ditto most of the above posts, but in my opinion, the choke is the utmost of importance. I have a Mossberg 835 with a 26 in barrel and a Rem 870 with a 23 in barrel, both equipped with Undertaker choke tubes. My buddy has a Super x2, also with an undertaker tube and we succesfully take birds every year. We have patterened our guns with different ammo and tubes and have found the undertaker to have devastating results with Winchester Supremes with # 4 or 5's. I am sold more on the undertaker than on barrel length.