26 or 24 inch barrel difference

J

jiminminn

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I am obviously new to this forum and I did search this question before asking. I only found one that was close so I want to be sure.
I am fairly new to shotgun hunting. I have very much enjoyed upland bird hunting with a good friend and plan to do a lot more in the future. I am going to upgrad my gun to a Benelli Montefeltro semi-auto 20 gauge. It comes in a 26 and a 24 inch barrel. I realize the 24 will swing easier but will the pattern and distance suffer and if so by how much.
This gun will be used about 80% of the time in upland hunting and the rest of the time with clays practicing.
What should I know about the barrel decision?
Thanks in advance
Jim
 
There are lots of myths about shotguns and velocity increases with barrel length are insignificant and pattern has a whole lot more to do with the choke than length. BTW Benelli chokes are a bit tighter than most but no matter what gun, choke , or load ALWAYS pattern the load so you know exactly what the pattern is. Get the 24" as my M1 90 is.Mine I've used for sporting clays ,geese. squirrels ,turkey ,feral dogs and cats and looked for but haven't gotten grouse.Keep it clean, it may not like light target loads, and enjoy !!!:)
 
+1 one on chokes, they make the diffence in a gun. Longer barrel gives you a little more velocity, but 2 inches isn't that much. Shorter barrels are easier to handle in the field. You could always go to ext tubes if the patterns don't work out.
 
I've got two SxS doubles (12-gauge), one with 26" IC/Mod barrels mostly used for hunting/skeet shooting, and one with 28" Mod/Full barrels, used exclusively for trapshooting. Since SxS shotguns have very short receivers, those lengths work well for me.

Your semi-auto will have a significantly longer receiver, so I'm thinking the 24" might be better for upland game hunting. As far as velocity between a 24" and 26" barrel, I don't think there is any difference. More importantly is to consider what choke you want. I/C is great for quail and grouse hunting, Mod is better for pheasant, and Full for waterfowl and turkey. If the barrel comes with screw-in choke tubes, then you've covered all the bases.
 
Length is only important when it comes to using slugs... So I have heard and read. Accuracy is unchanged with BB (not the size) shot.
 
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