eli5, How can you tell if a gun is unjammed without shooting it?

Question

I like writing as a hobby and posting it online, just wanted to try get the best up to date info and couldn’t find anything

In: 1

Answer 1

Gun pointed away from you and anything you don’t want shot. Mag out, pull back on the bolt/slide/pump (whatever the gun uses to rack in the next round). If nothing comes out, pull back on the action again and look at the ejection port. If you see the brass, the extractor might have an issue, lock back the bolt, use a little fork looking tool (it has a name, keep forgetting it) carefully pull the casing by the rim