what barrel length do you like

[mm]

I am getting a new shotgun and wonder what barrel length to get. I have always shot 28 inch and never shot 26 inch. I have never had the chance to shoot a 26. I hunt pheasants wild and pen raised in NY and SD. I am going to get the remington wingmaster 870 and was just getting 28 because I always had one. I am not a gun or shooting expert what difference would the 26 make.
mm

[BigShooter]

Competition shooters generally prefer longer barrels and say the swing is smoother. Short barrels are referred to as "whippy", they may come up fast but don't produce the same nice swing. A shorter barrel produces lower shot velocity. A 2" difference is so small you would not notice a difference in killing power. A 2" shorter gun is slightly lighter so the shorter gun produces slightly more perceived recoil. All that being said the difference in swing and recoil between 26" & 28" barrelled guns will be hardly noticable to the average shooter. Personally I like longer barrels when waterfowling and shorter barrels when hunting upland birds. I do not use guns with barrels shorter than 26" but several people on this site have said they use 24' barreled guns. The older I get and the more I have to walk the more I want a lighter and hence shorter gun.

Mark

[romeo212000]

My preferred barrell length is 28". Much smoother swing.

[Michael Jobe]

I am getting a new shotgun and wonder what barrel length to get. I have always shot 28 inch and never shot 26 inch. I have never had the chance to shoot a 26. I hunt pheasants wild and pen raised in NY and SD. I am going to get the remington wingmaster 870 and was just getting 28 because I always had one. I am not a gun or shooting expert what difference would the 26 make.
mm

The 26" barrel gun will be slightly lighter (a couple ounces), maybe swing a little faster (but I doubt there's much difference), and have a slight (15 to 30 fps) decrease in shot velocity. Not a heck of a lot of difference. If you're comfortable and shoot a 28" barrel well, stick with it.

I have one 26" barreled gun, a Winchester Super X2 Light, and personally wouldn't want a gun any longer than that for upland birds simply because it's easier for me to carry a shorter lighter gun. I've got an old Winchester 120 youth model 20 ga, with a 22" or 24" barrel that I'm thinking about putting an adult stock on, opening the choke up, and using as a grouse gun. Will be nice and small and light. Perfect for carrying while tramping in the woods all day and seeing nothing.

~Michael

[ckfowler]

My BPS has a 21" bbl and the sxs is 24, just because I couldn't get any shorter with screw in tubes without doing a custom job. Close shots over pointing dogs, never could hit much past 30 yards before either so the rear-middle center of balance works well for my poke and shoot style.

[PAHunter]

Barrel lenght affects balance and weight, that being said adding or subbtracting a couple of inches at the end of the gun changes the dynamics of the swing. I think barrel lenght has alot to do with what your hunting and how much weight your willing to carry. Smokless powder burns fully in the first 15" of the barrel, yet longer barrels produce very slightly higher velocities. If I remeber right its only a 5 to 10 f.p.s advantage. So I'd say pick the one the feels right to you barrel lenght really has no effect on ballistics.

[Chaingang]

See if you can handle a gun in both 26 and 28 and see what you prefer. As far as weight differences, a couple ounces here or there isn't going to make much difference when it comes to carrying the gun all day. A half a pound is another story. If your like me and hunt wild ringnecks late in the season, where many times the shots can be rather long, a 28 with it's longer sighting plane and swing dynamics, will be of some advantage in pointing accuracy . With only 2 inches difference it might not be much, but still noticable.

On the other hand if the part of the country where you hunt is mostly close tight quarters a 26 certainly may be more to your liking. FWIW

[natetnc]

i shoot 26" barrels, that is what i am used to so switching to a 28" barrel would throw me off and take some getting used to. i can tell when i am swinging a 26" vs a 28" barreled gun. early on i forced myself to shoot well with a short barreled gun because of its appeal on fast flying birds and long walks through fields. if you have been shooting a 28" barrel for any length of time then that is what i would stick with. i always say, "if it aint broke dont fix it" so if you are shooting the 28" well stick with it. i do occasionally shoot longer barrels when duck hunting but i find them awkward and i don't shoot them nearly as well, but a 26" barrel for ducks is not very practical.

[romeo212000]

I am getting a new shotgun and wonder what barrel length to get. I have always shot 28 inch and never shot 26 inch. I have never had the chance to shoot a 26. I hunt pheasants wild and pen raised in NY and SD. I am going to get the remington wingmaster 870 and was just getting 28 because I always had one. I am not a gun or shooting expert what difference would the 26 make.
mm

The 26" barrel gun will be slightly lighter (a couple ounces), maybe swing a little faster (but I doubt there's much difference), and have a slight (15 to 30 fps) decrease in shot velocity. Not a heck of a lot of difference. If you're comfortable and shoot a 28" barrel well, stick with it.

