Could have been noticeable? All he had to do was look at it to know it was loaded.
Only a dipshit wouldn't know the difference, and dipshits shouldn't be handed a firearm.
“Guns don’t just go off. The single action Colt .45 revolver handled by Alec Baldwin required multiple active steps to discharge and kill Halyna Hutchins,” Luper said in the statement. “The gun had to be loaded with live ammunition, held and pointed, the hammer of the weapon manually cocked, and the trigger pulled. It was not a magic self-firing weapon.”