NORINCO K12 PUMA: A BULLPUP SHOTGUN!

Canadian fans of the tactical shotgun have never had it better.  From the Dagger SAP-6 to the Kel-Tec KSG to the newly reborn Valtro PM-5 from Brixia, options abound.  The market is so brimming with exotics, it’s almost hard to get noticed.  What does it take to stand out?  How about a non-restricted, semi-automatic, optics-ready, twelve gauge bullpup? You have our attention. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Norinco K12 Puma.

Origins of the K12 Puma

The Norinco K12 Puma is closely patterned after the Type 95 and Type 97 bullpup service rifles.

By now, many black rifle fans will be familiar with events concerning the T97, but to briefly review, the Type 95 (or Qing Buqiang Zu 95 meaning Light Automatic Rifle) is a Chinese Army service rifle chambered for the 5.8x42 cartridge. The QBZ 97 or T97 is the export version chambered in 5.56x45 NATO round. This version has now been exported to several South East Asian militaries.

Lever Arms imported five sample semi-only T97’s into Canada in 2007. They then brought in an additional 50 rifles and sold these to the civilian market. This kicked off a series of imports by both Lever Arms and another importer, Canada Ammo, and over a thousand were imported within a matter of months.  However, the RCMP then decided to take a closer look at the T97, and reclassified them as prohibited full autos. They claimed that it was too easy to convert them to fully automatic operation, and all copies of the T97 were confiscated. For several years, it seemed that there would be no T97’s in Canada. Then in 2012, another established distributor, North Sylva, announced they had redesigned the trigger mechanism to satisfy the RCMP firearms lab. As well, the barrel of the North Sylva version (T97NSR) was lengthened slightly to change it from a Restricted rifle to a Non-Restricted rifle. North Sylva them imported at least 2000 of the new T97NSR in 2013.  The combination of exotic appearance, readily available AR15 magazines, short overall length due to the bullpen configuration, and the low purchase price generated a significant amount of interest and the rifles have become a fixture in Canada.

The new K12 Puma 12 gauge bullpup shotgun looks like a slightly larger version of the T95/T97 series. The butt looks quite similar, but the much larger barrel certainly gives away the fact that this is a 12 gauge. As can be seen in the photos, the original prototype looked very much like a T95 or T97 rifle. On the final production version, the carry handle from the original T97 has been removed, and a Picatinny rail is now mounted on top.

The origins of this intriguing firearm begin with an attempt to build a riot control beanbag gun. While the beanbag gun didn’t materialize, the idea of a 12 gauge box magazine fed semi-auto bullpup occurred to Lever Arms owner Kin Kwok Chung. Kin explained to this author that a good friend of his owns the factory where they are produced (the Kuandian Shotgun Factory in Liaoning, China in case you’re making travel plans), so it was relatively easy to create such a gun. If the factory was part of the Chinese military complex, it would be nearly impossible to make the required revisions in a timely manner. This project took about two and a half years to get to this point, a big commitment but certainly reasonable all things considered. Although it was not designed by the Small Arms Research Institute (formerly the 208 Research Institute), it would have passed through at some point, as Research Institute 208 serves as a proof house for other designs as well.

During a visit to Lever Arms, we were able to see several of the earlier prototypes, prior to the finalized version now being sold. They were essentially handmade guns, with rough machining marks etc. The upper forearm was carved from plastic and circular machine marks from the fly cutter were very visible. Even more interesting (as in amusing) were the scribe lines around the cooling slots. It seems someone used a sharp knife to scribe layout lines on the sample gun! The production version is, of course, a finished product, far cleaner and refined. The aluminum parts have a deep black matte anodizing similar to a Parkerized finish (Non-ferrous metal like aluminum cannot actually be Parkerized). The moulded polymer parts are not totally free of casting lines, but they are minor. As well, there were some sharp edges on the underside of the forward vertical grip that needed to be gently touched up with fine sandpaper. The moulded parts have a very fine matte finish. Once the design was finalized, the first run was 200 units produced and imported.

Inside the K12

The majority of the design input came from Lever Arms, with additional input from a few others in the industry. It is entirely possible that future changes and improvements may be made, based on suggestions from Canadian shooters, and in fact some production changes are already scheduled.  The safety selector will likely be moved from the rear to near the trigger, as has been done with the latest version of the PLA T95. The upper forearm guard might be changed from polymer to aluminum, so that a Picatinny rail can be machined into it. Currently, there are two short rails, one on each side of the lower part of the forearm. Screw in choke tubes may well be added as well. Currently the barrel is not choked, but simply a cylinder bore. Although not really intended for bird hunting, some may want to try, so a two round magazine may come eventually. The current magazine is set at five rounds, as per Canadian law for centre fire semi-auto long arms. The mag has a small amount of free play to allow a full mag to be inserted when the bolt is forward, so the capacity is in fact 5+1.

