Regarding shooting slugs in Model 12s, I forgot to mention that non-shortened barrels with cylinder, improved cylinder, and even modified chokes will often shoot slugs pretty well. Several years ago I helped a friend get into deer hunting with his purchase of a Model 12 with a 28-inch modified barrel. The outside finish was a little rough, but the bore was beautiful. And, the first 3-shot group at 50 yards was a tight cluster centered on the black bull target. No special sights were used. I just centered the front bead on the target and pulled the trigger.
It's getting hard to find nice ones, most of them had little bluing on them or you could tell had been reblued. Don't start looking at the old pump .22s :-)I'm really liking the older winchesters all of the sudden. The 97s intrigue me as well.