Your post has me thinking about the barrel length.
The 12 gauge coach comes in a nickel coating on the outside, and the Stoeger coach guns are 20" barrels. Could you elaborate on why you prefer a longer barrel?
The Uplander is $50 cheaper and is available with double triggers, removable chokes, and either 26" or 28" barrels.
Interestingly, the 28" Uplander is 44" total length, which is still 4.5" shorter than a Remington 870 with the same length barrel.
I don't believe I'd be shooting any competition. Just hand-thrown backyard stuff. Maybe find a skeet shooting range nearby. I would like to do some hunting. I've done as much reading as I can, and I'm getting a lot of conflicting reports. People who have shot with 20" coach guns for a decade and hunt everything with them, people who shoot a 20" coach gun better than their friends shoot longer guns, and then people who insist a longer barrel is ideal. Having thought it over more today, I'm still not settled on the barrel length.
From what I have read, it has more to do with the swing than with accuracy or distance, as the chokes will manage that. I haven't shot as much with a shotgun as I'd like, but it seems that people swing too fast with short barrels and stop too quickly. I may drive back down to the range I went to that had the stoeger 12 gauge coach and hold it again next to the uplander.
As a side benefit, the coach would fit nicely in my suitcase when I fly out to California to shoot with my dad. I don't know if the 26" or 28" barrel will fit in a suitcase.
There were also some remarks about some ranges not allowing you to use a gun below a certain length due to muzzle blast. Is this true?