I knew a guy that swung hard into a tree trying to get on a grouse. It wrecked the gun and broke his nose. It would have happened with 26 or 28 inch barrels. After thinking that short was the way to go in a grouse covert for years I've switched to longer barrels for better dynamics in the gun. Time will tell. I like the feel but have not had enough birds present yet to know if the better feel will mean more hits. It has produced good percentages (for me) on clays and I don't think I'll again be searching out the shorter guns.

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