When I was 16 my uncle bought a used top break S&W. He handed it to me and said to go out in the field behind the house and fire it and see what happens
Being an old tobacco farm in the Connecticut Valley there were some old tobacco racks out there and I tied the gun to one of them.
I used a long string, it fired and didn't blow up
I took it back in and said "seems fine to me" and handed it back to him!