly and feel for any abnormalities) check the magazine spring for tension
most clerks don't have a problem if you finger f*ck a gun like this unless they are trying to peddle garbage.
