Is a shotgun with an 18.5″ barrel too short for goose hunting?
Barrel length itself has nothing to do with the spread of a shot pattern. A full-choke 18″ barrel is better for long-range work than a cylinder-bore 30″ tube. The assumption here has been that your barrel is indeed an open-choke police or defence-type barrel, and no, that will not do for geese, unless you are stalking them within about 15 yards. Waterfowl guns have traditionally had very long barrels, up to 36″, for three reasons: to give a longer sight plane for long-range accuracy, to facilitate a good swing and follow-thru for shooting birds “on the wing”, and to fully burn black-powder loads, irrelevant today as most modern smokeless-powder shells burn efficiently in 20-22″ of barrel. So you should probably get yourself a gun with a 28″ barrel and interchangeable choke tubes. With steel shot, the “improved-modified” choke can pattern as well or better than the traditional full choke. If you’re a lousy wing-shot like me, a 20″ or 22″ barrel will be a lot easier to maneuver, however
