Let me throw one more wrinkle into the thread. I prefer a 24" tube, but have nothing against a 26" barrel. I realize the 28" gives the maximum sight plane, but is there any appreciable difference between a 24" barrel and 28"?
When I was in Argentina last summer, my rental gun was a Benelli Montefeltro with a 24" barrel. Everyone else in the group had Beretta 391s with 26" or 28" barrels. After running +3,500 rounds through it and a couple hundred in the 391 (swapped up with my buddy just because), I can say that I really liked the short barrel. Most experts will say that longer is better for wing-shooting, but I think I could go either way. I can't say if I shot the Montefeltro better because it fit better or because I had more experience with it? But after the first day, I was shooting really, really good and I'm not usually a great shot-gunner.
I spent most of my life shooting an 11-87 in 12 ga and now own a Benelli M2 in 12, but after that trip, I vowed to buy a 20 ga semi in the near future.
As others have said, there are only 2 guns in the high volume dove shooting world, Benelli and Beretta, but most hunters will not shoot 5,000 rounds at game birds in their whole lives so gun reliability long term is a non-factor. Argentine dove outfitters run 5000+ rounds thru their guns every week, year round. I asked the outfitter how often they replace the guns and expected his answer to be yearly.....he said every 7-10 years....you can run the numbers on that!!!
