With or without replaceable choke tubes barrel length has nothing to do with patterns.....the way the barrel is bored and length of transition of the barrel to the choke diameter are the factors on how a gun patterns or not to ones satisfaction. This providing you are using the same exact ammunition everytime you try a different choke tube. There isn' t one bit of difference between 28 and 26" barrel lengths when it comes to hunting...although some of the longer lengths come in handy for trap and pass shooting.