Testing the trigger on a gun that you’re looking to buy is important. You wouldn’t buy a car you hadn’t test driven, and you wouldn’t buy a gun that you hadn’t at least dry fired, right? But how can you make sure you’re testing the trigger correctly when you try it out? Luckily, we’re here to help you out.

The first thing is to obviously clear the gun out and make sure that the store you’re in has a safe direction. This doesn’t just mean some random area where there aren’t people. Ask the gun counter employee two questions: “is it okay if I dry fire this” and “what’s your safe direction to point this?” We want to be obeying the rules of gun safety, so once that’s established you’re free to dry fire.

But! Don’t just start ripping on the trigger. Pull it in isolation when you don’t have a good firing grip doesn’t give you as much information as if you pull it from your grip and firing stance. So, once you get permission to dry fire the gun, and have a safe direction established, grip it like you would if you were going to shoot it for real. Get in a solid stance and press the trigger like you would if you knew it was going to go off. That will allow you to evaluate the trigger without dealing with noise and recoil.

For another way to check the trigger, check out Jessie in this video: