Model 12 concern

[Red Cent]

Examining a few M12s, I have noticed something that could be a little worrisome.

When a shooter depresses the slide lock bar to cycle the shotgun, an upper arm of the bar inside the receiver hooks a  protrusion on the side of the hammer. The arm that hooks the hammer pushes the hammer back in its arc an 1/8" or so. The purpose is to capture the hammer when you release the slide.

Three out of four have not been doing that job. No two hammer protrusions look the same. In two cases the point of the arm (think of the head of a chicken looking left have hit the protrusion on its right face rather than ride over it. They are either worn or worked on. IMO, it could have been better thought out in the first place. But then JMB did not finish the M12.

I would strongly suggest that any time you cycle the gun, keep the finger out of the trigger guard. Especially if you shoot left handed. I am right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot long guns left handed and it is easy to leave the finger on the trigger and use themiddle finger to activate the slide release.

I invite anyone to comment, especially if I am incorrect.

[Red Cent]

Further thoughts on this caused by thinking.

There is a firing pin block/release that is housed in the top of the bolt. There may be a very small window after the slide lock release is activated and the hammer is allowed to fall.

As I stated before, that chicken hook captures and depresses (on paper) the hammer. Or in other words, it moves the hammer back past full cock and if the hook should slip off the the protrusion on the hammer, it would stop at full cock. And again, from what I have seen, it ain't gonna happen in all the firearms.

Keep your finger off the trigger when hitting the slide release.

Here is nother problem incurred. Try this test. Rack the slide and put your safety "on". Pull the trigger firmly. Now push the safety to off. One of those I have been talking about dropped the hammer. New safety needed. Quick fix with a slender and pointy center punch.

Be careful out there.


Just remembered. I took a picture. The slide release lock is the bar with the chicken head. Look close and you can see the protrusion on the hammer. This my M12 trigger group. The pointy end of the chicken head was meeting the protrusion head on and would not go over the protrusion. I chose to take some material off the protrusion to enable the hook to capture the hammer. It doesn't depress the hammer now.

[Thomas (Tom) Horn aka James Hicks]

RC-
The action slide lock does not always indicate the position the hidden hammer is in. Some of the M12's the slide lock (button to rear of trigger left side) may be up or down and not tell where the hammer is, not all, but some. To get mine to work the way it is suppose to work... button UP to indicate hammer down... button down to indicate hammer up... I had to remove some metal from the front part of the action slide lock (see pic below). There has been a lot of talk on the SASS WB wire about this and actions at the loading table for a match. At our State Shoot (TN) the Wild Bunch SE Regional Ambassadors, Sassy Teton Lady and Deadwood Woody were here and I talked to them about this problem. It appears that the ruling will be... at the loading table BEFORE loading the M12, the shooter will cycle the pump and pull the trigger to show the loading officer that the Hammer is Down before loading. Here is a picture of my trigger group with circle and arrow showing where I had to remove metal to get the action slide lock to work the way it is suppose to.

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[Red Cent]

You are on a different page. Looking at your picture, the "chicken head" hook is supposed to ride over the diamond shaped protrusion on the hammer. When you press on the slide lock release, the chicken head hook rides over the diamond shaped protrusion (if the hammer is at full cock) and actually (should) depresses the hammer by about a 1/16". The M12s to which I am referring does not do this. The "beak" of the chicken head meets the diamond protrusion head on and does not "capture" the hammer. Or the "beak" jams into the top of the diamond and, again, does not capture the hammer.
It takes very little movement of the slide lock release to allow the cycling of the shotgun.
Fortunately, my M12 acts as it should. I bought it used in 1973 and have not used it much since.

[Thomas (Tom) Horn aka James Hicks]

RC
Your right, was thinking one thing and wrote another...senior moment... sorry bout that.

[Red Cent]

You're cool.

[Red Cent]

Thinking some more on the subject, the button "up" only tells you that the action is not locked or the hammer is down. You have to cycle the action to cock the hammer to put the button down. Now the up and down depends on the position of the hammer and the interaction with two wires/ staight springs.
If the hammer is down, a wire is depressed by the hammer raising the rear of the bar indicating button up. If the hammer is cocked, a wire is pushed up lowering the button indicating the hammer is cocked.

The M12 is firing pin broke prone. Requiring us to drop the hammer every time we come to the loading table will eventually cause issues with the firing pin. The best way would be to cycle the action twice and then lay the shotgun down and push the slide lock release. The slide will visibly and audibly go to unlocked action. The shotgun will not fire in this mode. Load six (or whatever) go to the line and stage the shotgun. The action is ready to be cycled when picked up.