I would think 26" would be your best bet in an O/U. There are many Semi's and pumps designed for upland bird hunting with 21" bbls, which would be about the same overall length as an O/U w 26" bbls because of the difference in the length of the receivers.

 

Hunting in thick cover or from a blind, I like a 21" barrel. For clays, the shortest barrel you want is 26". A 24" barrel is not ideal for either but is a good compromise. There will be no difference in the patterns as choke, not barrel length determines pattern. Velocity is a non-issue after 17" as all the powder has been burned unless you have reloads with very slow burning powder. Factory loads burn out in much less time.

My favorite O/U has 25" barrels. My favorite semiauto has 24" barrels. Since you are interested in an O/U, you will need to compromise to use the gun in heavy brush and for clays, IMO. There are experienced clay shooters on this forum that use their O/Us for both brush hunting and clays. They will chime in and help you.

 

26 or 28 inch would suit me. I hunt with 26¨barreled o.u.s. The 28 inch is lot more popular now and if I was getting a new gun that is what I would get. As much for possible resale value as anything. I just would not turn down a good deal on a used 26. And I think the 28 inch barrel looks nice in a 20.

 

Mr. Churchill a long time ago, determined, in his opinion, that 25" was the ideal length for bird guns, hence the development of the XXV Churchill guns. 26" was the standard for skeet years ago when I first started shooting, so i would imagine that something in that vein would suffice just nicely; then again, it depends on what YOU shoot better.......

 

Yooper, I will not even buy a 26 inch barreled gun. I know the swing of the 28 inch is that much better. I hunt everything from Fantail Grouse to Pheasant all with the same 28 inches and I have no problems. I just change chokes for what I'm hunting. Have a good season......Bob

 

If 28-inch barrels are too long, step back 2 inches and fire away.

 

I like my doubleguns for the field with 28s; my brother prefers 26s. He's quicker and more instinctual; I'm more deliberate. He generally chokes skeet/light mod; I generally choke IC/Mod. We each shoot what we like and get the results we want.

In short, I'd say it's a matter of personal preference. Shoot some clays in the off-season and keep your swing-grooved, you'd be fine either way, IMO. In my own case, I'm pretty certain the amount of shells I send downrange during the off-season is the biggest factor in my upland bird hunting success ... or lack thereof.

 

Looks like I will have to go to a store that has a good variety that I can swing. I am leaning towards 26 because of the brush that we bust but maybe handling them would be the best bet.

 

Yooper,

I hunt a lot of the northern WI aspen slash for grouse and I am guessing your cover is similar to what I am hunting. I have used both 26 and 28 inch barrles through out the years with great success with each. My opinion is that for hunting grouse in that kind of cover a 26" barrel is nice as many of the shots are quick, instinctive shots. With that being said, the short barrels on the clays range can be a disadvantage if you are not used to shooting them. What I have found is that I adjust to the gun. Shooting lighter, game type, guns forces you to swing the barrels and keep the gun moving on your own instead of depending on the momentum of longer barrels to propel your gun past the target. Shorter barreled guns are less forgiving on the skeet range but if this is going to be the only gun you will be shooting for skeet and grouse I would go with the 26".

With all that said, what is most important is that you find a gun that fits you and that you can shoot it well be it 26 or 28" gun. I have never banged the last two inches of my barrels on a tree with a 28" gun (I usually catch them closer to the forend). :wink:

 

I have lived long enough to see barrel length popularity go from 32" to 25" and back to 32" on double guns and some are now touting 34". Receiver guns usually adds another 3" to the overall length. I can recommend any given barrel length, but the reality is I'm not you and what I like may not suit you or the conditions that you intend to shoot. That said, I would leave Mr. Churchill's 25" barrels and the now in vogue 32" barrels to more experienced shooters and concentrate on 26" to 28" barrels. Before you choose a barrel length, mount, swing and shoot as many different barrel length shotguns as possible. My personal preferences in SxS's are 28"-29" for upland and 26" barrels for ducks and geese over decoys.
The 28/29" barrels swing well and are not cumbersome nor as heavy as 30/32" barrels. 26" barrels are in my opinion just right for waterfowl over decoys. For pass shooting I might opt for 30" barrels.

 

For me, 28" barrels is the way to go. If you're going with a semi-auto, then an "Upland" version might not be bad. I work with a guy that showed up on the skeet range with his 12 ga Upland Rem. 1100, with (IIRC) 23" barrel. I stood it next to my O/U w/28" tubes and it was MAYBE 1 1/2" shorter...

 

I believe you will have a very hard time selling a gun with a short (less than 28") barrel.

All my game guns are 28" and I use them for snap shooting Mexican quail to Dakota pheasant.

 

For Northern Michigan, Partridge and Woodcock hunting, swamps and river bottoms. I enjoy my Weatherby Athena O/U with 26 barrels. Its a joy to carry and shoot. To light to shoot more than 4 rounds of skeet though. I would never sell it, do not care about resale value. Good luck, Yooper !!! 8)

 

I must be a freak. I like 30 inches of full choke for everything in my 12 ga but the 16 ga double has 26 inches and I like it when I use it. The 26 is great for birds. That is I think it is great but I miss more often than not. (Doves will not stand still and give me a good shot.) :roll:

 

For the last few years, I've been accumulating SxS's with 25" barrels. I find the 12's and 16's perfectly weighted for pass shooting, and the 20's and 28's are great for flushing birds.

 

Looks like I will have to go to a store that has a good variety that I can swing. I am leaning towards 26 because of the brush that we bust but maybe handling them would be the best bet.

26" is pretty standard for your purposes.