I have one 26" barreled gun, a Winchester Super X2 Light, and personally wouldn't want a gun any longer than that for upland birds simply because it's easier for me to carry a shorter lighter gun. I've got an old Winchester 120 youth model 20 ga, with a 22" or 24" barrel that I'm thinking about putting an adult stock on, opening the choke up, and using as a grouse gun. Will be nice and small and light. Perfect for carrying while tramping in the woods all day and seeing nothing.

~Michael

Actually the length of the barrell makes no difference in speed when you are talking about the difference between 26" and 28"

[BigShooter]

I am getting a new shotgun and wonder what barrel length to get. I have always shot 28 inch and never shot 26 inch. I have never had the chance to shoot a 26. I hunt pheasants wild and pen raised in NY and SD. I am going to get the remington wingmaster 870 and was just getting 28 because I always had one. I am not a gun or shooting expert what difference would the 26 make.
mm

The 26" barrel gun will be slightly lighter (a couple ounces), maybe swing a little faster (but I doubt there's much difference), and have a slight (15 to 30 fps) decrease in shot velocity. Not a heck of a lot of difference. If you're comfortable and shoot a 28" barrel well, stick with it.

I have one 26" barreled gun, a Winchester Super X2 Light, and personally wouldn't want a gun any longer than that for upland birds simply because it's easier for me to carry a shorter lighter gun. I've got an old Winchester 120 youth model 20 ga, with a 22" or 24" barrel that I'm thinking about putting an adult stock on, opening the choke up, and using as a grouse gun. Will be nice and small and light. Perfect for carrying while tramping in the woods all day and seeing nothing.

~Michael

Actually the length of the barrell makes no difference in speed when you are talking about the difference between 26" and 28"

Sorry Romeo, but you've fallen for a myth. Velocities do increase slightly with barrel length. See: http://www.fieldandstream.com/article/S ... e-Truth-Is... As indicated in the first reply and several others above, the difference in shot velocities between 26" & 28" barrels is small but real.

Mark

[Dave Quindt]

Mark is correct; a shell shot of out of a 28" barrel will have a faster muzzle velocity than the the exact same shell shot from a 26" barrel. Probably a whopping 1.5%. The problem is you can't shoot the same shell twice. But the real issue is that there is some variation in individual shells in the same box, and even more variation between different boxes marked with the same load and velocity. So the guy with the 26" barrels shooting the 1oz load at 1200fps may be shooting shells faster than his buddy shooting another type of 1oz/1200fps load.

The differences between 22" and 30" barrels may be 6%, but pellets from the 22" barrel still have enough energy at functional distances to kill game birds.

Regarding barrel length, the conversation is almost irrelevant unless you talk about action length/design. Many auto/pump guys would claim that shooting a 28" or even 30" barreled gun for grouse is crazy, until they find out that their 24"-26" guns are the same length and probably weigh more.

Any of the common barrel lengths (22"-30') will produce enough velocity and energy to kill birds at likely distances. What's important is not the length of the barrel, but the overall length and balance of the gun. If the gun is too short to swing properly or too heavy to carry all day without tiring the velocity of the shell is meaningless.

JMO,
Dave

[gar-dog]

If you hunt a lot in heavy cover or "grouse woods" the 26in would make a difference. Otherwise, a 28in gun is much more versatile. I am thinking about o/u's but I imagine a pump or auto is longer overall given the same barrel length due to the lengthened receiver. Shot velocity, weight. etc - I don't think would make much of a difference to you for a couple of inches.

[tfbirddog2]

Get a 26 or 24 easier to get in and out of a pickup with, when driving to and from, I have my first 28 and like it but would prefer a 26 or 24.

[tanner]

i have a thing for 24" barrels, just feels like i can swing and keep a beed on my target better, but when my target is farther out i have to have more range than a 24" can offer, i have to 26" barrels and they pack all the range i need especially w/ 3" shells, i cant tell much of a range difference between 26" and 28", dad has a 30 inch barrel on a remington 1100, and it will reach out and touch whatever your shooting at, but i hate swinging the thing, but i would go with the 26"

[phermes1]

If muzzle velocity actually does change a few feet per second per inch of barrel - I would not consider this a significant enough change to affect my purchase decision.

