You can check mulitple items if needed..............

Quality of materials.....

For me its reputation of reliability and price. I need a gun that I can afford but won't leave me hanging when I need it.

All but 1 of mine are pre owned . I am a utilitarian kind of guy , I drive ugly trucks w/ bad paint that I can get in and just take off and go in . If the lock work is sound and it feels good or I can make it feel right and the price is right I take it and use it .

Yeah, I usually let somebody else pay sticker price and then I buy it from them once the new feel has worn off.

With Remington's 710 line of guns out there, quality of materials is a pretty relevant choice.

Fit and finish:

Its possible to have the best materials and make a crappy gun. If a manufacturer does a very carful job at making sure outside appearances are perfect, you can pretty much assume that everything else is put together right.

i think most of thoseoption all fit in to a few of your choice either reputation of the gun and maker if the gun has been referred to you by some one who know whatthere talking about not just a friend

if it has a bad finish bad make or it is just thrown to gather like a ak15 i do not relay on TV ads articles one even what a TV host says because it is hard to tell weather they like the gun or like it because they got 10 free to saying they like it just because you see your favorite TV host shooting a 1000 rifle does not mean they would pay for it if they were buying it

Man.... That's a really rough choice to pick from when you are only allowed one answer. I have more than one criteria that I consider when buying a new gun.

that it will look enough like my old one so that my wife doesn't find out.