Brutus51,
Sorry to hear of the issues. But used guns, regardless of make, can have issues. There is a really fine pistol lurking inside your 97, unfortunately, the only way you will realize is by dropping some coin.
When the 97 was developed, hollow point ammo was (and still is) illegal in the Czech Republic, hence it's was designed as a "ball" gun.
Try to think of it as a 1911 project.