I shot a 26" sxs 12ga at everything from skeet to pheasant for years. But once I got over my prejudice over longer barrels, I found my scores went up, especially on sxs guns. I believe its from the longer sighting radius. I think a longer sight radius just provides less angular error for the minimum detectable misalignment. Pumps and autos have an added element in that the receiver length adds to the sight radius.