I know for a fact that domestic pistol and revolver manufacturers like Colt and S&W test fired their revolvers before they left the factory. In years gone by when manufactures took more pride in their products the pistols would arrive with the test target that was used in the box with the pistol.
This was of particular importance to match shooters using products from Colt & S&W. I have several of these old target model pistols in 22lr and 38spl and they are a sight to behold as well as to shoot as they were hand finished assembled and timed.
I was told by a S&W official that they would be cost prohibitive to produce today.
As far as uncocked and unturned goes this mania started with the "commerative" craze of about 30 years ago. The object of this was to get an example like the "The Lone Ranger Shoots Tonto" Commerative genuine 45cal Colt made in Italy by Uberti and just look at it keep it in it's original box and eventually it would be worth $$$$$$$!.
This was of course in the same category as the Jim Beam bottle craze. I still run across these at estate sales and for whatever it's worth the bottles aren't worth much but contents are usually still good!!
Happy Hunting.
Here is an example of an unfired revolver in my collection. It is a Colt cobra that was made in 1967. The smudgy look to the blueing is the original factory grease. The interior parts are frozen with grease and I've never cocked it. It took some doing to swing the cylinder out to record the serial number when I acquired it.
Jim
