I have never seen a 10 ga M12 or M 97. I have owned both models, and think that the M12 is much the better choice for a using gun. The hammer on a 97 is not very prominent, and cold or wet hands can cause problems in cocking it. It is also not at all smooth operating, and is subject to wear more than the M12. The M97 bolt has to be slammed to the rear for ejection because of the design of the ejector, but in my case that was a help, as I shot a good bit of skeet with a 97, and since then have never had a problem with short stroking a pump gun. Also, there is a hazard to the 97 that I found the hard way. The rear of the bolt has two sharp corners that become sharper with wear, and if you get your hand too far forward on the wrist, the corners can gouge or cut your hand when pumping the gun. The 97 does seem a bit trimmer in the action than a M12 though.
The M12 was built in only 2 frame sizes, 12 and 20. The 20, 16 an 28 were all built on the 20 ga frame, while the 12 ga and 12 ga 3" gun were built on the larger frame. A lot of the 20 and 16 ga guns were made with short chambers before WWII. The 20 ga guns can usually be converted for the longer shells by just opening the chambers, but the 16s will require opening the ejection port also.
Last edited by Tom Martin; 12/01/12 10:12 AM.
