Don’t make the decision on the basis of pure specs. The answer becomes personal, although the trend is to longer barrels, especially in sporting clays. The longish barrels must also be light, and even better with fixed chokes, to have that “just right” feel - not whippy, not stoggy.
My favorite sporting gun is a Perazzi MX8 with 33” fixed choke barrels. I have another now obsolete gun as a backup that is also a very nice pointer, a Beretta ASE Gold with 30 3/4” choke tubed barrels. If that Beretta’s barrels were longer it would feel like a pig on a shovel. I shoot both quite well, both fit perfectly, but I will score just slightly higher with the Perazzi.
I also have a Benelli Montefeltro 12 gauge hunting gun that feels just right with it’s 26” barrel; it wouldn’t be right with a 28”.
And length has nothing to do with powder burning. It has everything to do with the combination of inertia and balance, that thing we call “feel.” So the answer - it just depends.
Last edited by GF1; 05/18/20.
