There were and are many highwalls in many calibers that are light and "handy" with shorter and longer barrels as well, but 1885 actions are very short compared to a 1895, for example. So a 28" or longer will still be quite "handy", esp. relative to the same length on a 93 or 73 or whatever.

I use a 30" .38-72 highwall quite a lot in Wyoming for several species of game


_________
BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]