In my experience I've found there's absolutely no difference between 30" barrels and 26" barrels. I'll miss every grouse and every woodcock regardless of length.
+1, no,
+10, Kid.
I suffer from the same result, so I stick with not cutting mine.
Not that it matters, of course. It's in my head. I am still haunted by the easy miss last fall on a cock pheasant that flushed straight-away, unobstructed view in an open field, no briers hanging on me, against an open sky, no wind worth talking about, less than 20 yards away. Plain, silly open miss with both barrels that haunts me in the field and every time I get a straightaway bird at trap, too.
