Are the telltale rings around the firing pins a good indicator of whether a shotgun has been fired or not?
How many fired shells does it take before those circles appear?
How do you know whether it's fired or unfired?

You really don't know. From a collector value stand point, if you can't tell, the the value is high. From a shooter point, the issue is not really unfired, but rather fired very little so that practically the gun has its whole life left.

Note that many guns are function fired, proof fired, and, on top end guns, fired for patterning. Proving a gun hasn't been fired since leaving the factory is most difficult and always open to question.

Who cares?

As Rocketman says - a lot of guns were fires as part of the preparation for sale - to make sure they function properly and throw the right pttern to the right point of aim. A 'new' English sidelock or double rifle will have been fired dozens of times at least by the time the customer gets hold of it.

I care, smallbore. In addition, it can be, I've been told, a positive value influencing factor.
Also, it astounds me when I come across something that just does not appear to be fired, and it is, say, approaching a hundred years of age. I want it to speak to me and tell me "Oh, yes, I've been fired; I've been handled & enjoyed many times; I am not one of those Closet-things". Or, "Come, be the first to appreciate me for what I am", as Rocketman says, "for a lifetime of use and enjoyment".

Great restoration of a gun in good shape or unfired. Who knows nowadays.

As Mike points out, many guns are restored or refinished these days. In a lot of cases, only knowing that particular make/model/vintage extremely well, well enough to know polishing, colors, engraving, checkering, wood finishes, etc., will you be able to detect good refinishes/resto's. There are people out there studying how to do each process of finishing to exactly duplicate the original. So, detecting refinished guns can be a challenge for the buyer with casual interest in a particular model/make/vintage.

"Come, be the first to appreciate me for what I am"

Would you really want to own an unfired antique? Wouldn't shooting it be the highest crime one could commit among all the people obsessed with "original condition"?

Heck, I have enough trouble not peeking into my 90-yr old, sealed, 2-piece boxes of shotgun shells.

Who wants a 90 year old virgin. I would rather have two 45 year olds who have had fun. My purpose in life is not to collect rare guns and make sure that they stay pristine. Mine is to have fun with them which may make a few more well earned dings in them. Good for both of us.

No, no, no; I'm not talking "restoration" or camouflage. I'm looking at a 98 yr old shotgun that is not "screwed-with" at all; and wondering how to tell if she's even ever been fired. It's old, original, and maybe fired/ maybe not.

BBB what we are trying to tell you is that you will never know for sure.

Its all speculation at this point. I have 1 I believe to be unfired, see the Willam Evans thread. There really is no way to tell. They were shot by the maker, after that all one can say is that it is in excellent shape.
Steve

"Unfired" is a seller's ploy, much like the old "owned by a little old lady from Pasadena" or the "1953 chevy,(covette), for sale, has been in the garage for years $300". It could very well be unfired. Think of the odds of a person or many persons owning a gun and never firing it.

BBB - there are some craftsmen of sufficient talent, material, and knowledge who can restore certain guns to the point that panels of experts will be divided as to originality. Fortunately, most of these have high interegity and do not try to foist off their work as original - there are exceptions. Also, there are some people who will try to pass of outstanding restoration work they have commissioned as original finish.

The odds of finding an unfired 100 year old gun are small - it does happen, but not commonly. For American classics, this is a very substantial change in price. For most other guns, it simply means you have a gun of Current Condition = pristine.

I know of no way to absolutely verify that any gun has never been fired by a consumer.

Okay, thank you all for piping-in.
She may be fired, she may not; we may never know.
So let me ask this:
How many fired shells do you think it might take for the breechface to show the primer rings around the firing pins?

Of course it has been fired! What kind of weirdo would buy a new gun and not shoot it at least once? The unfired statment is stupid. No one can prove it and it doesn't matter anyway. The real question is about whether the gun is worn or not. The unfired statements were lies to cover the ultimate "not worn" condition which you just violated by opening the breech to look at the face for rings around the firing pins. Your hand on the stock just removed a couple of molecules of stock finish and blue; moving the top lever ground off a couple molecules of steel from the mating surfaces. If it stood around in a case for a century there is wear from case contact. Why would firing be bad if the gun were not worn?

I’ve owned a few over the years that I felt were unfired or little used once they left the maker. Most doubles show drag marks on the face before the ring at the firing pin hole.
The breech face is of a Mullin 10 gauge that has seen little use.
Sorry for the bad picture.
I once bought a Griffin & Howe (circa 1923) in .400 Whelen with the original box of ammo. After G&H made and test fired it they blued the bolt and bolt face. The face had not the slightest mark and after chambering one round there was blue removal and brass left behind. I have shot it many times but taken care of it and it still looks nice but no longer unfired.

I did buy one gun which I truly beleived had never been fired after it left the factory, (I assume all are tested at the factory).

I bought three guns from a Widow. Two looked like they had been shot a little. She also gave me the ammo, out of both the 16 ga and 20 ga boxes a few shells were missing. The 12 ga box was still full. The third gun, a Browning Citori 12 ga. looked absolutely new. There was still grease on the breech face with no marks of shells ever been loaded.

So, I do think there are some out there unfired, but not as many as are advertised as such.

My fiend wanted it and it's now in his closet. JD