I've taken my own advise and pulled the stock and trigger group and have the trigger group and the receiver soaking in some (gasp!) gasoline. I had hit them with some carb cleaner but the grime is too hardened with age. Fear not, the old coffee can of gas is outdoors and it's 39 degrees here, so vapors aren't a big problem this morning. It looks as though Kutter is right, the cartridge cut-off may have been slightly bent by some nitwit, but I'm going to give everything a good scrubbing first and see how everything fits together before any modifications are made.
I've got something like $190 in this old corn-shucker, so making it fit me wasn't a hesitation. It now has a LOP of 14 1/2 inches and a drop of only 2 1/2 (1 1/2 at the comb). It also now sports a straight stock. I've paid big bucks for fine English shotguns, but this one can do the job for almost pocket change. The "Perfect Repeater" indeed!
One reason for the incredible durability of the "Perfect Repeater" is the fact that all the receiver components (except springs and machine screws) were NOT cheap stamped steel- but forged from 4140 nickel chrome moly steel and machined to gauge- very hard to "bend or warp" a cartridge cut-off-, but as the front curved "lip" is the thinnest of the entire part, possible- another cause might be- use of slugs or older Military brass cased buckshot loads--my suggestion- if you have a friend who has a 12 gauge M12 in good order, ask if you can remove the cartridge guide from his M12 and compare to to the one from your M12 that you feel is suspect--also, excess crud in the set hole milled inot the receiver for the pivot point for that part may force it slightly out of alignment, but that is a real "iffy" Use Kroil and paint thinner 50-50 and not straight gasoline- cuts the crud quicker- and if you can't find a copy of the great Dave Petzal article SC May 1985 on the "Perfect Repeater" send me an e-mail on the PMS thingy here, and I will make you a copy of mine and snail mail it back, after the Holidays. Welcome to the M12 legion of pumpgunners- and recall, as I do whenever I uncase any of the 7 I own (mfg. from 1921 through 1949 era)the words of outdoor wrtiet Charles Waterman: "Never bet your money against the man who shoots a well-worn pumpgun"!!