Hunting the Yoop each season for a good spell, I have gone with 26" on a sxs to 26" on my beloved Sweet 16(ie about 29")....to a 24" on a 20 gauge 391 or 12 BUL at times.
All worked ok....not all shots will be in the thick stuff....I know this from missing birds flying straight down a two-track or across an aspen clearcut.
"Thick" as a standard occurrence is over-generalized re grouse and woodcock...anywhere.

Much also depends upon the exact nature of the cover....clearcut to swamps to more mature state ground...and dog choice of flusher to pointer.
Tho, I do have and have had setters that were excellent flushers. :lol:

Make the choice in shotgun one you really like and fits reasonably well....then practice and the odds will be in your favor....actually, they always are in your favor.... if one does not get in too much of a hurry.
Make haste slowly and understand the birds are where they want to be....and more are around.
It ain't rocketry.

Good luck and consider swampers in places, you betcha.

 

2009 post

 

2009 post

Yes, but if he is like most folks here.....he remains conflicted and full of angst over what to do.
{hs#

I'm pulling for him.

 

Looks like I will have to go to a store that has a good variety that I can swing. I am leaning towards 26 because of the brush that we bust but maybe handling them would be the best bet.

26" is pretty standard for your purposes.

Hunting the Yoop each season for a good spell, I have gone with 26" on a sxs to 26" on my beloved Sweet 16(ie about 29")....to a 24" on a 20 gauge 391 or 12 BUL at times.
All worked ok....not all shots will be in the thick stuff....I know this from missing birds flying straight down a two-track or across an aspen clearcut.
"Thick" as a standard occurrence is over-generalized re grouse and woodcock...anywhere.

Much also depends upon the exact nature of the cover....clearcut to swamps to more mature state ground...and dog choice of flusher to pointer.
Tho, I do have and have had setters that were excellent flushers. :lol:

Make the choice in shotgun one you really like and fits reasonably well....then practice and the odds will be in your favor....actually, they always are in your favor.... if one does not get in too much of a hurry.
Make haste slowly and understand the birds are where they want to be....and more are around.
It ain't rocketry.

Good luck and consider swampers in places, you betcha.

Great insight here, irrefutable, really. And the performance of modern shot shells only reinforces these statements. I encourage folks to spend indiscriminately for a hunt that they only do once or twice a year; HeviShot etc...

I shoot a heavy 31' O/U in live bird competitions but I prefer a svelte 26' 20ga on West Texas quail. Conditions dictate choices, a fast field gun will always be 26" IMO.

Great question and great discussion.

 

Nothing particularly great about it. People have not reverted back to short barrels in the last 11 years. Sales of 26 inch barrel guns, even used ones, are very slow. Anything shorter is almost impossible to sell. The trend has been towards even more 30 inch barrels for hunting guns, especially 20 gauge over/unders. We always looked to the really old guys in hope of selling a short barrel gun.

 

The very best barrels are 28.420" long, but they only work with square loads.

 

The OP was wise, years and years ago, in considering barrel length vs bird, location, cover and all else.

30" 20 gauge O/Us will, of course, work up der, depending, but few ruffed grouse and woodcock hunters in his area would choose that length .....yesterday, or today.
Fewer still would advise that combination...some naturally but, few.
imo

I do know a fella who successfully uses a 29" SxS in a 28 gauge Up Nort but...odds on, not a preferred choice by many.

Might be interesting to know what the OP chose or where he wound up in scattergun preference.
Mebbe he eventually slipped to a 30" 20 gauge O/U.

 

Nothing particularly great about it. People have not reverted back to short barrels in the last 11 years. Sales of 26 inch barrel guns, even used ones, are very slow. Anything shorter is almost impossible to sell. The trend has been towards even more 30 inch barrels for hunting guns, especially 20 gauge over/unders. We always looked to the really old guys in hope of selling a short barrel gun.

This has made it very easy to own some really nice guns! The shorter barrels are just as effective, but since they aren't popular, I've been reaping the benefits.

 

Although I am not an experienced grouse hunter due to the fact that I have only hunted them for about 4 years in MN, NY and ME, I really like the 26 inch barrels on my 20 gauge stack barrel. They are actually 26.5 inches for those that want to be precise. I believe that they are perfect in that cover! I also like the very light weight (5 3/4 lbs) when scrambling around all day. I am too old (71) to be hauling a longer or heavier gun for distances we cover in 3 day hunts.

I have made a couple of near impossible quick shots in heavy evergreen cover on woodcock that I don't think would have been made with longer barrels. I am trying hard not remembering the easy shots I have missed which have been too many to count!

 

My vote is for 26". I used to hunt grouse in southeast Ohio in the 1980s (when there were grouse there, not many there today). I also have hunted rabbits a lot and grouse cover and rabbit cover share similar properties. Both of these are different than pheasant, quail, dove, or most other upland hunting. For those, I prefer 28" barrel. But in the thicker cover for rabbits and grouse I prefer 26". It doesn't sound like a big difference but those 2" do effect handling in the brush. For a long time, my rabbit gun was a 26" 20 gauge SxS. I then got an O/U 20 gauge with 28" barrels and decided to give it a go for rabbits. It was definitely slower to get on the close range fast moving targets than the 26" gun.

As for clay targets, if you are just shooting them for hunting practice and recreation and you are not shooting in competitions, then a 26" barrel will work fine. You might have a slight disadvantage on longer targets due to the shorter sighting plane and less weight out front but it might actually be a slight advantage on the close fast moving targets. Skeet is a close range game and plenty of straights have been shot with 26" barrels back when they were the preferred length. Trap and sporting clays benefit from longer barrels but if you aren't shooting competitively then who cares if the slightly shorter barrels cost you a couple of targets for every 100 shot.

In other words, if not shooting clays competitively, I would rather shoot clays and grouse with a 26" barrel than deal with the 28" barrel in the grouse woods. YMMV.