Found a benelli m2 but it has a 26 inch barrel. Would it be better to pass on a good deal and get a 28 or snag this 26. Would be all purpose use dove,clays,duck and goose

26 is my preference. If its a 20 gauge i would pass on it and tell me where its at lol

I'd go with 26" me personally, benelli's are longer than brownings, beretta, and winchesters etc

its a 12

I chose the 26 inch over a 28 inch in the M2 in a 12 gauge. 28 inch barrel just seems too long and heavy. With the aftermarket chokes and quality shells these days, I’ll never own another 28 inch barrel. You just do too much toting vs. shooting for me.

I hold a different opinion than most everyone else it seems. For wingshooting, I want the longer 28” barrel, and for turkey hunting I want something much shorter. The 26” barrel is probably my least favorite barrel length.

A 26 for me points better than a 28…I like my 26” barrel guns

I currently have a 21" 12 gauge, a 28" 12 gauge, a 22" 20 gauge, several 18" 20 gauge, a 14" pantry shotgun in 20 gauge, and a 26" 28 gauge. I have owned everything from an 18" home defense up to a 32" goose gun.

With modern choke technology, I don't know why anyone wants a barrel longer than 20".

Upfront I'm no threat to anything flying but a 28 inch just feels better for me swinging.

24 for turkeys, 28 for ducks and doves

Wait out a 30 or 32, I still like the longer sight plain.

I’ve shot 28 and 30” barrels for most of my life. Mainly duck and goose hunting. When I started turkey hunting I bought a youth model 20ga Rem 1100 with a 21”barrel. I’ve used it a few times teal hunting but everyone said it was way to loud. Fast forward a few years and I bought a 20ga 870 with a 26” barrel. I absolutely fell in love with this gun. Perfect size for all the types of hunting I do. I really like in a duck blind. It’s lite and easy to swing. That M2 should be even lighter then the 870 and would be a dream to hunt with.

Longer barrels give longer sight radius, and smother swing. Helpful for wing shooting. Short barrels offer faster handling and ease of carry. As far as patterns go, chokes can make it do whatever you want. 26" in my opinion is a good "do it all" length. I use my M2 with 26" barrel for everything, deer hunting with dogs, dove, turkey, rabbit, squirrel.

I don't mind the 28" but I've got a 28" sbeii that just sits in the safe, it's just so much longer than the other gas guns (the receiver on the nelly) i went ahead and picked up an sbeiii last year in 26" and it's still dang 2" longer than my Son's 26" winchester sx4 and purty sure longer than my Son's browning 28' 😄

If you are looking at the bead while wing shooting, you probably aren’t going to hit regardless of barrel length.

That’s very odd to me, I’ve got two Benelli’s in 26” and an SX3&SX4 both in 26” and they are within a 1/4” of each other. The SX3 is a 3-1/2” chamber the rest are all 3”

I'll pull er out later but my sbeiii (and 2) is definitely good bit longer, now might not Be exactly 2" inches but 😄 All mine are 3-1/2 as well. With that said the benelli's are no doubt longer 🤔

With an inertia gun, the receiver is so longer. You will have the same sight radius with a 26" barrel as you would have with a 28" barrel on a gas gun. My SBE 2 has a 24" barrel. With an extended choke, my gun is longer than the 28" pump guns in my safe. I bought a New A5 Sweet 16 with a 26" barrel (also an inertia gun). with an extended choke, it is the longest gun in my safe. I wish I could have gotten it in a 24" barrel.

I like the 24" on my Montefeltro

Thanks for all the imput. I didnt get the used 26 inch m2 even though it was a very good price. I wanted camo or at least cerakoted. I ordered a 28 inch camo m2 today for 279 more than the used one. It was cheaper to buy one already camo than getting it done to a non camo gun. Shoutout to wades pawn and gun in tuscaloosa. They beat everybody by 120.00 on the price of a new one

That's too much money not to get exactly what you want.