"I have always found it interesting that individuals will hunt in the brush with ease using a shotgun with a 26" barrel but the same ones feel a 26" barrel on a rifle is way too long to use in the same woodlot."
Here is why. At least it used to be that 26" barrels for shotguns, was about the shortest barrel length you could get on a shotgun. And a break open double or single barreled shotgun, with 26" barrel(s), is approximately the same length as a short (22") barreled rifle.