[nj gsp]

This is an interesting subject and one that is debated by many. I know a lot of trap shooters prefer long barrels - 30" or more. I have a 12 ga O/U with 26" barrels, and I shot skeet with this gun and did very well. I do not do so well in the field with it, and I'm not sure why. The gun is very well balanced though, and swings fast because it is not barrel heavy.

I have doubles with barrel lengths from 26" up to 30". My personal preference, if I had to pick one, is 28".

[Ayres]

I like the 26" barrels on my O/U.

I look at it this way... all the positives you get from going with 28" barrels are in word form only - they're too slight to notice when you're actually in the field and swinging on a flushing bird. However, when you're not pumped with adrenaline, and you're instead walking through tight cover, the 26" barrels are less likely (2 inches, to be exact) to get dinged by tree branches.

That, and if I want longer barrels I can always put in extended choke tubes.

[romeo212000]

I actually do notice a difference between 26" and 28" barrells. Well not so much do I actually notice as I notice a difference in my scores. To each his own though.

[Nebraska]

My best days in the field have been with my Rem 870 SPS-T with a 21" barrel. I would've scoffed at that years ago but I've found that shorter barrels work very well for me. BTW - I'm right handed and left-eye dominant so I do a lot more "snap" shooting than smooth follow throughs.....

[Greg Jennings]

This is an interesting subject and one that is debated by many. I know a lot of trap shooters prefer long barrels - 30" or more. I have a 12 ga O/U with 26" barrels, and I shot skeet with this gun and did very well. I do not do so well in the field with it, and I'm not sure why. The gun is very well balanced though, and swings fast because it is not barrel heavy.

I have doubles with barrel lengths from 26" up to 30". My personal preference, if I had to pick one, is 28".

Trap shooters (one time AA-26-AA shooter here) shoot long barrels for the smooth swing and the longer, more precise sight plane. Most top shooters shoot 34" single barrels and 32" O/U's.

In skeet, the move has been to longer barrels. The 26" O/U used to be standard, then it was 28" and many now shoot 30". I had a 28" but shot my dad's 30 very well also. I think I would prefer 30" in a lighter gun.

Greg J.

[Sharon]

26 inch barrels, 13 inch pull for a small lady - perfect

[Razor]

28" O/U
29" S/S
26" Autos

In my competition guns I use Briley tubes which make them 29"

[nj gsp]

26 inch barrels, 13 inch pull for a small lady - perfect

What gun do you shoot? I'm trying to find an O/U for my wife, who is five feet nothin'.

[vikings269]

funny i was just thinking of this after shooting at some clays, i got a 26" barrel and i hit almost every clay and my significant other has a 22" 20 guage and she couldnt even hit 1 clay and i was lucky to get just over 50% i was wondering if it was the lack of barrel length or, the rifle sights, or the lack of lead?

[nj gsp]

If it's got rifle sights on it, then the gun is meant for shooting stuff with hooves, not wings. It's likely choked full, assuming it's not rifled...

I doubt the barrel length has much to do with it, seems like it's more the wrong type of gun.

Accuracy with any shot is mostly a matter of fit, and ability. Fit is something that can be fixed, ability is fixed by practice!

[birdhunt]

I shoot a Benelli M1 with a 21" barrel........have taken dove, quail, turkey, woodcock, grouse, pheasant, and waterfowl with it..........took a while to get the swing right, and it is a little noisy in the duck blind, but that short barrel sure is handy under some conditions.

[vikings269]

you are correct it came with extra full choke, its a cam0 turkey gun, im not stupid i swapped it out with improved cylinder before shooting at clays!

[nj gsp]

you are correct it came with extra full choke, its a cam0 turkey gun, im not stupid i swapped it out with improved cylinder before shooting at clays!

As you did not indicate what choke you were using and mentioned rifle sights on the gun, you opened the door for the assumption to be made, and the question to be asked. I apologize if you viewed it as an attack on your intelligence.

As I'm sure you are aware, choke selection is range dependant, so you might want to try again with a tighter choke if shooting at longer ranges. My wife waits too long to shoot at clays, and the target is too far away to be hit effectively with a big pattern from an open choke.

Regardless of choke, the #1 most important factor in hitting something with a shotgun is gun fit, followed by the use of proper shooting form and mechanics, both of which are often overlooked as being key factors to accuracy.

[tdhusker]

I dislike 26" barrels on repeating guns and despise them on O/U's. Almost everyone shoots better with a longer gun. Almost.

[lovesuglydogs]

30' for duck/geese
28' for pheas/quail
26' for grouse
20"-22" for home defense



Rifles is a whole nother matter, heres a few of mine

[BoJack]

26" For upland birds.