Internally, the K12 Puma is very similar to the T97 operating system. There is a two position gas setting switch above the barrel, for light and heavy loads. Brief instructions provided say to use the smaller hole for slugs and the larger hole for lighter trap loads. It also suggests a 50 round break-in period. Chamber length is for 2 ¾” shells only. The first prototype was built to handle three inch shells, but these caused too much wear on the system.  Cutting down to the shorter size solved the wear issues, so all production versions are designed for the shorter length only.

The gas system is of the short-stoke variety. The gas acts upon the face of a moving piston that has a short shaft attached. The shaft acts upon the forward end of the bolt carrier. The bolt carrier looks somewhat similar to AK internals. The bolt rotates counter clockwise to lock up. However, the Puma does not use a traditional hammer. As with the T97, the K12 Puma is striker fired. By removing a takedown pin, the upper portion of the buttstock can be removed, and then the striker assembly and the bolt carrier group can be removed by sliding to the rear. As noted above, the carry handle has been removed, and a Pic rail has been added. This change requires the charging handle to be relocated, as it originally was on top, within the carry handle. Now, the Pic rail covers the slot needed for the charging handle. The reciprocating CH has now been relocated to the side. Either side, as the handle can be swapped from left to right side without tools. Unfortunately, the ejection port is still permanently right side, so firing from the left shoulder is not recommended. The magazine is retained by way of a slot machined into the side of the magazine body, similar to the AR15. The mag release is a button on the right side of the magwell, and there is a small lever on the left side of the magwell that also acts as a mag release.

Shooting the K12

Upon holding the K12 Puma for the first time, one is stuck by the light weight. It looks as though it should be a bit heavier. Brand new, it comes drenched in light protective oil, within a sealed plastic bag. Included is one five round box magazine, and spare mags are available from Lever.  No formal instruction booklet is given, but a one page handout suggests firing the gun at the wide open gas setting for the first 50 rounds to loosen it up. Some early users report that light trap loads do not cycle at all. Loads with a bit more snap work fine. On this particular sample gun, it cycled fine with heavy slug loads on the small setting, but would not run reliably on light trap loads or even 3 dram equivalent field loads on the large hole. Even after manually cycling it 500 times (Yes, we counted.) and running several boxes of shells through it, it still experienced failures to feed and failures to extract about a quarter of the time.  Thankfully the solution was straightforward: after applying a good dose of G96 on all the moving parts, and gently (finger powered only) cleaning up the large gas hole on the gas plug with a 9/64” twist drill, the gun cycled perfectly.

The K12 Puma has a bolt hold open device, so the bolt will lock back when the magazine runs dry. The bolt release lever is located directly behind the magwell.  Oddly enough, the HOD functions even when the mag is removed from the gun. It is not activated by the mag floorplate of an empty mag, but is disabled by a round of ammo pushing the HOD aside.

The trigger is, frankly, a little rough.  The K12’s precursor, the T97 rifle, has a long travel, but is quite crisp.  The trigger on the K12 Puma, however, is very squeaky and crunchy. The travel is close to a full inch. Yes, this is a close range shotgun, so the trigger quality probably doesn’t matter much, but it is worth noting.  Overall length is 31” with a 19” barrel, and the weight is 8 lb. It does not come fitted with iron sights, so depending on your sight selection, the weight may increase slightly.

Once the gun was cycling reliably, we found it to be a supremely enjoyable machine.  Overall impressions of this gun are quite good. It is not perfect by any means, but the issues are a simple fix. The mould part lines are a minor cosmetic issue, but the sharp edges underneath the foregrip were sharp enough to be uncomfortable. Both were resolved within a few minutes with gentle sanding. The cycling issue was certainly of greater concern and annoyance, but it was resolved after a bit of effort. The only significant issue that will be difficult to address at the user level is the trigger, which is something most bullpup shooters have been dealing with in one way or another on nearly every model from every manufacturer.  Still, the K12’s trigger needs work.

On the positive side, this is a really dramatic, eye-catching design, based upon a proven service rifle design, available to civilians for a reasonable price. With a little tinkering, one can have a really fun gun.