Samuel- I am a fairly skilled TIG welder with a solid machine shop background- welding the raceway, and you are 100% right about that variance in the innards of the M12 28 gauge, would require an annealing, skillful welding and finish, re-heat treating and re-blueing to avoid the heat blister transferred from the nom. .0375" thick 4140 AISI nickel chrome molly steel used for receivers on the Model 212 (all gauges) post 1932-- But that hill to climb won't change anything for the true criminal mind- A segue, if I may, but one reason I shoot a Parker 12 Trojan- you can't counterfeit that field grade "Old Reliable" into a BHE-- can't be done--

"The field is the touchstone of the man"..