before polychoke and screw-in choke tubes came along,length of barrel meant something because the standard 26" barrel was an improved cylinder[for quail hunting] a 28" barrel was modified choke for all around hunting and a 30" barrel was a full choke[for ducks,geese,squirrel and long range shooting. yes you could order skeet barrels and different length barrels with other chokes.but now with the screw-in choke systems available on about all guns,you can get as short a barrel as you like and get it to do what you want it to at different distances with different loads and shot sizes.i just sent a 28" browning barrel to CARLSONS CHOKES and had it cut to 22" and a .670 turkey tube installed.i also ordered an imp cyl,mod,full and xtrafull along with the turkey tube.i can now use this gun for about anything i want to hunt.