How do you tell if a revolver has ever been fired other than once. I have a chance to pick up the above gun which has alledgedly not been fired since the factory.

If there are no obvious clues (powder, etc), you have to take the sellers word. Visible turn line would be one clue. Unless the owner sat around dry firing it, it shouldnt have one.

Needless to say, I would be skeptical. How much are they asking?

Look at the front of the cylinder, usually every other hole will have evidence of being fired. Maybe not foolproof though if someone cleans the gun and replicates the factory testing. People have been known to do that and claim the gun is factory fired only.

If you plan on shooting it if you buy it, it really doesn't matter if it's been fired since the factory.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to pay a premium for an unfired gun if you plan to shoot it.

My brother-in-law has two snub nosed model 10s that he bought when he was a cop back in the 70s that are still in their original paper wrappers.

Someone just bought a NIB 629 and did just that

To each his own... I guess

Picked it up, and can find no evidence of firing. Doesn't matter anyway, just wanted to know if there was an actual way to tell. Gonna shoot it alot. Got $300.00 in it. Not sure how to download pics, but she is a beauty! Thanks for all the prompt input.

As the others said with a stainless steel gun you really can't. I have a 66 for that my wife mainly shot years ago. Never been in holster and no dings. It sits in the orginal blue box with the cleaning rod and all of the factory manuals (I think there are four of them). I could easily pass this gun off as unfired.

Brother you stole that model 66! There great guns and the short barrels are very sought after. You have found a great gun at a fantastic deal! Enjoy in! Kyle