I think I would take that grade 12 claim with a grain of salt.
SAE grade 9 looks to be approximately 180,000 psi tensile strength.
Metric grade 12.9 seems to be in the range of approximately 175,000 psi tensile strength.
Perhaps whoever you spoke with was referring to a metric grade 12.9? Certainly better than my grade 8 bolt which is rated at 150 thousand PSI tensile strength..
Just going by what I found on the Internet. No expert here. But we all know whatever you read on the Internet must be true!
I do feel the same though, as long as I could verify the pin grade. Grade 2, no way. Grade 8 should be OK... Higher grade all the better.