Thanks for the info, fellas. I’ve got a gun I’d like to cut down and cerakote.

I think 22" may be ideal. No doubt more convenient in thick cover, and honestly, if you're in thick cover you're likely taking a shot inside of 30 yards; so it's not like shot pattern is as critical, plenty of loads and chokes out there for a good pattern inside 30 yds. I hunted turkey in earnest for the first time this year with my old 28" Maverick 88. I really didn't find myself wishing I had a shorter barrel though, and enjoyed the added sight radius (using 3-dot adjustable).

Also, it irritates me how the market is - it seems like the "turkey" guns command a premium compared to the equivalent "field" gun setup with a longer barrel. I know there is a lot of voodoo involved in the making of a good shotgun barrel, but it really seems like you're paying mostly for the trademarked camo finish. As a new turkey hunter, if I had to recommend gear to someone else getting into the sport - I'd say buy the cheaper, longer-barreled 870/500 and spend the extra change on some 3-dot adjustable sights, a good choke tube, ammo, and a handful of Woodhaven mouth calls.

As a new turkey hunter ...... you just haven’t gotten hung up in enough vines, limbs, fences, and sticks or gotten binded up and pinned down enough times to fully realize all the benefits of a short barrel. You will get there if you stick with it though I promise.

Some lessons are best learned through experience. I think that's part of what is so fun about turkey hunting

That'll preach Brother.

I think it’s notable that a shorter stock can be as important as a short barrel when you are in a bind.

anyone who cannot effectively use a 24/25 inch barrel turkey hunting needs to take up knitting and stay out of the woods. That statement is based on 50+ years and a couple hundred kills in the turkey woods. Nuff said.

Great point. My stock got hung up under my arm pit this spring right before trying to put a bead on a gobbler's head. It resulted in unneccesary stress.

I killed a truck load with a 1976 28" barrel shiny stocked1100 (2 3/4" chamber), but I sure do like hunting with that short barrel a lot more.

No I get it, like I said 22” might be ideal. I’m just saying it’s not the end of the world if all you’ve got is a 28” barrel. Some people might be watching this thread thinking about trying for their first gobbler and thinking they won’t be successful without a purpose built turkey gun.

Just think about how many you could have killed with a 21” barrel!

somewhere I have a 12 1/2 with a screw in choke....ought to be hell on those close in briar patch birds......

Me too...It ain’t so much barrel length as it is overall length. Length of pull factors in almost as much. I’ve killed ‘em with an Elmer Fudd special but vastly prefer a compact 40” overall length or less gun. Mounted with a dot, it’s an oversized “pocket gun.” Only worry is I’m gonna shoot myself in the foot one day...

24" on a O/U or SxS.

I’d say 18-24. I got the 18-1/2 now but I had a Super Mag 870 with a 24- inch barrel that was Pure Death on anything you pointed it at. Deer, turkey, ducks, geese etc.

A back bored 30"full choke barrel