I'm about to get back into shotgunning after several years of focusing on my rifles. When I was more involved with shotguns (maybe 10-15 years ago) it seems to me that the following were the rules of thumb about barrel length:

26" - Close range upland bird hunting in dense cover.

28" - Upland bird hunting in open country plus most sporting clays shooting.

30" - Waterfowl hunting and trap shooting.

In the research that I've done so far, it seems that the 28" and 30" barrel lengths have somewhat gone by the wayside (at least for 20ga autoloaders). The omission of 30" barrels I can understand since waterfowl hunting and trap shooting are pursuits for the 12ga. But what about the 28" barrels? I've mainly been looking at Benelli, Beretta, Browning and Remington field guns and only the latter 2 offer a 20ga autoloader with a 28" barrel. Has there been some technological advance in these guns or the loads that they shoot that makes the 28" barrel irrelevant now?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Bob

There are many commonly accepted myths about shotgunning ! One is barrel length. First the total length of a 24" auto is the same as a 28" O/U !These lengths are my choice for hunting and sporting clays. With modern powders barrel length has little effect on velocity and with shot extra velocity doesn't get you much anyway with field loads.

All but two of my shotguns have 26" barrels, be they 12 or 20 or auto, pump, O/U, or SxS. Kind of going along with what mete said, I have heard from several folks that max velocity with modern ammunition will be achieved in the first 20" of a shotgun barrel. I have never shot a shotgun thru a chronograph to test this, but it makes sense. When selecting a turkey gun, I patterned a 24" 12 and a 28" 12, both with full chokes and though the 28" shot the bulk of the pattern closer to the point of aim, the overall spread of the pattern was the same.
If I had to take a swing at why 28" barrels are so uncommon now, I would think it was partly because screw-in chokes are the norm now, that along with modern ammo has made barrel length less important. I would also say production costs have played a bit too. It's still cheaper to make a 26" barrel than a 28"

Ok. From an English perspective.

First you'll go deaf quicker with a short barrel than a long barrel so for that reason I'd take the long in preference to the short.

All the rest - balance, handling, pointability etc., etc. - can or should be the same on a well made gun regardless of barrel length.

Finally how does it "look" on you? The shorter the person often the better it is to have shorter barrels! If you carry your gun in the crook of your arm it won't risk getting mud or snow kicked up into the muzzles!

Style. I'm 6' 4". On me a 25" barrel gun - even a 26" barrel gun - looks like I'm in the business of robbing banks! Yet on my 5' 4" friend a long barrel gun makes him look like he has borrowed "dad's gun" and is yet to grow into it!

So? Think of your ears then think of if you'll carry it muzzle down in the crook of your arm. Lastly think of "style". Even if you can't be like an crack shot with a bespoke (custom) gun at least choose a barrel length that'll make you look it!

Personally on a single barrel gun like a Remington 870 or 1100 I think that 28" is probably the best option.

On a SxS or O/U? 28" or 30". I see no point at all on any shot gun except that used for buckshot on deer (or man) or in thick brush for less than that. And for that I'd choose 24" or even 20".

Bob,

In the 10 or 15 years you've been gone from shotgun shooting, things have changed! Well, theories have, anyway. On the skeet you field you probably saw a lot of 26" and 28" guns. Not anymore! Most everyone there has gone to either 30" or 32" barrels. Not that they're really any better, but that's what people are using now. Trap? You won't find many 32" single barrel trapguns (not talking about pumps or semis now, either). They're all 34" barrels (in fact, mine's a 35). Even a lot of sporting clays shooters are shooting 32" O/Us now. The real reason is the longer sighting plane. People like it, it's like you're on top of the target. Field guns just kind of went the same way as the target guns, longer = better. I wouldn't go so far as to get a 32" barrel on my pumps and semis (which would be like a 36" barrel on a break open gun), but a 28" barrel on them makes them swing and feel very nice to me, so that's what I use. Give them a try, they might feel a little weird to you at first if you were using shorter barrels, but I bet you bag just as many if not more birds than you did in the past with them.

I am one who is enjoying shorter barrels on my shotguns. Just picked up a new Benelli M2 26" 12ga to shoot crane and other high fliers with 3" shells. It's not the barrel length,,,it's how you choke the gun for best performance. My favorite pheasant gun is a 24" M2 20ga with LM choke. I can dust a bird with it as good as my 12's or 16's. Most of my O/U's are 26".