I understand what you're saying. I just have a soft spot for the winchesters to be honest. I've owned so many different brands over the years, that it's easy to understand that I'm not a brand snob by any means. But, I think the winchesters are pretty sweet shooters too. That's why I was thinking about it.
I have a source for an older mossberg 500B (16) barrel and cartridge stop and interrupter is all I would need to swap it over. The mossberg uses the same bolt as the 12 as far as I know. But it's a cylinder bore barrel and that doesn't really appeal to me. Mod or full and I would be more interested, but I'm not really interested in the cylinder bore.
I have an older Western Field 16 ga pump, which was made by Noble shotguns and by all intents and purposes, I like it better than I thought I would now that I've had it a while. They don't make guns like they used to. All metal parts. Even the follower is stainless steel. It has a lot of similarities with winchester model 12's and Ithaca 37's especially in regards to the bolt and such.
But getting spare parts could become more problematic if I ever broke something going forward. But the one I have is pre-68 and still has all the original parts as far as I can tell and even the hammer spring is still stout and lights primers without a problem. So it would probably outlast me. I don't like taking the trigger assembly out though because it's a chore to clean it sometimes. I'm not a fan of how it goes together.
I'm going to try to thread the barrel for chokes on that gun, but will be after Christmas before I have the time and extra cash to do it.
