I thinks it's tough because subjective attributes vary so much between one to another. A 32" barreled double may handle, for difficult to pinpoint reasons, better than the 30" pump or auto loader that some of us started off with, or have some familiarity with the guns that worked so well at the clays range. Only thoughts is all.
What is so hard to agree on is the "handling". That 32" double may indeed handle fine to someone who shoots heavier guns that have a slight weight-forward bias, because he is accustomed to that feel. But, a grouse or quail hunter who had searched his whole life for lighter and lighter guns, with 25-26" barrels, may find it terribly slow and clumsy. Don's data gives numbers that allow us to compare two or more guns and find one that matches, or nearly matches, the numbers on another gun we are already accustomed to handling. Then, the new gun will feel almost identical to us when we pick it up, barrel lengths notwithstanding.
SRH
